Proposal Manager, Strategic Pursuits
🔍 United States, Colorado, Denver
At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?
Watch Our Story:' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story'
Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.
Summary of the Role
HDR is seeking a highly motivated individual to partner with our Transportation Business Group Strategic Pursuit Leaders. Your primary responsibilities will be to support highly visible, complex and game changing opportunities by producing winning, professional, competitive proposals.
Job Responsibilities by Category
Proposal Management & Coordination
- Foster a self-directed, accountable team culture by delivering high-quality, review- and client-ready materials.
- Lead the full proposal lifecycle, from kickoff through final production and interview, owning all deliverables and driving a smooth, efficient process.
- Develop and manage pursuit organization tools, including schedules, compliance matrices, templates, and assignment dashboards, using collaborative online platforms. Includes capturing meeting notes and action items, translating key themes and client priorities into a focused capture plan.
- Review and interpret RFPs to create clear, actionable compliance matrices that guide proposal development.
- Coordinate input from internal teams and external subconsultants, maintaining alignment and clear communication throughout.
- Track and communicate progress, manage deadlines, and adjust priorities to keep the team and deliverables on schedule.
- Support content development by preparing early drafts, capturing meeting notes, and distilling key themes and differentiators into a focused capture plan.
- Proactively communicate workload needs and availability
Content Development & Quality
- Write, edit, and format non-technical proposal content to ensure clarity and consistency.
- Work closely with specialized experts to write and visualize technical approaches and project understanding information.
- Work closely with staff to develop qualifications, bios, data, forms, and terms to be accurate and compliant.
- Support the creation of storyboarding, benefit statements, message development, project profiles, and additional data and materials to demonstrate our aligned qualifications and differentiators.
- Research project background and tailor content accordingly.
- Author and review draft proposal text for consistency, brand voice, and grammar to remove errors and redundancy.
- Integrate risks/issues identified by the pursuit team and translate them into the PSOE (problem, solution, outcome, evidence) table. Work with graphic designer(s) to produce visuals that represent this technical information in a reader-friendly format.
- Identify gaps in draft proposal text that need to be addressed/written, based on capture planning, PSOE exercises, RFP requirements and other resources.
Visual & Layout Skills
- Compose and format documents with strong reader-friendly graphic/layout skills. Expect an intermediate level of InDesign skills with an interest in training up to an advanced level of use.
- Effectively engage marketing resources, including coordinating with graphic designers, market sector and business class data keepers, and layout artists as needed. Communicate progress with the Strategic Pursuit Leader assigned the pursuit
- Collaborate with technical leads to develop draft presentation materials then work with graphic designers to transform complex technical content into clear, engaging, and easy-to-understand visuals.
- Provide clear direction and timely communication to achieve high-quality deliverables.
- Develop materials, such as interactive presentations, leave-behinds, and other brand-specific deliverables to help communicate key messages and differentiators.
Quality Control & Compliance Checks
- Create schedules and time blocks to conduct appropriate reviews of content and graphics throughout the production period.
- Monitor progress of the proposal process, with timely follow-up, to ensure internal proposal deadlines and quality processes are being met
- Work with Strategic Pursuit leaders to meet expectations of quality-driven materials, including graphics and format of proposal elements
- Take the initiative to perform or request support for technical editing and compliance reviews to obtain grammatical accuracy and alignment with RFP requirements.
- Consistently improve and evolve efficient processes for producing high-quality materials.
Pre-positioning, Collateral & Material Management
- Research project background, news articles and Board/Council meetings and keep collected data organized in a collaborative online platform or tool.
- Gather and refine resumes, project information, histories, photographs, and other information and data so all materials are current and effectively support key differentiating sections of the proposal.
- Develop materials, such as interactive presentations, leave-behinds, and other brand-specific deliverables to help team members communicate key messages.
- Engage with leadership in the coordination and analysis of marketplace, client, and project-specific research.
- Partner with marketing communications team to develop and promote our company-wide sector qualifications and marketing collateral materials for positioning purposes in advance of an RFP release.
Continuous Process Improvements
- Learn, use, and teach others current and effective AI tools and other software, resulting in more efficient processes and quality deliverables.
- Support proposal quality by monitoring against best practices and industry standards
- Contribute to continuous improvement through internal and external debriefs
- Serve as a subject matter expert, advocate, and actively follow HDR procedures, policies, protocols, and best practices, including standard file management and archiving procedures
Skill Aptitude
Interpersonal skills
- Strong organizational skills and an ability to prioritize and complete simultaneous projects
- An ability to meet deadlines and work well under pressure
- Demonstrated strong written and oral communication skills
- Strong attention to detail, including aligning with HDR’s brand guidelines
- Quick self-starter, team-oriented, and able to work with different personalities and professional styles
- Listens actively to gather and interpret team input, client needs, and leadership direction to inform proposal strategy and content
- Adaptable to internal and external client needs and desires. Proactively communicate any concerns or improvement ideas.
- An interest in and ability to understand the transportation business environment, including industry terminology
- Comfortable communicating and collaborating with individuals at all levels of the organization, and enjoy working both independently and as part of cross-functional teams
- Highly articulate, has a clear approach to problem solving, uses sound professional judgment and demeanor
- Builds and fosters strong working relationships to help the team stay connected and deliver great proposals
- Enthusiasm and dedication to the development of a professional proposal management career
Computer Skills
Software and Online Tool Proficiency
Advanced level of use:
- Word
- PowerPoint
- Teams/SharePoint
- OneNote
Intermediate level of use, with an interest to train-up to Advance levels, specifically InDesign.
- InDesign
- Excel
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Experience in CRM programs (Salesforce, Oscar, Watson, Proposal Development Marketing System)
- New and current collaborative tools, as these are continuously released
Tier advancement of the role
1) Proposal Manager
2) Senior Proposal Manager
3) Principal Proposal Manager
Additional items for the position
- An attitude and commitment to being an active participant in our employee-owned culture is a must
- Driven to join a high-caliber team and help propel its future growth and achievements.
- Positive contributor to our team culture, desire to be the best in class.
- Anticipated travel for this position is approximately 10-20%
- This position will report to the Strategic Pursuits Proposal Manager Team Lead
- A minimum of 5 years relevant industry experience
- Demonstrated "self-starter" with a history of completing projects with limited oversight
- Experience in sales and developing effective win strategies
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud applications, including InDesign
What We Believe
HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.
Our Commitment
As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.
Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.
