Lead – Federal

Jobtailor; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor in Washington, DC seeks an experienced Federal Capture Manager to lead end-to-end capture programs. You will partner with sales, GTM, mission success, and engineering to shape pricing, negotiate across vehicles, and drive proposals from RFI through final RFP.

The role requires deep federal procurement knowledge, strong analytical storytelling, and a track record of building capture programs in fast-paced environments. Based in DC or willing to relocate, security clearance preferred.

Qualifications

• Experience in federal operations and capture programs across defense tech or government services.
• Deep knowledge of FAR/DFARS, contract vehicles, and federal sales rhythms.
• Ability to model data, tell a story, and drive proposals to win.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Federal sales leadership on quarterly/annual capture planning.
• Coordinate with GTM, Mission Success, and Engineering on deal structuring and pricing.
• Track contract vehicle strategy (GSA, OTAs, IDIQs, SBIR) and eligibility.
• Identify federal solicitations from RFI to final RFP and respond accordingly.
• Build operational backbone for proposal response: intake, qualification, bid/no-bid, color team.
• Manage relationships with proposal and capture partners for RFI-to-RFP responses.
• Develop collateral and maintain libraries of past performance, capabilities, pricing.
• Define metrics for federal GTM and build dashboards to surface them.
• Own solicitation response tracking across active pursuits.
• Lead red-team/AAR reviews and translate lessons learned into repeatable practices.
• Identify bottlenecks and build systems to remove them.

Skills

Federal Business Operations

Capture Management

Federal Procurement

Analytical Skills

Proposal Development

Contract Vehicles

RFI/RFP Tracking

Dashboard Creation

Red-Team Process

Bottleneck Identification

Education

Security Clearance

Job description

Responsibilities

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

Requirements

• 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

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in federal business operations and capture management, with a strong analytical foundation to build models and analyze data. Proficient in federal procurement processes and capable of developing effective strategies for proposal responses and contract vehicle management.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Federal Business Operations
• Capture Management
• Federal Procurement
• Analytical Skills
• Proposal Development

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Capture Lifecycle
• Contract Vehicles
• FAR/DFARS Knowledge
• Proposal Response Management
• Metrics Definition
• Dashboard CreationRFI/RFP Tracking
• Bid/No-Bid Decisioning
• Red-Team Process
• Operational Bottleneck Identification

Soft Skills

• Analytical Thinking
• Relationship Management
• Adaptability
• Problem Solving
• Collaboration

Certifications & Qualifications

• Security Clearance

Industry Keywords

• Defense Tech
• Federal SaaS
• Government Services
• GSA
• OTAs
• IDIQs
• SBIR
• Prime/Sub Relationships