Federal Pursuit Marketing Strategist

HKS, Inc.; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Life & AD&D insurance

Short/long term disability

Job summary

HKS, Inc. is seeking a strategic Pursuit Specialist to lead narrative development for Tier 1 opportunities.

You will analyze client needs, competitive landscapes and BD intelligence to craft winning pursuit strategies and messaging, coordinating with PMD, BD, and brand teams across Richmond and Washington, DC. The role emphasizes collaboration, storytelling, and publishing-ready briefs, with travel possible to support external promotion and award submissions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Journalism, or related degree.
• 8+ years of experience in AEC marketing, pursuit strategy, business development support, or related experience.
• Proficiency in InDesign
• Experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketchup and InDesign software preferred
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite preferred
• Previous experience with government procurements, e.g., SAM.gov
• Previous experience with subscription services, e.g., GovWin.co
• Previous experience with completion of government forms, e.g., SF330
• Previous experience with design-bid-build and design-build procurements
• Previous experience with Phase 1/Phase 2, RFQ/RFP best-value procurements
• Excellent written verbal, presentation, and storytelling skills
• Strong facilitator skills
• Strong understanding of client motivations in architecture, design, and professional services procurement

Responsibilities

• Analyzes each priority pursuit from the client's perspective: their stated and unstated priorities, procurement context, decision-making dynamics and how HKS is positioned relative to likely competitors
• Develops a clear pursuit strategy and document for each Tier 1 opportunity, defining win themes, messaging pillars, differentiators and the overall narrative approach
• Ensures pursuit strategy is grounded in client intelligence gathered through the BD relationship and that it reflects the practice's core value propositions and brand identity
• Partners with Business Development Directors (BDD) and seller/doers to pressure-test and align on strategy before creative and writing work begins with Pursuit team
• Provides ongoing strategic direction throughout the pursuit lifecycle, including guidance on interview storylines, executive messaging and finalist presentation framing
• Creates clear strategic briefs that guide the Pursuit Marketing COE's proposal and interview development, ensuring deliverables reflect the agreed strategy and client focus
• Maintains close alignment with the PMD and BDD to stay connected to evolving client relationships, pipeline developments, and BD activity
• Leverages Salesforce to capture relevant client details so it is accessible and actionable for pursuit team
• Identifies the through-line between clients’ early communication and what HKS will say in the pursuit
• Carries proof points, outcomes, and themes from completed projects forward into pursuit strategy and practice positioning
• Supports PMD with monitoring market signals, published shortlists and procurement activity in the practice's key sectors to help the PMD anticipate future needs
• Collaborates with the PMD to identify which completed projects should be prioritized for external promotion, based on practice positioning, thought leadership value, and firmwide brand goals
• Develops and maintains a rolling annual promotion plan by practice and geography, with timelines aligned to project milestones, client readiness and publication opportunities
• Leads the narrative and story development for each featured project, working with the Communications COE to define the angle, emphasis and channel strategy
• Partners with the Brand COE to define the visual approach and ensure creative execution aligns with the HKS visual identity and the story being told
• Serves as the primary coordinator between HKS and the client for all promotion-related activities, including content approvals, photography coordination and media participation
• Supports the COE’s development of award submissions, press releases, editorial pitches and social content
• Tracks performance of project promotions across media, digital and awards channels, provides regular reporting to the PMD and use those insights to continuously refine the approach
• Facilitates alignment conversations that bring BD intelligence, design perspective and marketing strategy into a single, unified pursuit direction before execution begins
• In partnership with pursuit team and BDD, conducts post-pursuit debriefs to evaluate strategy effectiveness, capture lessons learned and identify what worked and what to do differently
• Feeds pursuit learnings back into the practice's positioning, story library and BD tools so that each pursuit makes the next one stronger
• Travel may be required

Skills

Storytelling

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Journalism, or related field

Tools

InDesign

Photoshop

Illustrator

SketchUp

MS Office

GovWin

SAM.gov

SF330

Job description

HKS, Inc. is seeking a strategic Pursuit Specialist to lead narrative development for Tier 1 opportunities.

You will analyze client needs, competitive landscapes and BD intelligence to craft winning pursuit strategies and messaging, coordinating with PMD, BD, and brand teams across Richmond and Washington, DC. The role emphasizes collaboration, storytelling, and publishing-ready briefs, with travel possible to support external promotion and award submissions.