Capture Lead - Federal

Cognition; Washington; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognition is an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents, currently expanding its federal business. We’re hiring a Capture Lead to own the engine from identifying pursuits to stand-up of repeatable systems. This builder role creates the capture function from scratch and partners with Federal leadership and GTM teams.

You’ll implement capture strategy, manage proposals, and define metrics for success. Based in Washington, DC, or willing to relocate, security clearance preferred.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in federal business operations, capture, or revenue strategy in defense tech or federal services.
• Deep fluency with FAR/DFARS, contract vehicles, capture lifecycle, and federal sales rhythms.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to model, analyze, and tell the story.
• Experience building capture programs from scratch in fast-moving environments.
• Willingness to operate without a playbook and execute hands-on when needed.
• Based in Washington, DC, or open to relocation; security clearance preferred or obtainable.

Responsibilities

• Lead capture strategy and planning with federal leadership, and build the end-to-end capture engine.
• Coordinate deal structuring, pricing strategy, and negotiation across contract vehicles.
• Identify and track relevant solicitations from RFI to final RFP and manage proposal operations.
• Create and maintain collateral, past performance, and pricing libraries for pursuits.
• Define metrics for federal GTM and build dashboards; manage bid/no-bid processes.
• Run red-team and AAR reviews; institutionalize lessons learned into repeatable practices.

Skills

Federal procurement

Capture management

Data analysis

Strategic storytelling

Job description

We are an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents.

We're the makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer.

Our team is extremely talent-dense. Among our founding team, we have world-class competitive programmers, former founders, and leaders from companies at the cutting edge of AI including Scale AI, Palantir, Cursor, Waymo, Tesla, Lunchclub, Modal, Google DeepMind, and Nuro.

Building Devin is just the first step- our hardest challenges still lie ahead. If you're excited to solve some of the world's biggest problems and build AI that can reason on real-world tasks, apply to join us.

About the Role

Cognition is building its federal business, and capture is the engine that drives it. We're hiring a Capture Lead to partner directly with Federal leadership and own that engine end to end- from identifying the right pursuits to standing up the systems that make winning repeatable. This is a builder's role: you'll create the capture function, not inherit one.

What you'll do

Capture strategy & planning

• Partner with Federal sales leadership on quarterly and annual capture planning

• Partner with GTM, Mission Success, and Engineering on deal structuring, pricing strategy, and negotiation across contract vehicles

• Track and prioritize contract vehicle strategy (GSA, OTAs, IDIQs, SBIR pathways, prime/sub relationships)

Pursuit & proposal operations

• Identify and track relevant federal solicitations, from initial RFI through final RFP

• Build the operational backbone for proposal response: intake, qualification, bid/no-bid decisioning, color team review cadence, and compliance

• Manage relationships with proposal and capture partners supporting RFI-to-RFP response on Cognition's behalf

• Build and maintain proposal collateral, and maintain the past performance, capabilities, and pricing libraries that compound across pursuits

GTM systems & performance

• Define the metrics that matter for a federal GTM motion and build dashboards that surface them

• Own solicitation response tracking across active pursuits

• Run the red-team/AAR process on wins and losses; turn lessons learned into repeatable best practices

Cross-functional execution

• Identify operational bottlenecks and build the systems, processes, and tooling to remove them

What we're looking for

• 4+ years of experience in federal business operations, capture management, or revenue strategy at a defense tech, federal SaaS, or government services company

• Deep fluency in federal procurement: contract vehicles, working knowledge of FAR/DFARS, capture lifecycle, and the rhythm of federal sales cycles

• Strong analytical foundation—you can build the model, run the analysis, and tell the story

• Track record of working in and building capture programs from scratch in a fast-moving environment

• Comfort operating without a playbook, and a low ego about doing the work yourself

• Based in Washington, DC, or willing to relocate

• Security clearance preferred, or ability to obtain one

What success looks like in the first year

• A functioning bid/no-bid and proposal process with clear ownership

• Live pipeline visibility and win/loss reporting leadership actually uses

• A measurable improvement in win rate or pursuit efficiency

Equal Opportunity

Cognition is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process - please let us know if you need any.