Senior Pursuits Manager

Timmons Group•Richmond, VA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Timmons Group is seeking an experienced Senior Pursuits Manager to join its Marketing Team in the Richmond, Virginia office. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), this role provides strategic and operational leadership for the firmwide pursuit and proposal management function, leading Pursuits Managers who oversee Pursuits Coordinators. The Senior Pursuits Manager advances pursuit work from reactive proposal production to proactive, strategic, and consultative partnership, strengthening competitive positioning and improving win rates through early positioning, compelling differentiation, innovative strategies, and team development. The role leads firmwide pursuit strategy and proposal quality, monitors pursuit performance, and drives continuous improvement through debriefs, lessons learned, CRM, automation, and AI tools. It also oversees team leadership, staffing, resource planning, workload management, and priorities. The Senior Pursuits Manager partners with principals, technical leaders, client managers, and business development to align pursuit priorities with firmwide growth strategy, and provides hands-on strategic leadership for selected high-priority pursuits from early positioning and capture planning through proposals and interviews. Timmons Group is a full-service engineering and technology firm with 22 offices across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and South Central United States. It provides civil engineering, environmental, economic development, GIS/geospatial technology, landscape architecture, and surveying services. The company describes itself as an employer of choice focused on providing employees with resources, technology, culture, and career development opportunities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field, and/or equivalent work experience.
12–15 years of progressive pursuit and proposal management experience in the AEC industry.
Proven success developing winning pursuit strategies and differentiated proposals across public and private markets, including federal, state, local, and design-build procurement.
Demonstrated success leading managers and developing multi-level pursuit teams through coaching, performance management, and capability development.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite.
Exceptional strategic thinking, writing, editing, storytelling, and creative problem-solving skills, including the ability to translate technical information into persuasive messaging.
Strong consultative, communication, and organizational skills; exceptional attention to detail; ability to influence leaders and manage competing deadlines.
Demonstrated ability to lead proposal QA/QC processes and uphold rigorous quality and compliance standards.
Proactive, solutions-oriented leadership, sound judgment, and ownership.
Understanding of CIP research, market intelligence, proactive opportunity identification, and strategic capture planning.
Ability to meet the requirements and perform the essential functions of the role, with reasonable accommodations available for individuals with disabilities.
Commitment to the company's Vision, Mission, and Shared Values.

Nice To Haves

Engineering-sector experience.
Experience with Deltek Vantagepoint.
Experience with AI-enabled proposal management and proofreading tools, such as Kantiv.

Responsibilities

Lead and elevate the firmwide pursuit process, including go/no-go decisions, capture planning, proposals, and shortlist interviews.
Drive proactive opportunity identification and early positioning using CIP research, market intelligence, client insights, and engagement with technical and business development leaders.
Coach pursuit teams to develop client-focused proposals with strong win themes, persuasive messaging, clear value propositions, and meaningful differentiation.
Introduce creative storytelling, innovative strategies, and best practices to improve proposal impact and effectiveness.
Establish, lead, and improve firmwide proposal QA/QC processes, review protocols, and tools to ensure RFP compliance, accuracy, consistency, and quality.
Lead shortlist interview strategy and preparation.
Tailor pursuit strategies to AEC procurement requirements, including federal, state, and local RFPs, private-sector pursuits, and design-build RFQs.
Monitor pursuit metrics, including win rates, proposal effectiveness, quality, workload, and resource utilization.
Provide reporting, insights, and recommendations to the CMO and firm leadership to inform pursuit decisions and growth strategies.
Champion continuous improvement through debriefs, lessons learned, CRM, automation, and AI tools for proposal development, management, and proofreading, including Kantiv.
Lead, mentor, and coach Pursuits Managers, building their leadership capabilities and strengthening strategic thinking, writing, storytelling, and consultative skills across the function.
Set expectations and coach Pursuits Managers to improve proposal quality, review practices, compliance expertise, attention to detail, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Oversee staffing, resource planning, workload management, and priorities across teams; provide ongoing feedback, performance guidance, and execution support.
Partner with the CMO and business development leadership to align pursuit priorities with firmwide growth strategy and build consultative relationships with technical leaders.
Provide hands-on strategic leadership for select high-priority pursuits, from early positioning and capture planning through proposals and interviews.
Partner with principals, client managers, and business development to turn CIP research and client and competitive intelligence into positioning, client engagement, and capture strategies.
Facilitate strategic discussions to sharpen positioning, identify differentiators, strengthen win themes, and improve the firm's ability to win.