Director of Proposal Operations and AI Enablement

NiyamIT•Fairfax, VA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Niyam IT is seeking a motivated Director of Proposal Operations and AI Enablement to join our team to lead and scale our proposal function. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer, this is a people-leadership role responsible for managing the proposal team, leading our most critical pursuits, and modernizing our proposal development function through AI tooling. The right candidate brings deep Shipley and APMP grounded proposal expertise alongside hands-on experience with AI-powered proposal platforms. Beyond executing proposals, this person will lead, mentor, and develop the proposal team and serve as a process innovator, elevating the skills of proposal writers, coordinators, and graphic support staff and building workflows that allow Niyam to pursue more opportunities with greater speed and precision. As the function scales, the Director will continue to grow and shape a high-performing proposal organization.

Requirements

10+ years of Federal proposal management experience, including direct people-management or team-leadership experience, with a demonstrated track record of winning prime contracts across IT services.
Proven expertise writing and managing Technical Approach volumes, Management volumes, and all required response content for IT professional services contracts.
Direct hands-on experience with OTA, CSO, and Tradewinds (TSM) proposal formats and non-traditional acquisition mechanisms.
Demonstrated proficiency with AI proposal tools; experience with one or more of the following is required: GovDash, Procurement Sciences Awarded AI, Turing Proposal Pilot, or a comparable AI-assisted proposal platform.
Deep working knowledge of Shipley-based proposal methodology, including color review facilitation, compliance matrix development, and win theme architecture.
Experience supporting or leading proposals for Department of War (DoW) or civilian Federal agency clients.
Proven experience building, leading, and scaling a proposal team, including hiring, performance management, and process standardization.
Exceptional proposal writing and editing skills, with the ability to translate complex technical content into evaluator-focused narratives that score.
Strong project management discipline: proven ability to manage multiple concurrent proposals under hard deadlines without sacrificing quality.
Collaborative and proactive communication style; skilled at coordinating contributors across technical, contracts, pricing, and executive functions.
Analytical mindset with comfort in RFP decomposition, compliance matrix management, and color review adjudication.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams) and standard proposal collaboration environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of War (DoW) solicitations.
Experience with DOJ-component solicitations (FBI, DEA, ATF, EOUSA) is a plus.
Familiarity with FEMA programs such as Risk MAP, NFIP, HAZUS, or EMIS is a meaningful advantage.
APMP Foundation or Practitioner certification is required.
Active Secret or Top Secret security clearance is preferred.
Experience with GIS/geospatial, cloud modernization, data analytics, or DevSecOps proposal content aligned to Niyam's core capability areas.
Familiarity with Salesforce or similar CRM/pipeline management platforms used to track opportunity data.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end proposal management on priority pursuits, from RFP receipt and kickoff through submission, including compliance matrices, outlines, writing assignments, schedule management, and production.
Write and edit technical volumes, management volumes, and proposal response content for IT services contracts, ensuring clarity, measurability, and tight alignment to PWS/SOO/SOW requirements.
Develop compelling executive summaries, discriminators, and win themes in close coordination with capture managers and leadership.
Lead and facilitate all color reviews (Pink, Red, Gold) in alignment with Shipley methodology, delivering actionable feedback that measurably improves proposal quality.
Manage proposal schedules and contributor accountability with urgency and precision across multiple simultaneous pursuits.
Lead integration of AI proposal tools into Niyam's Shipley-based process. Must have experience with one of the following tools: GovDash, Procurement Sciences Awarded AI, Turing Proposal Pilot, or other emerging platforms.
Develop AI-assisted workflow playbooks that accelerate first drafts, compliance checks, and reuse of past performance and boilerplate content, while preserving the discipline and quality standards of the Shipley methodology.
Evaluate, pilot, and recommend new AI tools on an ongoing basis to maintain Niyam's competitive edge in proposal development technology.
Track and report AI-driven efficiency metrics (cycle time, cost per proposal, compliance error rate) to inform investment decisions and demonstrate ROI to leadership.
Directly supervise and develop the proposal team — coordinators, writers, and graphic support staff — providing mentorship, coaching, and day-to-day guidance, and owning hiring, performance management, and team growth.
Train team members on effective AI tool use, Shipley best practices, and proposal writing craft to raise the overall quality and throughput of the proposal function.
Build and maintain a library of reusable content, including past performance narratives, resume templates, standard graphics, and boilerplate sections, making the full team more efficient.
Establish and document proposal process standards, templates, and quality checklists that scale as the team grows.
Lead proposal responses for Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements, including streamlined acquisition formats and consortia-based submissions.
Develop proposals for Commercial Solutions Openings (CSO) and Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace (TSM) solicitations, including video pitch preparation and TSM platform submissions.
Apply structured, deliverable-focused proposal frameworks across service-based IT contracts, ensuring performance standards and scope are unambiguous and evaluator-friendly.
Partner with capture managers and the COO on win strategy development, competitive positioning, and pricing strategy alignment for priority opportunities.
Contribute meaningfully to bid/no-bid decisions by assessing solicitation risk, incumbent landscape, and organizational fit.
Support gate reviews and pipeline reporting with proposal-related data, lessons learned, and process improvement recommendations.