Proposal Manager - Study Design

RDI; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

RDI, an IVD-focused CRO in Los Angeles, seeks a proactive individual to own the path from client request to executable proposal. You will translate scattered inputs (protocols, RFQs, emails) into a clear study plan, assumptions, budgets, and timelines.

You will challenge assumptions, build site models, recruitment plans, and pricing, and write proposals that teams and clients can trust. This role requires comfort with both words and numbers and the ability to move fast without sacrificing

Qualifications

• Read protocols, RFQs, emails, specifications and client notes to determine what actually needs to be done.
• Identify missing information and obtain answers to avoid stalled proposals.
• Build study assumptions, site models, recruitment plans, sample flows, timelines, budgets and pricing.

Responsibilities

• Pressure-test the plan with Clinical Operations, laboratory, data, regulatory, and finance.
• Find simpler or better ways to execute the study when obvious approaches don't make sense.
• Understand the economics for RDI, sponsor, sites, and patients.
• Write proposals that are clear for clients and operating teams to execute.
• Own revisions, follow-up and client questions through signature.
• Make the proposal process faster and more repeatable without bureaucracy.

Skills

Excel modeling

Clinical operations

Proposal writing

Stakeholder management

Budgeting

Education

Bachelor's degree in life sciences

Tools

Excel

Job description

The Role

A client sends a protocol, a spreadsheet, three emails, several unanswered questions, and asks for a proposal.

Can you turn that into a study we can actually sell and deliver?

That is the job.

RDI designs and runs diagnostic clinical studies. Many of the opportunities we receive are not neatly packaged RFQs. The requirements can be incomplete, assumptions can conflict, and the obvious study design is not always the best one.

We need someone to own the path from client request to executable proposal.

This is not proposal coordination. It is not formatting documents or collecting inputs from other departments.

You are expected to understand the study, find what is missing, work out how it should operate, build the economics, and move it forward.

The Work

You will:

• Read protocols, RFQs, emails, specifications, and client notes and determine what actually needs to be done.
• Identify missing information and get answers rather than letting unanswered questions stall the proposal.
• Build study assumptions, site models, recruitment plans, sample flows, timelines, budgets, and pricing.
• Pressure-test the plan with Clinical Operations, laboratory, data, regulatory, and finance.
• Find simpler or better ways to execute the study when the obvious approach does not make sense.
• Understand the economics for RDI, the sponsor, the sites, and the patients.
• Write proposals that are clear enough that the client understands what they are buying and the operating team understands what it must deliver.
• Own revisions, follow-up, and client questions through signature.
• Make the proposal process faster and more repeatable without turning it into bureaucracy.

Who We Are Looking For

You like ambiguous problems.

You are comfortable with both words and numbers. You can build a model in Excel, understand a clinical workflow, and explain the answer in plain English.

You may come from CRO proposals, clinical operations, project management, diagnostics, research sites, consulting, or another project-based business.

IVD experience is a major advantage. Curiosity and judgment matter more.

The strongest candidate is likely someone who has repeatedly found themselves doing more than their formal job: fixing scopes, rebuilding budgets, challenging assumptions, or turning somebody else's vague idea into an actual plan.

What We Are Not Looking For

• A proposal coordinator who primarily moves documents between reviewers.
• Someone who needs every requirement defined before starting.
• Someone who forwards questions instead of trying to answer them.
• Someone uncomfortable challenging a bad assumption.
• Someone who can write but cannot work with numbers.
• Someone who can build a spreadsheet but cannot explain what it means.

If your instinct when information is incomplete is “I cannot proceed,” this role will be miserable.

Why Join

Because you want to own the thinking behind the proposal, not just produce the document.

You will work directly with the people running the studies and with senior leadership. You will see which assumptions were right, which were wrong, and what happened after the client signed.

Very few proposal roles give you that feedback loop.

Your work becomes real clinical studies.

This role is in person at our Los Angeles / Van Nuys office, five days a week. Relocation assistance is available.

About RDI

RDI is an IVD-focused CRO. Since 2008, we have run hundreds of diagnostic trials for leading test manufacturers.

We are a small team that moves quickly and expects people to take real ownership. There is no large proposal department to hide inside and no reason to wait three meetings for an answer you can figure out yourself.

For the right person, that is the attraction.

About Our Process

Our recruiting process is management-led. If your background is a strong fit, you will hear directly from RDI senior leadership for an initial conversation.

Given applicant volume, we cannot respond to everyone, but we respond to every strong application.