Principal, Pursuit Operations

HDR, Inc.; Omaha (NE); On-site; USD 147,637 - 210,910; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Retirement savings plan with employer match

Paid time off and parental leave

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

HDR, Inc. is seeking a dynamic leader in Omaha, Nebraska, to drive pursuit execution and manage a multidisciplinary team. Ideal candidates will have at least 15 years of experience in the A/E/C industry with a proven ability to secure high-value contracts. Responsibilities include overseeing pursuit processes, managing budgets, and developing training programs.

The role offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance, retirement savings plan, and tuition reimbursement.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years relevant industry experience.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and inspire others.
• Deep knowledge of procurement in the A/E/C industry.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a multidisciplinary team across sectors.
• Establish and improve pursuit processes and standards.
• Oversee budgets and facilitate debriefs for improvement.

Skills

Leadership

Project Management

Communication Skills

Financial Acumen

Negotiation Skills

Education

Professional registration or technical certificate

15 years relevant industry experience

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead, manage, and mentor a multidisciplinary team of pursuit managers, specialists, and designers across sectors.
• Supervise direct reports and oversee broader team performance, workload balancing, and professional development.
• Recruit, hire, onboard, and train new team members to strengthen capacity and capability.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive team culture that supports innovation, engagement, and growth.

Operational Excellence

• Establish, manage, and continuously improve pursuit processes, tools, and standards to ensure consistency and efficiency.
• Maintain and evolve the AMS Pursuit Manual, templates, and portal resources.
• Oversee pursuit resourcing, workload management, and capacity planning across all sectors.
• Support go/no-go (GNG) processes and approvals, ensuring timely and consistent execution.
• Monitor and manage pursuit budgets and level of effort.
• Facilitate debriefs to identify improvement opportunities and measure overall competitiveness.

Pursuit Delivery

• Lead or support pursuit execution, ensuring excellence in messaging, content, and graphic presentation.
• Enforce brand standards and quality expectations across all deliverables.
• Guide teams on best practices, production workflows, and submission readiness.
• Ensure proper utilization of marketing content, tools, and communications resources.

Training & Enablement

• Develop and deliver training programs (e.g., webinars, onboarding, "Basics") to strengthen team capabilities.
• Provide timely feedback to staff and partners.
• Promote knowledge sharing and continuous improvement across AMS.
• Serve as a resource for marketing and pursuit-related inquiries firmwide.

Operational Leadership & Collaboration

• Partner with leadership on department reporting, budgeting, staffing strategies, and operational initiatives.
• Support cross-functional collaboration with communications, graphic designers, and sector teams.
• Represent AMS in internal initiatives, technology adoption, and operational improvements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in winning high-value contracts in the A/E/C industry.
• Ability to travel up to 20%.
• Work on pursuit deadlines for any sector up to 15%.

Required Qualifications

• A minimum of 15 years relevant industry experience.
• Demonstrated "self-starter" with a history of completing projects with limited oversight.
• Deep knowledge of the A/E/C industry's standard approach to procurement of professional services.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and inspire others.
• Maintain a professional or engineering registration or certificate or have related technical experience.
• Experience in sales and developing effective win strategies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability and desire to travel and engage with others in-person.
• Demonstrated experience in writing compelling content based on information from technical staff.
• Strong financial acumen and negotiation skills.

Benefits

We provide a comprehensive benefits package that promotes employee ownership, employee health, performance, and success, which includes medical, dental, vision, short and long-term disability, life insurance, an employee assistance program, paid time away, parental leave, paid holidays, a retirement savings plan with employer match, employee referral bonus and tuition reimbursement.

Compensation

Los Angeles, CA and Pennington, NJ: $147,637.00 - $210,910.00
Arlington, VA: $154,056.00 - $220,080.00

Locations

Primary Location: United States-Nebraska-Omaha

Other Locations: United States-California-Los Angeles, United States-Virginia-Arlington, United States-New Jersey-Pennington

Schedule

Full-time

Employee Status

Regular

Industry

Marketing/Communications