Competitive Intelligence (CI) Manager I

Sierra Nevada Corporation; Lone Tree (CO); Hybrid; USD 108,000 - 149,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual incentive pay

Medical, dental, and vision plans

401(k) with 150% match up to 6%

Life insurance

3 weeks paid time off

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Sierra Nevada Corporation in Colorado is seeking a Competitive Intelligence (CI) Manager I to drive enterprise growth and embed intelligence across the growth lifecycle. This role works alongside Business Development and Capture leadership to strengthen competitive positioning and protect long-term enterprise positioning.

The CI Lead will transform intelligence into a proactive, predictive growth engine, advising executives and shaping market strategy across pursuits. A Secret U.S.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• 4+ years in related field; substitutions allowed.
• Experience leading proposal teams.
• Expertise with proposal management software and AI tools.
• Experience managing multiple proposals from planning to delivery.
• Must be able to obtain Secret U.S. Security Clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise-wide CI and growth initiatives across the BD lifecycle.
• Mentor SNC CI team; conduct market assessments and influence product strategy.
• Establish governance for competitive assessment across pipelines.
• Support gate reviews, bid/no-bid decisions, and proposal reviews.
• Lead competitive assessments and price-to-win efforts.
• Build CI tools and playbooks; measure pipeline health.
• Deliver quarterly executive briefings on competitive landscape.

Skills

Proposal leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

AI tools

Communication

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

8 years of related experience in lieu of degree

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Proposal management software

MS Word

APMP Certification

Job description

The Competitive Intelligence (CI) Manager I serves as an enterprise growth leader operating parallel to Business Development and Capture. This role architects and institutionalizes the CI function across the full BD lifecycle — from long-range market shaping through proposal execution and executive strategy. CI is not a sub-function of Capture. It operates alongside Capture and BD leadership to maintain objectivity, enable enterprise-wide visibility, and ensure intelligence continuity across pursuits. The CI Lead ensures intelligence is proactive, predictive, and embedded across the growth lifecycle — strengthening competitive discipline and protecting long-term enterprise positioning. The CI Lead transforms intelligence from a reactive support capability into a predictive enterprise growth engine. This role increases win probability, strengthens executive confidence in major pursuit investments, reduces strategic blind spots, and builds durable competitive advantage across the organization’s growth portfolio. By institutionalizing the CI discipline and embedding intelligence across the lifecycle, the CI Lead ensures sustainable, compound growth aligned with enterprise objectives. The ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance), Aviation, and Security (IAS) business area is a leader in ISR and aviation, it is a leading prime manned and unmanned aircraft systems integrator for innovative, high-performance ISR and aviation systems. Its end-to-end Command, Control, Computers, Communications and Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities encompass design, integration, test, certification, ground/flight training and complete logistics support. IAS tailors solutions to customer cost, performance, and schedule requirements and designs to consistently exceed expectations – with an unrivaled record of on time and on (or under) budget deliveries.

Responsibilities:

• Enterprise Growth Strategy & Market Foresight Lead enterprise-wide competitive positioning strategy. Provide forward-looking market assessments and threat forecasting. Analyze industry shifts, M&A activity, and emerging entrants. Inform strategic planning and investment prioritization. Advise executive leadership on competitive risk and expansion opportunities.
• Winning large new business programs. Mentor and develop the SNC’s CI team personnel, fostering a high-performance culture. Conduct in-depth market assessments to stay ahead of industry trends and customer demands. Collaborate with product development and engineering teams to influence new product strategies based on market insights.
• Organizational Positioning & Governance Operate as a peer strategic function alongside Capture and other BD leadership. Establish governance frameworks for competitive assessment integration. Maintain recommendations objectivity in bid/no-bid decisioning. Ensure cross-pipeline intelligence continuity.
• Pursuit Architecture & Competitive Strategy Support the development of content for use in SNC gate reviews. Support milestone/gate reviews, black hat sessions, solution sessions, blue teams, and support proposal reviews. Lead competitive assessments, teaming, and price-to-win efforts. Oversee competitive risk modeling for priority pursuits. Collaborate closely with business development, technical, management, pricing, and executive teams. Architect Black Hat and competitor simulation frameworks. Shape win strategies grounded in competitive reality. Influence Gate reviews with executive-level intelligence briefings. Lead and/or support the development and submission of white papers, RFI responses, and other proposal artifacts as assigned. Contribute to and utilize a comprehensive opportunity-specific CI Plan. Build and manage relationships with the Capture Team, the SNC’s other Business Development personnel, teammate personnel, SNC & teammate management, relevant client personnel, and industry stakeholders.
• Proposal Differentiation & Strategic Messaging Ensure enterprise differentiation is reflected across proposals. Conduct delta competitive assessments post-RFP release. Evaluate executive summaries for clarity and advantage strength. Drive alignment between overall business winning strategy and proposal development.
• Intelligence Infrastructure & Institutionalization Design and scale standardized CI tools, repositories, and playbooks. Build sustainable intelligence processes beyond individual pursuits. Establish CI metrics tied to pipeline health and win performance. Embed competitive discipline organization-wide.
• Executive Advisory & Board-Level Insight Deliver quarterly competitive landscape briefings to senior leadership. Identify systemic risks to enterprise positioning. Provide independent analysis to challenge assumptions and prevent blind spots. Serve as strategic advisor on long-term growth trajectory and market influence.

Qualifications You Must Have:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in related field.
• Relevant experience can be considered as a substitute for the required educational qualifications.
• In the absence of a degree, a minimum of 8 years of related experience is required.
• Higher level relevant degree may substitute for experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading proposal teams.
• Expertise utilizing proposal management software and AI tools.
• Experience with simultaneously managing multiple proposals of all sizes from proposal planning to delivery.
• Progressive technical, proposal writing and proposal management experience with emphasis in technical products and logistics services.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to motivate/work with others.
• Ability to work successfully in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment.
• Experience preparing Pricing Volumes to include work breakdown structure (WBS) and Basis of Estimate (BOE), including government contracting proposal processes and procedures.
• Prior experience in a Lead role; the ability to mentor, train, guide and inspect the work of team members and coordinate project tasks to ensure milestones are met.
• The ability to obtain and maintain a Secret U.S. Security Clearance is required

Qualifications We Prefer:

• Knowledge of industry-specific proposal tools and software.
• Self-starter and a problem solver; must have the ability to see the big picture and implement changes as required.
• Association for Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Certification.
• Understanding of one or more of Adobe Creative Suite applications: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat.
• Skills in the use of MS Word, i.e., formatting, outlining, graphics integration, for the use of proposals.
• Background in the Aerospace and Defense Industry, the US Department of Defense or US Military.

Estimated Starting Salary Range: $108,496.89 - $149,183.22. Compensation varies depending on a wide array of factors, such as candidates' key skills, relevant work experience, and education/training/certifications. The disclosed range estimate may be adjusted for any applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. SNC offers annual incentive pay based upon performance that is commensurate with the level of the position. SNC offers a generous benefit package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, 401(k) with 150% match up to 6%, life insurance, 3 weeks paid time off, tuition reimbursement, and more.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a Secret U.S. Security Clearance. U.S. Citizenship status is required as this position needs an active U.S. Security Clearance for employment. Non-U.S. citizens may not be eligible to obtain a security clearance. The Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudications Facility (DoD CAF), a federal government agency, handles the adjudicative aspects of the security clearance eligibility process for industry applicants. Adjudicative factors which affect the outcome of the eligibility determination include, but are not limited to, allegiance to the U.S., foreign influence, foreign preference, criminal conduct, security violations and illegal drug use. Learn more about the background check process for Security Clearances.

SNC is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to an environment free of discrimination.

Employment decisions are made based on merit without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran or other characteristics protected by law.

SNC is a global leader in aerospace and national security committed to moving the American Dream forward. We’re known and respected for our mission and execution focus, agility, and disruptive and rapid innovation. We provide leading edge technologies and transformative solutions that support our nation’s most critical security needs. If you are mission-focused, thrive in collaborative environments, and want to make our country stronger with state-of-the-art technologies that safeguard freedom, join our team! SNC is a trusted global leader in aerospace and national security. Our innovative solutions enable connected protection through command, control and communications systems, as well as ISR, cyber, electromagnetic spectrum management, and other high capabilities for systems across all domains – sea, land, air, space and cyber. As a longstanding leader in defense technology, SNC is the optimum intersection of commercial, defense and non-traditional contractors. We are one of the only privately owned mid-tier A&D contractors and we pride ourselves on our ability to invest early and often to ensure mission success on or ahead of schedule. It’s part of our mission to always stay one step ahead; working on solutions today to solve the problems of tomorrow. Founded in 1963, SNC is owned by Chairwoman Eren Ozmen and CEO Fatih Ozmen.