Proposal Manager

CAI; Dublin; On-site; EUR 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

CAI, a professional services firm, is seeking a Proposal Manager in Ireland to lead the end-to-end development of competitive bid responses across pharmaceutical and mission-critical sectors. You will coordinate with Practice Leaders, business development, and operations to ensure timely, accurate proposals that meet client needs.

The role requires strategic thinking, flexibility, attention to detail, and excellent English communication.

Qualifications

• BA or BS in English, business, engineering, marketing, or equivalent.
• Minimum 5 years of experience developing and producing proposals, pharma/mission critical preferred.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Flexible schedules and ability to shift priorities while maintaining quality.
• Excellent English written and verbal communication with professional demeanor.
• Strong MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint; CRM experience desirable.
• Ability to organise large volumes of information.
• Team player with proactive communication to supervisors and team members.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Practice Leaders, business development and operations to achieve proposal goals.
• Collect and manage development of proposal responses with regional teams.
• Review and measure quality of proposals written by others.
• Assist with continuous process improvement and lessons learned activities.
• Lead overall proposal development from creation to bid submission.
• Collect, analyse and communicate metrics and KPIs for proposals and team performance.
• Potentially lead part of the Proposal team.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Team collaboration

Adaptability

Education

BA or BS in English, business, engineering, marketing, or equivalent experience

Tools

Microsoft Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Adobe

CRM databases

Job description

Are You Ready?

CAI is a professional services company established in 1996 that has grown year over year to nearly 800 people worldwide. For mission-critical and regulated industries that need to deliver critical solutions in high-stakes environments, we provide accelerated operational readiness and unparalleled performance at the highest standard through our rigorous approach, field-tested processes, and elite expertise developed over 30 years.

Our approach is simple because our Purpose informs everything we do:

We exist to be the trusted solution for our clients as they strive to build a better working world and improve the human experience.

Our Foundational Principles:

• We act with integrity
• We serve each other
• We serve society
• We work for our future

At CAI, we believe in a relentless dedication to excellence, pushing boundaries and surpassing expectations. From the beginning, we’ve challenged ourselves to do what others wouldn’t. Not just setting industry standards, but redefining them entirely. We are bold in our thinking and creative in our approach. We operate at the intersection of wisdom and technology and thrive when they come together with humanity.

For us, operational readiness isn’t simply a goal—it’s a way of life. Tomorrow demands to be at the forefront of today. We get there through tireless effort, precision, efficiency, and an unwavering belief that there is always room for advancement. We’re not interested in how it used to be done. We’re obsessed with how it will be done.

The Proposal Manager assists with the management of all aspects of proposal development and bid submissions, and the dedicated team that supports our field operations and business development personnel in the generation of proposals.

This is a dynamic position that requires strategic thinking, flexibility, planned and proactive approaches, and the ability to shift priorities frequently while maintaining attention to detail and achieving high quality standards.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with each of our Practice Leaders, business development and operations team members, as well as others to achieve the following:
• Collect and manage the development of proposal responses both collaboratively with regional
• Review and measure the quality of proposals written by others.
• Assist with continuous process improvement duties, including participating in the proposal after-action-review meetings, proposal process scoring, identification of lessons learned and improvements.
• Responsible for a variety of response types including detailed RFP responses in proposal form, Requests for Information, Cost Opinions, and Statements of Qualification.
• Lead the overall the proposal development from creation to bid submission.
• collect, analyse, and communicate metrics and Key Performance Indicators for proposals and for the performance of the Proposal Support Team.
• Potentially lead part of the Proposal team.

Qualifications:

• BA or BS in English, business, engineering, marketing, or equivalent experience required.
• Minimum 5 years of experience developing and producing proposals with a preference in the pharmaceutical and mission critical industry preferred.
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Ability to work flexible schedules (e.g., extra hours to meet deadlines, etc.) and able to shift priorities frequently while maintaining attention to detail, meet deadlines, and achieve high quality standards.
• Ability to understand and organise large volumes of information
• Effective proposal coordination skills, including planning, organisation, communication, and resource management skills.
• Exceptional English written and verbal communication skills and professional demeanor - speaks clearly and concisely, listens and asks for clarification.
• Must have strong Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint skills. Customer relationship management database experience is also desired.
• Ability to work within Adobe and Microsoft program templates and comply with our corporate standards to present a consistent appearance/style.
• Team player willing to step in an assist team for a range of tasks
• Initiates and maintains communications with supervisors and team members

€85,000 - €120,000 a year