Proposals Manager

Essentia, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Essentia, Inc. is seeking a Proposal Manager to own the end-to-end Q&P process, from opportunity intake to final submission.

You will drive cross-functional inputs, maintain a polished executive-ready narrative, and ensure on-time delivery reflecting Essentia’s standards for Speed, Trust, and Expertise. You will coordinate pricing with Estimating, Sales, Operations, and Engineering, lead internal reviews, and manage logistics.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of proposal/bid management experience or equivalent project leadership in B2B services.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage multiple deadlines with quality.
• Strong professional writing and editing skills for executive-facing deliverables.
• Commercial acumen: pricing inputs, approvals, and risk/margin tradeoffs.

Responsibilities

• Lead proposal planning, cadence, milestones, and reviews aligned to due dates.
• Own compliance and content development with a consistent voice and structure.
• Coordinate pricing inputs with Estimating, Sales, Operations, and Engineering.
• Facilitate internal reviews and drive closure for submission readiness.
• Manage production and submission logistics, version control, and archiving.
• Provide executive status reporting and escalate blockers and risks.
• Support post-award learnings and improve templates and processes.

Skills

Proposal management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive-level writing

English fluency

Job description

Position Summary

The Proposal Manager (PM) owns the proposal scope of Essentia’s Quotes & Proposals (Q&P) process from opportunity intake (S4) through final submission. The PM leads internal and external proposal communications, drives cross-functional inputs, and ensures on-time delivery of polished, executive-ready proposals that reflect Essentia’s standards for Speed, Trust, and Expertise.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead proposal planning and cadence: kickoff, workplan, responsibilities, milestones, and review gates aligned to customer due dates.
• Own compliance and content development: interpret requirements, build compliance matrices, coordinate SME inputs, draft/assemble narrative, and maintain a consistent voice and structure.
• Coordinate pricing inputs with Estimating, Sales, Operations, and Engineering; consolidate inputs and ensure the commercial narrative aligns with leadership-defined pricing posture and risk/margin guardrails.
• Facilitate internal reviews (Pink/Red/QC): schedule reviews, consolidate feedback, drive closure, and ensure submission readiness.
• Manage production and submission logistics (portal/email), including confirmation, version control, and archiving of the final package.
• Provide executive-level status reporting and proactive escalation of blockers, risks, and decision points.
• Support post-award / post-loss processes: win/loss capture, lessons learned, and continuous improvement updates to templates and process documentation.
• Maintain disciplined systems hygiene across HubSpot, SharePoint/Drive, and eSpeed AIR to support transparency, forecasting, and repeatable execution.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of proposal/bid management experience or equivalent project leadership in a B2B services environment; telecom/infrastructure strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage multiple concurrent deadlines with high quality standards.
• Strong professional writing and editing skills; able to produce executive-ready messaging and client-facing deliverables.
• Commercial acumen: ability to coordinate pricing inputs, manage approvals, and surface risk/margin tradeoffs for leadership decisions.
• High attention to detail and strong organizational discipline (version control, checklists, and documented processes).
• Fluent professional English (written and spoken).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting U.S.-based sales organizations and executive stakeholders.
• Experience with telecom network build programs (fiber, permitting, construction, O&M) or adjacent infrastructure services.
• Familiarity with CRM-driven sales governance (HubSpot, Salesforce, or equivalent) and shared repository governance.

Core Competencies

• Executive communication and stakeholder management
• Process discipline and operational rigor
• Analytical problem-solving and risk awareness