Senior Capture & Proposal Manager

Fortra•Washington, DC

8d•$185,000 - $190,000

About The Position

The Senior Capture & Proposal Manager is responsible for designing, leading, and structuring Fortra’s end-to-end capture and proposal management function. This role will span both pre-solicitation and post-solicitation opportunities and own the full pursuit lifecycle from opportunity identification and qualification through proposal submission and post-award lessons learned. As the leader of capture and proposal opportunities, the Senior Capture & Proposal Manager collaborates across Sales, Product, Engineering, Security, Legal, Contracts, Finance, and Executive Leadership to ensure opportunities are qualified, resources are aligned, proposals are compliant, and submissions are delivered with excellence. This individual will establish and manage the organization's Capture & Proposal Operating System, including governance processes, content management, bid qualification, executive reviews, reporting, and pursuit metrics.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Communications, Marketing, Public Administration, Engineering, or a related field.
7+ years of experience in capture management, proposal management, business development operations, government contracting, or a related strategic pursuit function.
Demonstrated success leading complex federal, public sector, or government proposals, including multi-million-dollar opportunities.
Strong project management, organizational, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent pursuits.
Experience building and implementing proposal governance models and repeatable capture and pursuit processes.
Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
Proven ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across cross-functional teams without direct authority.
Experience applying structured capture and proposal methodologies, including Shipley, APMP best practices, or comparable gated pursuit management frameworks.
Working knowledge of FAR-based acquisition processes, federal source selection methodologies, and proposal evaluation practices.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Civilian, Intelligence Community, State & Local Government, or broader Public Sector pursuits.
Experience with NASA SEWP, DFARS, and/or Department of Defense acquisition environments.
APMP Certification (Foundation, Practitioner, or Professional).
Experience with GovWin, Govly, Tender Portals, Salesforce Government Cloud (GovCloud), or similar pursuit management platforms.
Experience developing and leveraging competitive intelligence programs to inform capture strategies and proposal positioning.

Responsibilities

Lead capture efforts from opportunity identification through proposal submission.
Identify, qualify, shape, and advance strategic opportunities in partnership with Business Development and Sales leadership.
Develop and execute pre-solicitation capture plans, including: Stakeholder mapping, Competitive assessments, Win strategies and themes, Risk identification and mitigation plans.
Coordinate engagement with channel partners, system integrators, and strategic alliance partners.
Manage and maintain a prioritized opportunity pipeline and forecasting process.
Analyze market, customer, and competitive intelligence to improve pursuit outcomes.
Serve as the accountable owner for proposal development and submission activities.
Develop and manage proposal schedules, milestones, deliverables, review cycles, and submission plans.
Lead proposal kickoffs, color team reviews, readiness assessments, and executive reviews.
Coordinate contributions from cross-functional stakeholders, including Product Management, Sales Engineering, Security, Legal, Contracts, Finance, and Executive Leadership.
Ensure proposal responses meet customer requirements, compliance standards, and submission deadlines.
Conduct proposal debriefs and lessons-learned reviews to continuously improve performance.
Design and administer formal bid/no-bid evaluation processes.
Develop qualification criteria aligned to business strategy, revenue objectives, competitive positioning, and delivery capabilities.
Lead opportunity assessment discussions and executive decision forums.
Present recommendations and supporting analyses to senior leadership.
Ensure organizational resources are aligned to the highest-probability and highest-value opportunities.
Design, implement, and continuously improve the organization's capture and proposal management framework.
Own proposal workflows, processes, governance standards, and operating procedures.
Administer proposal and capture management platforms, including tender portals, opportunity intelligence tools, CRM integrations, and content repositories.
Build and maintain: Proposal response libraries, Past performance repositories, Compliance matrices, Proposal templates and assets.
Drive process standardization, operational maturity, and best practices across the pursuit lifecycle.
Support strategies related to acquisition pathways, contract vehicles, partner ecosystems, and channel models.
Establish clear ownership, accountability, and timelines across proposal teams.
Facilitate executive participation in strategic pursuit reviews.
Serve as the central communication point throughout active opportunity pursuits.
Ensure effective collaboration and alignment among stakeholders.
Develop KPIs, dashboards, and operational reporting for capture and proposal activities.
Present performance metrics, insights, and recommendations to executive leadership.
Analyze data trends to improve pursuit effectiveness, win rates, and operational efficiency.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives based on measurable outcomes.