Principal, Pursuit Operations

HDR; Pennington (NJ); On-site; USD 147,637 - 210,910; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and Dental Insurance

Paid Time Off

Retirement Savings Plan with Employer Match

Job summary

HDR is seeking a Principal of Pursuit Operations in Pennington, NJ to lead a dynamic team responsible for ensuring excellence in project pursuits. This role includes optimizing workflows, managing processes, and fostering a collaborative team culture. Candidates must bring extensive experience and proven leadership in the A/E/C industry.

We value employee engagement and offer a comprehensive benefits package. This role requires a commitment to operational excellence and employee development while contributing to our mission of making a positive impact globally.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years relevant industry experience.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and inspire others.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a multidisciplinary team of pursuit managers and specialists.
• Establish and continuously improve pursuit processes, tools, and standards.
• Ensure excellence in messaging, content, and graphic presentation for pursuits.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Financial Acumen

Microsoft Office

Job description

Overview

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?

Watch Our Story: https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.

The Principal, Pursuit Operations leads the execution engine of AMS, driving consistent, high-quality pursuit delivery through strong team leadership, standardized processes, and operational rigor. This role is accountable for building and developing a high-performing team, optimizing workflows, and delivering pursuit excellence across all sectors. Success in this role requires a proven track record of leading high-performing teams, executing complex pursuits as a pursuit specialist, contributing to broader team success, and advancing efficiency in pursuit execution and workload management.

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 to 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.

Qualifications

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%
• Cover letter and focused resume to job description

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

What We Believe

HDR is our company. We build on each other\'s life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Our Commitment

As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.

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. The expected compensation range for this position depends upon skills, experience, education and geographical location. (Stated benefits are for full-time regular positions. Temporary and part-time roles eligible for limited benefits.) Los Angeles, CA and Pennington, NJ: $147,637.00 - $210,910.00 Arlington, VA: $154,056.00 - $220,080.00

Primary Location: United States-Nebraska-Omaha

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

Industry: Marketing/Communications

Schedule: Full-time

Employee Status: Regular

BusinessClass: Marketing and Admin

Job Posting: Jun 29, 2026

At HDR, we are committed to the principles of employment equity. We are an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer (https://www.hdrinc.com/equal-employment-opportunity-employer). We consider all qualified applicants, regardless of criminal histories, arrest and conviction records.