Proposal Manager

Scout AI•Sunnyvale, CA

About The Position

Scout AI is seeking a Proposal Manager to drive world-class proposal execution across its portfolio of government and commercial opportunities. This role is responsible for the end-to-end proposal lifecycle, coordinating cross-functional teams to produce compliant and compelling responses to various solicitations such as RFPs, RFIs, SBIRs, BAAs, and commercial bids. The Proposal Manager acts as a central point of contact, ensuring alignment, schedule adherence, and focus on winning narratives among Business Development, Sales, Programs, Product, Engineering, Legal, and Finance departments. Reporting to the growth organization, this individual will collaborate daily with domain managers, engineering leadership, and the CEO to ensure proposals are technically sound, strategically positioned, and submitted on time.

Requirements

8+ years in proposal management, program management, or government contracting within defense tech, space, dual-use, or equivalent professional experience.
Proven track record leading proposals from kickoff through submission for SBIRs, RFPs, BAAs, or similar government solicitations.
Strong technical communication skills: ability to distill engineering and product concepts into clear, evaluator-friendly narratives without over-simplifying.
Foundational understanding of engineering, product development, and systems architecture to support credible technical scoping and writing.
CRM and pipeline tool proficiency for deal tracking, reporting, and workflow management.
Familiarity with government procurement processes, FAR/DFARS compliance, and common submission portals and timelines.
Comfort with process building: ability to create and refine templates, scorecards, checklists, and workflows that scale and improve over time.

Nice To Haves

APMP, PMP, or Shipley certification (or equivalent proposal management credential).
Experience in space, defense, Earth observation, or robotics sectors.
Deep SBIR/STTR expertise, including Phase I → Phase II positioning strategy and program structure.
Hands-on pricing experience including rate structures, LOE estimation, risk/reserve methodology, and budget narrative development.
Experience with proposal automation tools or proposal writing platforms (Deltek, Responsive, Proposal software ecosystems).

Responsibilities

Own proposal strategy and execution across all active pursuits, including establishing win themes, aligning technical approach, coordinating compliance review, and driving proposals to on-time submission.
Serve as Proposal Lead on active opportunities, facilitating kickoffs, assigning writing tasks, setting detailed milestones, managing proposal schedules, and surfacing blockers early.
Build and maintain a proposal asset library of reusable, high-quality templates (e.g., cover letters, SOWs, compliance matrices, cost volumes, organizational capability narratives, past performance summaries).
Translate technical concepts into evaluator-focused narratives by working with Engineering, Product, and Program teams to distill complex capabilities into clear, persuasive proposal language.
Coordinate cross-functional reviews to stress-test win themes, validate compliance, confirm cost realism, and ensure all sections support a cohesive, differentiated story before submission.
Manage proposal schedules and status tracking, including risk reporting, milestone tracking, and resource coordination across functions.
Drive proposal operations and process improvement by establishing scorecards, checklists, and workflows for consistent, scalable proposal execution.
Lead pricing and cost volume coordination between technical teams and Finance to ensure credible, competitive cost narratives that align with technical scope.
Manage multiple concurrent proposals at varying stages of maturity, maintaining organized documentation, compliance artifacts, and version control.
Ensure compliant submissions across government portals (SAM.gov, agency-specific systems) in partnership with BD and Sales.