Proposal Manager

Company Overview

Founded in 1990, Kauffman and Associates, Inc. (KAI), is an American Indian– and woman-owned management consulting firm dedicated to improving the lives of marginalized populations and enhancing the reach and effectiveness of social sector organizations. We combine stories of lived experiences with meaningful, data-driven insights to reach underserved communities.

We work closely with federal, tribal, state, and regional governments; associations; foundations; and private-sector businesses. At KAI, we do work that matters!

About the Role

As a member of the business development (BD) team, the Proposal Manager reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In this role, your goal is to collaborate with team members to develop winning proposals and compelling narratives that clearly articulate the team’s overall solution and strategy, approach to perform the work, win themes, and discriminators.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee and manage the entire proposal development process, working closely with proposal coordinator and collaborating with subject matter experts (SMEs) and writers, pricing team, leadership, and others as needed
• Read and dissect RFx documents to understand requirements and proposal needs
• Establish and manage proposal compliance checklists and schedules, including deadlines for drafts, reviews, and final submissions
• Lead kickoff meetings to outline roles, responsibilities, and win themes
• Oversee annotated outline setup and proposal assembly
• Assign tasks to--and facilitate collaboration among—writers, SMEs, and graphics teams
• Leads color team reviews (e.g., pink, red)
• Review and edit proposal content for clarity, consistency, and quality
• Ensure proposal aligns with client’s objectives, evaluation criteria, and compliance requirements
• Ensure proposal documents are properly formatted, easy to read, and visually appealing
• Review budget details and confirm consistency between business and technical proposals
• Overall compliance check responsibility
• Organize proposal schedules and work on multiple efforts simultaneously
• Document, maintain, and update library of boilerplate text (e.g., technical approach, resumes, past performance) that can be used for future responses

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in managing proposals for government contracts or federal and state agencies
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Communications, or related field
• High proficiency in MS Office Suite
• Strong writing, editing, and communication skills
• Excellent attention time management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple proposals simultaneously
• Attention to detail to ensure compliance and quality
• Proven ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills for engaging stakeholders and team members

Contact with Others 

The Proposal Manager will communicate face-to-face, by email, and by telephone with respective project managers, other members of the team, and other KAI staff and subcontractors as required. Interactions will include simple exchanges of information, coordination of activities, receipt of assignments and other instruction, and regular invitations to independent problem solving.  

Job Conditions 

The Proposal Manager position is fully remote. The position may include limited travel, occasional meetings after hours, occasional extended hours, and interruptions from time-to-time. Close computer work for extended periods of time will be required.  

Disclaimer

This job description is not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of this position. All KAI employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed, to meet the ongoing needs of the organization. 

Benefits Overview

• up to 100% company paid medical insurance premiums (dependent on plan choice), portion of family paid
• up to 100% company paid dental insurance premiums (dependent on plan choice), portion of family paid
• Vision insurance
• $50K life insurance
• Partial internet reimbursement
• 100% remote work
• Matching 401K
• EAP