Proposal Coordinator

Job Title: Proposal Coordinator

Location: Oak Ridge, TN (Remote)

Estimated Duration: 6 Months
 

 

Proposal Coordinator

Position Overview

The Proposal Coordinator is an integral member of a nuclear-focused business development team, supporting federal and commercial proposals with a strong engineering and technology focus.

This is a hands-on proposal development role. The successful candidate must be able to manage the full proposal lifecycle and personally develop original proposal content. Candidates whose experience is primarily limited to reviewing, editing, formatting, or revising content written by others will not be a fit.

The position is based in Richland, Washington, with hybrid or remote options available.

Top Three Must-Haves

1. Full Proposal Writing and Preparation

Demonstrated experience personally writing and preparing complete federal and commercial proposals in response to formal RFPs. This must include developing original, persuasive content, not simply reviewing, editing, or revising material prepared by technical contributors.

1. End-to-End Proposal Coordination

Proven ability to manage the full proposal lifecycle, including pre-RFP capture support, RFP analysis, compliance matrices, kickoff meetings, assignments, schedules, technical-author coordination, production, submission, and post-submittal activities.

1. DOE, Federal, or Commercial Nuclear Proposal Experience

At least three years of experience writing and coordinating Department of Energy, other federal, or commercial nuclear proposals. Candidates must be comfortable working directly with engineers, scientists, capture managers, and other technical stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Pre-RFP and Capture Support

• Partner with capture managers to support opportunity development and positioning.

• Conduct SWOT analyses and pre-RFP research.

• Help develop capture strategies and formal capture plans.

• Support the preparation of teaming agreements and memoranda of understanding.

• Identify key proposal resources, relevant project experience, and qualified personnel.

• Enter and maintain accurate opportunity information in the business development database.

• Participate in strategy meetings and coordinate the preparation of white papers outlining the proposed technical approach.

Proposal Development and Submission

• Coordinate Tier 2 and Tier 3 federal proposals, principally supporting the Department of Energy and its prime contractors, as well as commercial nuclear opportunities.

• Perform a comprehensive review of each RFP to identify instructions, requirements, evaluation criteria, risks, and submission requirements.

• Distribute solicitation materials and coordinate reviews with Contracts, Legal, Finance, Procurement, IT, Human Resources, Environmental Health and Safety, and Quality Assurance.

• Develop compliance matrices, assignment matrices, annotated outlines, and detailed proposal schedules.

• Plan and facilitate proposal kickoff meetings, status meetings, color-team reviews, and recovery sessions.

• Coordinate the proposal from RFP release through final production and delivery.

• Direct and support multiple technical and non-technical authors working in collocated or virtual environments.

• Personally write original proposal content, including technical narratives, executive summaries, management approaches, past performance, corporate experience, and key-personnel resumes.

• Transform technical input from engineers and scientists into clear, accurate, persuasive, and RFP-compliant proposal content.

• Ensure the final submission is compliant, technically accurate, compelling, professionally presented, and delivered on time.

Post-Submission Responsibilities

• Distribute final proposal copies to appropriate internal stakeholders.

• Archive project experience, resumes, graphics, and reusable proposal content.

• Update opportunity and proposal records in the business development database.

• Request and participate in customer debriefings.

• Develop and distribute lessons-learned summaries for leadership and proposal-team members.

Additional Responsibilities

• Prepare Sources Sought responses and Expressions of Interest.

• Develop business development brochures, presentations, and supporting materials.

• Support company participation at industry conferences, symposia, and events.

• Prepare original content for internal and external websites.

• Provide other communications and business development support as needed.

Required Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship is required.

• At least three years of hands-on experience writing and coordinating Department of Energy, other federal, or commercial nuclear proposals in response to formal RFPs.

• Demonstrated experience personally developing complete proposal sections and original content.

• Experience coordinating Tier 2 and Tier 3 proposals with a strong engineering, scientific, or technology focus.

• Proven ability to manage proposal teams consisting of technical and non-technical contributors.

• Ability to produce compliant, technically accurate, persuasive proposal documents within short turnaround periods, often 30 days or less.

• Ability to work independently and communicate effectively with engineers and scientists.

• Experience serving as the liaison among capture managers, proposal managers, technical authors, contributing writers, graphic designers, production specialists, and administrative staff.

• Advanced written and verbal communication skills.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and Adobe Acrobat.

• Ability to work in a deadline-driven environment that may require evening or weekend work.

• Ability to travel occasionally.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.

• Formal training in the Shipley proposal-development methodology.

• Proficiency with graphics, desktop publishing, or scheduling software.

• Experience preparing engineering-intensive nuclear proposals for the Department of Energy or its prime contractors.

Candidate Screening Guidance

Qualified candidates should be able to provide specific examples of proposals they personally wrote and prepared from initial RFP analysis through final submission. They should clearly identify the sections they authored, how they developed content from technical input, and how they managed compliance, contributors, schedules, reviews, production, and delivery.

Candidates whose backgrounds are centered primarily on proofreading, copyediting, formatting, document control, compliance review, or revising content written by others should not be considered unless they can also demonstrate substantial original proposal writing and full-lifecycle proposal ownership.