Proposal Manager

Kearfott Corporation; Black Mountain (NC); On-site; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K

Tuition Reimbursement

9/80 schedule with every other Friday

Job summary

Kearfott Corporation in Black Mountain, NC, seeks a Proposal Manager to lead the creation of customer-facing submissions across GND and MSD. You will drive multi‑disciplinary inputs, craft persuasive content, and ensure compliant, high-quality responses that strengthen win probability.

You will coordinate pricing, manage timelines, and leverage AI tools to enhance proposal quality while maintaining security and information-handling standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, or a related field required.
• 3–5 years in proposal development or related customer-response work.
• Aerospace/defense or technical manufacturing experience preferred.
• US citizenship and ability to obtain government security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead RFIs, RFQs, RFPs from kickoff to submission and follow-up.
• Analyze requirements and build compliance matrices and schedules.
• Collaborate with BD, capture, and engineering to gather inputs.
• Write, edit, and assemble cohesive, customer-focused proposals.
• Coordinate pricing inputs and ensure alignment with the proposal.
• Prepare teams for reviews and ensure final submission quality.
• Leverage AI tools to support discovery, drafting, and quality checks.
• Capture lessons learned and reusable content for future bids.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Writing & editing

Attention to detail

Excel

MS Office

AI tool familiarity

CRM familiarity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, or related field

MBA preferred

Tools

Awarded.ai

CRM systems

MS Office

Job description

Black Mountain, North Carolina, United States

Job Description

Founded in 1918, Kearfott Corporation, a global Aerospace and Defense supplier for over 100 years, is a leader in the design and manufacture of precision motion control products and inertial navigation components.

Kearfott has a very long history of innovation and excellence and is the go-to brand for many of our global clients. Kearfott is trusted, respected and plays a vital role in the success of America’s aerospace and defense industries. With over a century of expertise & experience, Kearfott is dedicated to providing quality, reliability, and cutting-edge technology to customers worldwide to meet their sea, land, air, and space navigation and guidance requirements.

Kearfott offers a comprehensive benefits package including a 401K, and Tuition Reimbursement. We offer a 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off.

We are looking for talented individuals who want to be part of a world-class work force. Join Kearfott and become part of a company that is recognized for technical expertise and respected world-wide as a ‘full service’ provider.

The Proposal Manager leads the development of assigned customer proposals and quotation responses across Kearfott’s Guidance & Navigation (GND) and Motion Systems (MSD) divisions. Working with Business Development (BD), capture leads, and contributors across the company, this person turns customer requirements, pursuit strategy, win themes, and technical and commercial inputs into clear, compliant, persuasive submissions that strengthen Kearfott’s probability of win.

The Proposal Manager reports to the Proposal Management Lead, who owns the organization-wide proposal process and review cadence. BD and capture leads own pursuit strategy and bid/no-bid decisions; the Proposal Manager owns the quality and execution of the assigned response. The role will actively use Awarded.ai and other company-approved AI capabilities to improve proposal work while verifying outputs and following company information-handling requirements.

Essential Functions:

• Lead assigned RFIs, RFQs, RFPs, and other customer responses from kickoff through submission and post-submission follow-up, managing multiple efforts and deadlines at once.
• Analyze customer requirements, instructions, and evaluation criteria; develop or maintain compliance matrices, annotated outlines, response plans, and schedules; identify gaps, risks, and clarification needs early.
• Partner with BD and capture leads to understand customer priorities, competitive context, win themes, discriminators, and proof points, and carry them consistently through the response.
• Obtain and integrate accurate, persuasive inputs from engineering, product management, manufacturing, operations, quality, finance, contracts, program management, and other subject‑matter experts. Follow up on missing or unclear inputs and elevate risks promptly.
• Write, edit, and integrate proposal content into a cohesive customer‑focused story. Ensure technical, management, past‑performance, schedule, quality, and commercial content is clear, consistent, supported, and aligned with the response strategy.
• Coordinate pricing and contractual inputs with the responsible teams; maintain alignment between the proposed solution, technical volumes, schedule, assumptions, and commercial response.
• Prepare teams for reviews led through the established proposal process, incorporate review feedback, and complete compliance, accuracy, document‑quality, and submission checks before delivery.
• Use Awarded.ai and other approved AI tools to support solicitation analysis, compliance mapping, approved‑content retrieval, drafting, editing, and quality checks where appropriate. Validate AI‑assisted work and protect company and customer information.
• Capture customer feedback, debrief findings, lessons learned, and reusable content to improve future proposals and support continuous improvement in proposal quality and probability of win.
• Strong, proven ability to manage cross‑functional teams to execute on time
• Excellent writing, editing, organization, and communication skills, including the ability to make complex technical information clear and relevant to a customer.
• Meticulous attention to detail with strong organization skills
• Proven ability to work across functions, earn timely input from busy contributors, manage competing deadlines, and maintain quality under pressure.
• Able to perform under pressure within tight deadlines
• Proficient in Excel, MS Office and AI Software
• Familiarity with CRM and databases

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, communications, engineering, or a related field required; MBA or other advanced degree preferred.
• 3-5 years of experience in proposal development, proposal management, technical writing, or closely related customer-response work, with demonstrated responsibility for developing complex submissions.
• Aerospace, defense, motion control, navigation, or other technical manufacturing experience preferred.
• Experience with proposal or generative AI tools is preferred; prior Awarded.ai experience is not required.
• Must be a US citizen and able to obtain government security clearance.

This position is located at our Black Mountain, NC facility.

Equal Opportunity Employer/including Disabled/Veterans

Location(s)

2858 US HWY 70, Black Mountain , North Carolina 28711 , United States