In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next!
At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what's possible.
Job Description:
Parsons is looking for a people-first Proposal Operations Manager to join our team and play a key role in how we win work and grow. In this hybrid role, you'll roll up your sleeves to lead must-win federal pursuits while coaching and inspiring a high-performing team of proposal professionals.
You'll be at the heart of our growth with customers like DHS, CBP, FEMA, DoD, DoE, FAA, and other Civilian and Intelligence agencies , turning complex challenges into clear, winning stories. If you love collaborating, leading from the front, and constantly raising the bar, you'll fit right in. We love what we do, and we're excited to welcome the next leader who will help us reach even greater heights.
What You'll Be Doing:
In this hybrid role, you'll be both a People Leader and a Proposal Leader. That means you'll split your time between hands-on proposal leadership and people leadership. As a true player-coach, you set the bar for excellence and lead by example, managing high-visibility federal pursuits and building the team's skills, processes, and confidence.
As a People Leader, you will:
Lead and manage a team responsible for managing and developing complex federal proposals that are compliant, responsive, and compelling-give your team the support they need to develop proposals that clearly stand out from the competition.
Foster a culture of open communication, collaboration, and innovation- encourage new ideas, drive continuous improvement, and keep the team accountable and engaged.
Proactively manage stakeholder relationships (capture, business development, operations) and keep senior leadership in the loop on strategies, risks, and progress-bring insights that boost win rates and improve how we run proposal operations.
Address and resolve issues, mediate conflicts, and remove roadblocks-maintain a positive people-first culture that inspires your team to succeed.
Support team growth by recruiting, interviewing, selecting, onboarding, training, and mentoring proposal professionals-be intentional about building and developing talent.
As a Proposal Leader, you will:
Analyze federal solicitations and build clear compliance matrices, schedules, and annotated outlines-create structure where others see noise.
Lead end-to-end proposal efforts, teaming with capture, SMEs, and graphics/desktop publishing to produce winning submissions that are compliant, compelling, and visually sharp-connect all the pieces and keep everyone moving in the same direction.
Run proposal kick-offs, milestones, color reviews, and recovery activities to lead the team in delivering high-quality work on time, every time- keep momentum high, energy focused, and deadlines under control.
Develop key non-technical content (custom cover letters, executive summaries, past performance, resumes) and make it cohesive and on-message- translate complex ideas into crisp, customer-focused content.
Support interview/oral preparation, including storyboards, materials, and coaching, so our teams show up confident and ready-ensure presenters have the tools and confidence they need to shine.
Lead lessons-learned reviews and turn insights into better processes, templates, tools, and best practices -serve as a thought leader making it easier for the team to win the next one.
What Required Skills You'll Bring:
Strong leadership, facilitation, and communication skills, with the ability to bring out the best in people and keep raising the bar; you're excited to coach, upskill, and stretch a team with a wide range of experience and strengths.
Strong understanding of the federal market space; and ability to lead highly visible, complex pursuits.
Demonstrated organizational, planning, and time-management skills; you can juggle a lot at once, troubleshoot on the fly, calmly de-escalate tense moments, step in to lead when needed, and make solid decisions under pressure.
Proven ability to build and sustain trusted relationships with capture leaders, operations, technical teams, and executives; you know how to connect, influence, and keep everyone aligned.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including facilitation and public speaking, with a track record of leading successful federal proposal efforts; you're comfortable being the voice in the room (or on the call) that keeps things moving.
Deep Federal experience, especially leading large, complex proposals for customers such as DHS, CBP, FEMA, DoD, DoE, FAA, and other Civilian and Intelligence agencies; you know how these customers think and what it takes to win.
What Desired Skills You'll Bring:
Four-year degree in a relevant field, or a comparable mix of education and experience; we care about what you know and how you apply it.
Around 10 years of progressive proposal management experience, including 3-5 years leading people in a federal proposal or business development environment; you've grown your career by growing others.
Professional credentials such as APMP (any level), PMP, or Shipley training/certification are a big plus; you take your craft seriously and invest in it.
Security clearance desired but not required; the ability to obtain one is a serious plus.
Security Clearance Requirement:
None
This position is part of our Corporate team.
For over 80 years, Parsons Corporation, has shaped the future of the defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets. Our employees work in a close-knit team environment to find new, innovative ways to deliver smart solutions that are used and valued by customers around the world. By combining unique technologies with deep domain expertise across cybersecurity, missile defense, space, connected infrastructure, transportation, smart cities, and more, we're providing tomorrow's solutions today.
Salary Range: $112,200.00 - $196,400.00
We value our employees and want our employees to take care of their overall wellbeing, which is why we offer best-in-class benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), 401(k), life insurance, flexible work schedules, and holidays to fit your busy lifestyle!
This position will be posted for a minimum of 3 days and will continue to be posted for an average of 30 days until a qualified applicant is selected or the position has been cancelled.
Parsons is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.
We truly invest and care about our employee's wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest-APPLY TODAY!
Parsons is aware of fraudulent recruitment practices. To learn more about recruitment fraud and how to report it, please refer to https://www.parsons.com/fraudulent-recruitment/ .
About Us
Parsons is a digitally enabled solutions provider focused on the defense, security, and infrastructure markets. With nearly 75 years of experience, Parsons is uniquely qualified to deliver cyber/converged security, technology-based intellectual property, and other innovative services to federal, regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers worldwide.
Parsons is an equal opportunity, drug-free employer committed to diversity in the workplace. Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veteran/LGBTQ+.
For more about Parsons, visit parsons.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
