Proposal Specialist

Wabtec•Duncan, SC

9d•Onsite

About The Position

The Proposals Specialist is responsible for managing the end-to-end process of creating, reviewing, and delivering high-quality proposals and bid documents that align with organizational standards and client requirements. This role ensures accuracy, compliance, and timely submission of proposals, while collaborating with cross-functional teams to gather information, develop compelling content, and maintain consistency in messaging and branding.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering, business or a related field from an accredited university or college
3+ years of experience in tender/bids, business development and/or commercial responsibility, ideally in rail market and/or OEM suppliers

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in engineering or business administration is preferred
Capabilities/skills: Communication, Impact and influencing, strategic thinking, self-starter, negotiating skills, international experience, results oriented.
Knowledge on Customer Relationship Management tools (e.g. Salesforce).

Responsibilities

Review customer's Terms and Conditions whereas interfacing with legal and commercial departments to determine what's acceptable and how to drive a negotiation for the non-acceptable ones
Work on costs roll-up after gathering inputs from several stakeholders (internal and external) and simulate different strategies to support the commercial and upper management teams to take structured businesses decisions
Support the pricing strategy to apply head-quarter and business targets as well as understand the market and its trends
Report to the Commercial Operations Manager and interface with the different members of the department as well as members of cross-functional teams
Coordinate and manage the proposal development process from initiation to submission (follow-up the creation of market opportunities and tenders in CRM – Customer Relationship Management tool, organize the Go/No Go Reviews and Tender Kick-off meetings, manage the tender life using a R&L tool as applicable, ensure all stakeholders provide their deliverables in time to compose the Submission package).
Gather and synthesize information from internal stakeholders to create accurate and persuasive proposal content.
Ensure proposals comply with client requirements, company standards, and legal/regulatory guidelines (that involves close relationship and reviews with engineering, project and product management teams, Operations stakeholders as well as legal and compliance departments).
Maintain and update proposal templates, boilerplate content, and branding guidelines.
Collaborate with subject matter experts to develop technical and commercial sections of proposals.
Review and edit proposals for clarity, accuracy, and consistency in tone and format.
Track proposal deadlines and deliverables to ensure timely submission (active participation on Key Account Management reviews).
Support continuous improvement by analyzing proposal outcomes and implementing best practices (including post mortem analysis for lost tenders).
Maintain a repository of past proposals and reference materials for future use.
Analyze a customer's RFQ package including Terms and Conditions comparison against a delegated mandate
Interface with KAM (Key Account Manager) to understand better customer's needs and translate it into an Offer
Prepare a Deck for Tender review with Offer's financials, costs roll-up and price bridge (benefiting from historical data analysis)
Support pricing activities by working with the Pricing Manager and/or Customer Service Representatives to ensure bids are priced to win while meeting financial objectives.
Prepare a Commercial Statement
Support Cost Estimation activities in preparing cost roll-ups to support proposal activities.
Actively participate on customer's call to support commercial team