Senior Capture Manager

CHEMRING ENERGETIC DEVICES INC•Downers Grove, IL

3d•$129,000 - $151,500•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Capture Manager leads multiple, diverse capture efforts across Aerospace and Defense market segments, including space, missiles, CAD/PAD energetic devices, and aircrew safety systems. This cross-functional role partners with Business Development, Proposal Management, Contracting, and Engineering to guide opportunity qualification, bid/no-bid decision support, win-theme development, teaming strategy, and proposal execution readiness for government and commercial customers. The position is based at Chemring Energetic Devices in Downers Grove, Illinois. The company follows a 9/80 work schedule, allowing employees to have alternating Fridays off. The stated annual salary range is $129,000–$151,500; compensation decisions may vary based on factors including education, skills, experience, proficiency, performance, shift, location, and geography. Total compensation may also include a bonus, commission, or incentive program. The role requires a bachelor's degree in engineering, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience, and at least four years of pertinent experience in both the Aerospace and Defense industry and U.S. Government defense program capture activities. The candidate must be a lawful U.S. person under ITAR restrictions and eligible to possess explosives as required by the Safe Explosives Act and ATF.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
APMP certification or ability to obtain certification within 12 months of placement.
At least 4 years of pertinent experience in the Aerospace and Defense industry.
At least 4 years of pertinent experience in U.S. Government, specifically Defense, program capture activities.
Must be a lawful U.S. person under ITAR restrictions.
Must be eligible to possess explosives under the Safe Explosives Act of 2003, as amended, as required by ATF for Chemring Energetic Devices employees.
Experience leading capture or business development pursuits in the Aerospace and Defense or government contracting environment.
Ability to manage multiple simultaneous opportunities with strong planning and follow-through.
Experience influencing bid/no-bid outcomes and win-theme strategy for government and commercial pursuits.
Strong understanding of proposal fundamentals, including compliance and responsiveness, bid readiness, and cross-functional proposal execution.
Ability to collaborate effectively across Business Development, Proposal Management, Contracting, Engineering, and technical stakeholders.
Excellent communication skills and demonstrated ability to drive alignment and decisions among cross-functional leaders.
Ability to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects weighing up to 20 pounds occasionally and/or a negligible amount frequently.
Ability to sit for most of the time, with walking or standing for brief periods, and perform daily extensive computer usage.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience in one or more of the following: CAD/PAD energetic devices, missiles, space systems, aircrew safety system testers, or test and evaluation solutions.
Experience pursuing Department of Defense and/or broader U.S. Government opportunities.
Familiarity with cost and schedule risk framing and proposal review best practices.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end capture execution for multiple concurrent pursuits across technical domains and customer types.
Perform opportunity qualification and competitive analysis to support bid/no-bid recommendations, including customer priority assessment, differentiation strategy, competitive landscape analysis, and risk identification and mitigation planning.
Develop and own capture plans and pursuit schedules, establishing milestones, staffing needs, and decision gates.
Coordinate bid-readiness activities with Proposal Management, translating win themes into compliant and compelling proposal structures, ensuring responsiveness to solicitation requirements, and supporting proposal inputs and review cycles.
Partner with Contracting to align capture strategy with compliance and contract considerations early in the cycle.
Work with Engineering and technical subject matter experts to shape solution approaches and strengthen technical narratives addressing customer requirements.
Develop and drive teaming strategy, define partner roles, and support bid-ready readiness.
Produce and maintain capture and pursuit artifacts as applicable, such as competitive intelligence summaries, win themes, risk registers, and lessons learned.
Provide executive-level opportunity health updates and escalate decision needs and risks in time for effective course correction.
Comply with government and corporate laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.
Ensure compliance with the Chemring Operational Framework, Code of Conduct, and U.S. Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.
Perform special projects and additional duties as assigned.