Proposal Strategist & Designer

GSF Media; Lebanon (TN); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation

Stipends

Job summary

GSF Media in Lebanon, TN is seeking a business development proposal specialist to translate discovery into compelling strategy, pricing and decks. You’ll collaborate with a full team to craft prospect-centric proposals and manage the handoff from draft to delivery.

The role blends strategic storytelling, design, and pricing discipline to win new business. You’ll own the narrative, ensure decks address the prospect’s top questions, and push for timely, accurate proposals aligned with client

Qualifications

• Working knowledge of digital marketing to scope and price services.
• Sharp design eye and speed in Keynote; Adobe Creative Suite is a plus.
• Strong writing—make a strategic case in a sentence, not a paragraph.
• Ruthless attention to detail across pricing, scope, naming, and brand.

Responsibilities

• Translate discovery notes into a clear narrative on what the prospect needs and how GSF wins the business.
• Lead with the prospect’s #1 problem and their world, not a menu of everything GSF offers.
• Know each service well enough to price and lay out solutions/deliverables correctly; own the pricing.
• Own layout, hierarchy, brand consistency, imagery that fits the prospect, and clean flow.

Skills

Digital marketing knowledge

Design eye

Strong writing

Attention to detail

Tools

Keynote

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

Location

Lebanon, TN — Hybrid (minimum 3 days per week in office)

Position

Full-Time

About GSF Media

We cover 100% of healthcare, dental, and vision for you and your family (after your first 90 days). Full coverage for your whole family, on us. Agencies our size never do that — we do it because we actually want the people on this team to thrive. Add a 401(k) with company match, paid vacation, paid holidays with an extended Christmas break, and monthly cell phone and home office stipends.

The Job, in Plain Terms

Our Business Development team meets with a prospect and comes back with the full story: what they’re worried about, what they’ve tried, what they actually need. Your job is to turn that conversation into a winning proposal.

You identify the prospect’s #1 problem, scope and price the right mix of our services (strategy, design, paid ads, video, websites, photography, etc.), build a sharp deck that makes the case, and own it all the way to completion. You won’t be inventing strategy from thin air — you’ll have strong source material and a full team behind you. The job is having the judgment to find the story, sharpen it, and turn it into something visually beautiful that a prospect says yes to.

Core Job Functions

• Translating discovery into strategy. Turn discovery notes and briefs from the sales team into a clear narrative on what the prospect needs and how GSF wins the business.
• Building prospect-centric proposals. Lead with the prospect’s #1 problem and their world, not a menu of everything GSF offers. Every deck should answer their question before it sells our services.
• Scoping and pricing the service mix. Know each of our services well enough to price and lay out solutions/deliverables correctly. You’ll have experienced teammates to bounce ideas off of, but you own ultimately getting it right.
• Designing with a strong eye. You own layout, hierarchy, brand consistency, imagery that fits the prospect, and clean flow.
• Own the handoff. A proposal isn’t done when it’s built, it’s done when it’s in the prospect’s hands. Track it in our project management software, confirm it was sent, and create the follow-up tasks.
• Protect the details. You’re the last line of defense: the wrong logo, mismatched creative, a typo, pricing that shouldn’t be there, unrealistic deliverables.

What Success Looks Like

The role has a defined, measurable bar, and bonuses are tied to it

• Speed: first drafts within 24 hours of assignment; prospect-ready proposals within 48 hours of discovery. Timeliness wins deals.
• Accuracy: drafts that need progressively less rework, on a defined 30/60/90 ramp — we’ll show you the exact scorecard in the interview process.
• Follow-through: every proposal tracked to “sent,” with follow-ups created. Nothing stalls in someone else’s court.
• Wins: a per-deal bonus on every closed piece of business you built the proposal for.

Your first 30 days are for learning: shadowing the sales team, studying what’s worked, learning our services and pricing. Days 30–60, you build with heavy feedback. By day 90, you own it. Eventually we want you teaching us.

Why This Job is Unique

This is a sales seat, and sales is emotional. You’ll work right next to our business development team — the people at the front of every deal, winning business on relationships built over years, spending their own personal collateral on every pitch, and fighting the objections in the room. When a proposal goes out under their names, it’s personal to them. That means feedback is direct, fast, and sometimes arrives in the heat of a deadline.

You need to be able to hear “this misses the mark”, apply the note the same day, and — when you’re convinced you’re right — push back with a better idea instead of going quiet. Some people read that and feel stress; some read it and feel energy. Be honest with yourself about which one you are.

This position is a front-row education in how business actually gets won. You’ll learn how trust gets earned and get to see your work help win real deals within weeks of building it.

We’re an AI-forward agency and we expect you to use tools like Claude and Gemini every day. Beyond the chat window, we work with connected AI — MCP integrations, custom skills, and disciplined prompt engineering — and we'll expect you to operate at that level. It’s an incredible resource to work faster, pressure-test your strategy, and check blind spots. But our strong belief is that AI should multiply your thinking, not replace it. Doing the homework and interrogating your source material is good. Asking AI to invent a strategy for a prospect it’s never heard of — and pasting in whatever comes out — isn’t a shortcut here; it’s the one thing this role can’t survive. The interview process will involve demonstrating AI tactics.

What You’ll Need

• Working knowledge of digital marketing — enough to scope and price our services accurately and speak the prospect’s language. You don’t run the campaigns; you build the case for them.
• A sharp design eye and speed in Keynote; comfort in the Apple ecosystem. Adobe Creative Suite is a plus — our creative team handles the heavy custom work.
• Strong writing — you can make a strategic case in a sentence, not a paragraph.
• Ruthless attention to detail across pricing, scope, naming, and brand.

Bonus If You

• Have marketing agency experience
• Have pitched or presented proposals yourself — you’ll understand what makes one work in a live room
• Can lead a project end to end, not just execute tasks

Our Interview Process

• Phone screen. Quick conversation on your background, the role, and mutual fit.
• Video call with the VP of Sales. How you think about strategy, proposals, and working inside a fast-moving sales environment.
• At-home assignment. A realistic sample assignment built from the same kind of source material you’d get on day one. You’ll return a one-page point of view on what the prospect needs, a rough budget, and a slide outline — no polished design required. AI use is encouraged; include your chat transcript with your submission. We want to evaluate your judgment, your pricing logic, and how you use the tools.
• Final in-person interview. With the VP of Sales and a member of leadership in our Lebanon office. We’ll give you direct notes on your take-home and work through a revision together in the room — because that’s the job.

Benefits + Compensation

• Full-Time Employee
• Competitive base salary, plus monthly and quarterly performance bonuses tied to the delivery and accuracy metrics above, and a per-deal bonus on closed business
• Hybrid — work from home with a minimum of 3 days per week in our Lebanon, TN office
• 12 paid holidays annually (including an extended Christmas break)
• Monthly stipends for cell phone and home office
• Healthcare, dental, and vision — 100% company-paid for you and your family (eligibility begins after 90 days, per plan terms)
• 401(k) Plan with up to 4% company match (eligibility begins after 90 days, per plan terms)