Director of Proposal Operations

JCS Solutions LLC•Fairfax, VA

18d•$130,000 - $175,000

About The Position

JCS Solutions is seeking a Director of Proposal Operations to lead an end-to-end federal proposal function. This role is responsible for creating a disciplined, scalable, and high-performing proposal operation that supports sustained growth across the federal market. The Director partners closely with Growth and Capture, Contracts, Pricing, Technical Leadership, Operations, and executive leadership to translate capture strategies and technical solutions into compelling, compliant, and differentiated proposals. The ideal candidate combines deep federal acquisition and proposal expertise with exceptional operational discipline and thrives in a hands-on leadership role, establishing proposal infrastructure, processes, and standards while personally leading strategic and complex pursuits when needed. JCS Solutions delivers mission-focused capabilities in cybersecurity, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, data and decision intelligence, secure modernization, and insider threat mitigation for federal customers.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business, communications, English, technology, management, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
10+ years of federal government contracting proposal experience, including significant responsibility for complex competitive proposals.
Minimum 3–5 years leading proposal teams, proposal operations, or major federal proposal efforts.
Demonstrated experience managing federal RFP, RFQ, task-order, IDIQ/GWAC, BPA, and related proposal responses.
Strong knowledge of federal acquisition processes and the ability to interpret solicitation instructions, evaluation criteria, and contractual requirements.
Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent proposals under aggressive deadlines.
APMP certification or significant experience with Shipley or comparable structured proposal-development methodologies.
Demonstrated experience developing compliance matrices, proposal schedules, outlines, storyboards, review plans, and production schedules.
Exceptional writing, editing, organizational, and quality-control skills.
Strong executive presence and ability to work effectively with technical experts, executives, capture leaders, pricing professionals, contracts professionals, and operational teams.
Experience establishing or improving proposal processes, templates, repositories, and operating standards.
Strong proficiency with Microsoft 365 and modern proposal collaboration and document-management tools.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting DoD, Intelligence Community, DHS, civilian agencies, or national-security customers.
Experience developing proposals involving cybersecurity, AI, cloud, DevSecOps, Zero Trust, data analytics, digital modernization, or insider-threat capabilities.
Experience with large-business/subcontractor and small-business/prime contracting environments.
Experience supporting Best-in-Class GWACs, IDIQs, and high-volume task-order environments.
Experience implementing AI-enabled proposal tools or knowledge-management platforms.
Experience supporting oral presentations and technical demonstrations.
Active or previously held federal security clearance is desirable where relevant to the demonstrate technical credibility, mission understanding, differentiation, and disciplined execution.

Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end proposal lifecycle for federal opportunities, including RFIs, RFQs, RFPs, task orders, IDIQ/GWAC competitions, BPAs, and other acquisition responses.
Develop and manage proposal strategies, schedules, compliance matrices, reviews, and submission activities to ensure high-quality, compliant, and compelling proposals.
Direct proposal teams through kickoff, review, and final submission processes, ensuring clear accountability, operational excellence, and on-time delivery.
Build and oversee a scalable proposal management framework, including governance, processes, templates, quality standards, and best practices to support organizational growth.
Manage multiple concurrent proposal efforts, prioritizing resources and workload based on strategic objectives, opportunity complexity, and probability of win.
Establish repeatable and compliant proposal processes, including document management, version control, configuration management, and submission procedures to ensure efficiency and quality.
Partner with Capture and Growth leaders to ensure proposals clearly reflect the approved win strategy, customer priorities, discriminators, competitive positioning, and value proposition.
Work with technical and operational leaders to turn complex concepts into clear and compelling proposal narratives.
Support development of solution themes and differentiators.
Ensure proposals communicate measurable mission outcomes rather than simply describing corporate capabilities.
Serve as the proposal organization's authority for solicitation compliance.
Ensure proposal claims, past-performance information, resumes, certifications, metrics, and corporate representations are accurate and supportable.
Coordinate with Contracts, Pricing, Security, Human Resources, Finance, and other functional teams to validate proposal information before submission.
Maintain disciplined review and approval processes for corporate commitments made through proposals.
Develop and maintain a centralized, searchable proposal content and knowledge repository.
Build reusable, validated content covering corporate capabilities, technical approaches, management methodologies, quality, transition, staffing, recruiting, security, risk management, past performance, resumes, case studies, and corporate credentials.
Develop a structured library of proof points, metrics, customer outcomes, and past-performance examples that strengthen proposal credibility.
Leverage AI, automation, and proposal technologies to improve proposal efficiency, content management, compliance, collaboration, and overall submission quality.
Establish governance and safeguards for the responsible use of generative AI, ensuring protection of proprietary, customer, and sensitive acquisition information.
Evaluate and implement tools and processes that enhance knowledge management, workflow visibility, and proposal team effectiveness.
Serve as the principal operational interface between Proposal Operations and Growth, Capture, Business Development, Contracts, Pricing, Finance, Recruiting, Operations, and Technical teams.
Establish clear proposal-entry criteria and ensure pursuits are sufficiently mature before significant proposal resources are committed.
Work closely with Capture leadership before RFP release to understand customer requirements, acquisition strategy, competitive landscape, teaming strategy, discriminators, and likely evaluation factors.
Partner with Pricing to ensure technical, management, staffing, and pricing strategies remain aligned.
Coordinate with Recruiting and Operations on staffing strategies, key personnel, resumes, letters of commitment, and transition plans.
Escalate proposal risks, resource conflicts, unresolved decisions, and compliance issues to leadership early enough for corrective action.
Establish performance expectations and accountability for proposal quality, timeliness, collaboration, and process compliance.
Develop a reliable network of proposal consultants and surge resources.