Proposal Manager

Proposal Manager M&C Saatchi World Services is a full-service marketing company renowned for using commercial advertising to solve the world’s toughest challenges. World Services is a specialty branch of M&C Saatchi Group, and we provide strategic communications, behavior change, and marketing support to Public Sector clients with special emphasis on the US Federal Government and State, Local, Tribal, & Territorial leaders. The US Office of M&C Saatchi World Services (WSUS) is seeking a Proposal Manager to lead and support the development of high-quality U.S. federal government proposals, with a growing emphasis on defense and national security opportunities. You will manage proposal efforts from solicitation review through final submission, working closely with capture, technical, pricing, contracts, and partner teams to deliver compliant, compelling responses. This is a hybrid role; however, the ideal candidate will live in the greater District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region. ABOUT THE ROLE: In this role, you’ll combine hands-on proposal execution with the opportunity to strengthen WSUS’s proposal discipline and defense-market readiness. You will be responsible for creating structure, momentum, and clarity across pursuits, helping teams translate technical and mission-focused inputs into well-organized, persuasive proposals. As WSUS expands its presence in federal and defense markets, you will play a key role in building consistent processes, improving proposal quality, and supporting capture strategy from early pursuit through submission. What you'll do: Lead end-to-end proposal development for federal opportunities, including RFPs, RFQs, RFTOPs, IDIQs, OTA solicitations, and task orders. Analyze solicitations and develop proposal calendars, compliance matrices, outlines, assignments, review plans, and submission checklists. Manage cross-functional proposal teams across technical, cost, pricing, contracts, business development, and partner functions. Work with subject matter experts and technical teams to turn inputs into clear, compliant, and compelling proposal content. Ensure proposal responses comply with solicitation instructions, evaluation criteria, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requirements, and agency-specific guidance. Coordinate color team reviews and adjudication processes, including Pink, Red, Gold, and final production reviews as appropriate. Partner with capture managers to shape early-stage pursuits, including win themes, discriminators, solution framing, and price-to-win inputs. Support go/no-go decisions by helping assess customer priorities, mission needs, competitive positioning, contract vehicles, and procurement trends. Coordinate with teaming partners, subcontractors, and external contributors to gather inputs, manage deadlines, and ensure alignment across the response. Strengthen internal proposal tools, templates, playbooks, and processes, including approaches for compliance, version control, knowledge management, and proposal readiness. Contribute to internal training and best-practice sharing to build proposal development capacity across WSUS. Handle sensitive procurement and proposal materials with appropriate discretion, including Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and classified-environment requirements where applicable. ABOUT YOU We believe that people are capable of great things when given a chance. The most important qualifications for this role are integrity, emotional intelligence, a passion for learning, and a genuine interest in M&C Saatchi World Services’ mission. Therefore, we encourage candidates to apply even if they do not feel they meet all the requirements. The successful candidate will be organized, collaborative, and comfortable operating under tight deadlines. They will bring strong writing and editing judgment, a clear understanding of federal proposal requirements, and the confidence to guide busy stakeholders through a structured proposal process. They will be detail-oriented without losing sight of the bigger picture: helping WSUS present differentiated, mission-relevant solutions to government clients. You’ll bring: U.S. citizenship is required, and the successful candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance. Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications, public policy, international relations, or a related field, or equivalent work experience. Extensive years of direct experience with U.S. federal government proposal management, business development, and/or capture support. Experience supporting federal proposals, with experience or exposure to DoD opportunities strongly preferred. Familiarity with federal acquisition and procurement processes, including FAR, DFARS, and common solicitation types such as RFPs, RFQs, RFTOPs, IDIQs, OTAs, and task orders. Experience with and knowledge of federal procurement. Experience managing proposal schedules, compliance matrices, annotated outlines, review cycles, and final production or submission processes. Excellent written communication, editing, proofreading, and organizational skills. Ability to manage multiple contributors, competing priorities, and complex deadlines while maintaining high attention to detail and quality. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate with technical teams, business development leaders, executives, contracts, pricing, and external partners. Sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to handle sensitive proposal and procurement information appropriately. Bonus points if you have: Experience supporting DoD, Intelligence Community, national security, or other mission-driven federal clients. Experience using a known proposal or capture framework, such as APMP or Shipley & Associates. Experience with proposal automation, CRM, knowledge management, or capture/proposal management tools. Experience developing reusable proposal content, templates, playbooks, or training materials. An understanding of strategic communications, behavior change, marketing, or public-sector communications programs. WHAT YOU GET We offer a competitive salary ($90,000-$120,000) and a benefits package designed to support your health, family life, financial wellbeing, and growth. Family & parental support 12 weeks’ full pay for Primary Carers and 6 weeks for Secondary Carers (after one year of service; return requirements apply for subsequent leave) Applies to birth, adoption, and surrogacy Up to 10 days’ paid fertility leave per year (5 per cycle) 2 days’ paid leave for new grandparents $2,500 annual interest-free parental loan $6,000 interest-free fertility treatment loan Healthcare & wellbeing Three medical plans (HSA at $0 cost; EPO 75% employer funded; PPO 65% employer funded) $0 employee-cost dental and vision 10 days’ health leave per year (mental and physical) 24/7 mental health support through Self Space Wellhub subscription Financial & practical support 401(k) match (3% after 3 months; 4% after 1 year) Pre-tax commuter benefits 10 days’ paid military leave Full pay for jury duty (state/city payments declined) Uber/taxi home after 9:30pm Time off & flexibility 23 days’ PTO (with 3 discretionary carryover days; CA/CO policies follow state mandate) 10 federal holidays, plus the day after Thanksgiving Option to swap 2 federal holidays (excluding Thanksgiving and the day after) Office closed between Christmas and New Year 10 days’ special emergency leave (including bereavement) 10 days’ volunteering leave (5 paid, 5 unpaid) Half-day for blood donation Work from anywhere for up to 2 weeks per year (subject to approval) Culture & development $300 annual cultural stimulation allowance (accrued monthly; available after 90 days) Weekly Thursday happy hour Mentorship and Buddy programmes ABOUT M+C SAATCHI WORLD SERVICES M&C Saatchi World Services is a specialist division of M+C Saatchi Group, the world’s largest independent communications network. Our specialists work in office hubs across six continents, grounding our global expertise in local nuance. We offer award-winning commercial communications capabilities, which are utilized by global organizations to address the world’s most complex problems across defence, development, diplomacy, homeland and national security, law and order, health, education, and the environment. We work with clients that want to help the hardest-to-reach, hardest-to-influence audiences. This includes a range of Western Government departments, such as DOS and USAID; partner governments, including the U.K. and Australia; and prominent IGOs/NGOs such as the U.N. We are a comms agency that works on behaviour change projects typically focused on issues related to Security, Defence and Stabilization. Whether it’s producing critically acclaimed feature films in Africa, to TV shows in the Middle East, to pop music videos in Asia, we have a record of leveraging creativity to access communities anywhere in the world. Group company M+C Saatchi World Services Role MD Americas Locations Washington DC, New York (WS) Remote status Hybrid Yearly salary $90,000 - $120,000 Employment type Full-time Washington DC New York (WS) About M+C Saatchi Group M+C Saatchi Group was founded in 1995 and is now the biggest Independent creative agency group in the World. Founded on one core principle, Brutal Simplicity. Founded in 1995 Co-workers 2500+