Proposal Manager

Haley & Aldrich•Seattle, WA

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

Haley & Aldrich is seeking a Proposal Manager to join their growing team. This strategic role involves leading the development of compelling proposals for engineering and environmental consulting services. The position requires translating complex technical concepts into clear, persuasive, client-focused messages, going beyond basic proposal administration to include independent judgment, strong facilitation, technical storytelling, and the ability to identify meaningful differentiators. This is a full-time, hybrid position based in the Seattle, WA office.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, English, Business, Engineering, Environmental Science, or a related field.
8+ years of relevant AEC proposal development, pursuit management, marketing, communications, business development, or related professional-services experience.
Strong critical thinking and analytical judgment, including the confidence to question weak assumptions, recycled content, unsupported messaging, and drafts that merely restate the RFP.
Exceptional facilitation and communication skills, including the ability to draw expertise from busy technical professionals, manage competing viewpoints, resolve conflicting input, and guide teams toward decisions.
Excellent writing and editing skills, with demonstrated ability to produce concise, technically accurate, client-focused content without oversimplifying the technical approach.
Demonstrated success developing opportunity-specific pursuit strategies, win themes, value propositions, differentiators, and proposal improvements that strengthen responsiveness, clarity, credibility, and competitiveness.
Strong organizational discipline and professional judgment, with the ability to manage multiple pursuits, contributors, deadlines, and stakeholder expectations while keeping strategy and quality ahead of process, boilerplate, or technology shortcuts.
Ability to work collaboratively with engineers, scientists, constructors, client leaders, business developers, and other technical and corporate professionals.
Ability to work a hybrid schedule from the Seattle office approximately three days per week, ideally Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and additional days as business needs require.

Nice To Haves

AEC proposal leadership experience and the ability to quickly learn Haley & Aldrich’s markets, services, technical capabilities, client relationships, and competitive position.
Experience supporting engineering, environmental, or related professional consulting services.
Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) certification or related proposal-management training.
Proficiency with Adobe InDesign.
Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and experience using CRM, proposal-management, or content-management systems.

Responsibilities

Lead complex, high-value pursuits from capture planning through proposal submission, interview preparation, and post-submittal evaluation, ensuring each pursuit reflects a deliberate strategy rather than a compliance-driven response.
Analyze RFP requirements, client priorities, evaluation criteria, and competitive context to develop tailored pursuit strategies, win themes, value propositions, and messaging that improve responsiveness and client relevance.
Facilitate kickoff meetings, strategy sessions, reviews, and working sessions that produce clear decisions, assignments, risk awareness, and alignment around a differentiated approach.
Partner directly with technical and client-facing teams to define client challenges, proposed solutions, project risks, meaningful differentiators, and measurable value.
Translate complex technical information into concise, client-focused narratives while shaping executive summaries, technical approaches, project descriptions, qualifications, resumes, and other content that influences evaluator decisions.
Strengthen proposal quality by identifying gaps, unsupported claims, inconsistencies, and generic language and guiding teams toward clear, credible, and differentiated content.
Manage pursuit schedules, reviews, production, compliance, and submission requirements while maintaining a strong focus on strategy and quality.
Support interview planning and preparation, including message development, presentation content, team coaching, and rehearsal facilitation.
Conduct post-submittal evaluations and apply feedback and lessons learned to improve future pursuit strategies and proposal practices.
Manage multiple concurrent pursuits, contributors, deadlines, and stakeholder expectations while maintaining effective communication and sound professional judgment.
Perform all work in accordance with company and client health and safety protocols.
Demonstrate the company’s foundational safety behaviors.