Proposal Manager

CHAOS Industries; Washington; On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401k

Free daily lunch

Unlimited PTO

Casual dress code

Job summary

CHAOS Industries is seeking a Proposal Manager to lead the development and delivery of compliant responses for U.S. federal and defense opportunities.

You will own the proposal process from planning to submission, coordinating cross-functional contributors and ensuring timely, accurate responses. The role emphasizes hands-on writing, editing, and collaboration with engineers, product leaders, business development, capture, and other SMEs to craft original content and tailor material to customer

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, English, computer science, engineering, or business, or equivalent professional experience.
• Five or more years of experience managing proposals for U.S. federal, defense, or national security customers.
• Demonstrated experience leading proposals from solicitation analysis and planning through review, production, and submission.
• Significant hands-on experience writing and editing technical proposals, RFIs, white papers, or similar customer-facing responses.
• Ability to quickly learn complex hardware or software products and translate technical information into clear, compelling content.
• Experience managing multiple contributors, competing deadlines, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Experience supporting both rapid-turn responses and larger, long-form or partner-supported proposals.
• Exceptional writing, editing, communication, organization, and attention to detail.
• Sound judgment and the ability to identify risks, resolve ambiguity, and maintain quality under demanding deadlines.
• Ability to obtain a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of proposals, RFIs, sources-sought, white papers, and other RFx deliverables.
• Analyze solicitation instructions, evaluation criteria, amendments, and submission requirements.
• Develop and maintain compliance matrices, schedules, outlines, work assignments, review plans, and checklists.
• Lead proposal kickoffs, working sessions, status reviews, and formal review cycles.
• Coordinate inputs from engineering, product, business development, capture, finance, contracts, legal, and other contributors.
• Manage multiple concurrent responses with rapid-turn submissions and longer, more complex proposals.
• Identify risks early and elevate issues that could affect submission quality or timeliness.
• Lead final integration, production, QA, portal upload, and on-time submission.
• Interview engineers, product leaders, executives to develop accurate narratives.
• Build content from a blank page when material does not exist.
• Translate complex concepts into clear, customer-focused responses.
• Tailor existing content to mission needs and evaluation criteria.
• Incorporate win themes and differentiators across responses.
• Edit contributions into a consistent voice while preserving accuracy.
• Review content for responsiveness, clarity, and compliance.
• Lead cross-functional proposal teams and improve templates and materials.

Skills

Writing

Editing

Communication

Organization

Attention to detail

Time management

Risk identification

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage - domain dominance. The company’s products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview

As a Proposal Manager, you will lead the development and delivery of compelling, compliant responses for U.S. federal and defense opportunities across CHAOS Industries. You will own the proposal process from initial planning through final submission, coordinating cross-functional contributors, maintaining schedules and compliance, managing review cycles, and ensuring each response is complete, accurate, and delivered on time.

This is a hands-on, writing-oriented role. In addition to managing the proposal process, you will work closely with engineers, product leaders, business development, capture, and other subject‑matter experts to develop original technical content, tailor existing material to specific customer needs, and edit responses into a clear and consistent narrative. Success requires the ability to learn complex technologies, build content from limited source material, and write about new solutions for the first time.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a rapidly growing team dedicated to delivering highly impactful technologies to the defense, national security, and critical industry sectors.

Responsibilities

Proposal Planning and Execution

• Lead the development of proposals, requests for information, sources-sought and market-research responses, white papers, and other RFx deliverables.
• Analyze solicitation instructions, evaluation criteria, amendments, and submission requirements.
• Develop and maintain compliance matrices, proposal schedules, outlines, work assignments, review plans, and production checklists.
• Lead proposal kickoffs, working sessions, status reviews, and formal review cycles.
• Coordinate inputs from engineering, product, business development, capture, finance, contracts, legal, and other contributors.
• Manage multiple concurrent responses, balancing rapid-turn submissions with longer and more complex proposals.
• Identify schedule, content, compliance, and resource risks early and elevate issues that could affect submission quality or timeliness.
• Lead final integration, production, quality assurance, portal upload, and on-time submission.

Technical Writing and Editing

• Interview engineers, product leaders, executives, and other subject‑matter experts to develop accurate and understandable technical narratives.
• Build content from a blank page when established proposal language or reusable source material does not exist.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear, concise, and customer-focused responses.
• Tailor existing content to specific mission needs, use cases, requirements, and evaluation criteria.
• Work with Business Development and Capture to incorporate approved pursuit strategies, win themes, and differentiators throughout the response.
• Edit contributions from multiple authors into a consistent voice while preserving technical accuracy and appropriate qualifications.
• Review final content for responsiveness, clarity, consistency, grammar, and compliance.

Cross-Functional Coordination and Process Improvement

• Lead cross-functional proposal teams that may include internal contributors, external partners, and subcontractors.
• Maintain and improve proposal templates, reusable content, reference materials, checklists, and process guidance.

Physical Location

• Work full-time onsite from our Washington, D.C. office.
• Light travel (less than 10%) is required for trips to our Los Angeles headquarters and strategic meetings or events.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, such as communications, marketing, English, computer science, engineering, or business, or equivalent professional experience.
• Five or more years of experience managing proposals for U.S. federal, defense, or national security customers.
• Demonstrated experience leading proposals from solicitation analysis and planning through review, production, and submission.
• Significant hands-on experience writing and editing technical proposals, RFIs, white papers, or similar customer‑facing responses.
• Ability to quickly learn complex hardware or software products and translate technical information into clear, compelling content.
• Experience managing multiple contributors, competing deadlines, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Experience supporting both rapid-turn responses and larger, long-form or partner-supported proposals.
• Exceptional writing, editing, communication, organization, and attention to detail.
• Sound judgment and the ability to identify risks, resolve ambiguity, and maintain quality under demanding deadlines.
• Ability to obtain a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance.

Why CHAOS?

• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
• Additional benefits : 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
• Our Perks: Free daily lunch, 'No meeting Fridays', unlimited PTO, casual dress code
• Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
• Team Growth: 350 employees and counting across 5 global offices

Salary Range: $140,000 - $180,000

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.

Recruiting Agencies: CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach. Unsolicited submissions will not be reviewed or compensated.

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