Proposals Manager: Build & Scale a High-Impact Team

CBSET; Lexington, Northern (MA, KY); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

CBSET in Lexington, MA is seeking a Proposals Manager to lead the end-to-end proposal function, directing a team of Proposal Development Specialists and instituting standards for accuracy, consistency, and fast turnaround.

The role demands 5+ years in proposal development or commercial operations, a life sciences or related degree, and strong pricing judgment with familiarity in Microsoft 365 and Salesforce. On-site with hybrid flexibility in MA.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in life sciences, business, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in proposal development, sales operations, or commercial operations with at least 2 years in people management.
• Experience in CRO/pharma/medical device or life sciences environment preferred.
• Ability to build or mature standardized processes from ad hoc origins.
• Strong quantitative fluency with pricing models and cost structures.

Responsibilities

• Manage, coach, and develop a team of Proposal Development Specialists with workload distribution across ~800 annual proposals.
• Establish onboarding, training, and quality-review processes for proposal staff.
• Own hiring and performance management as the team scales.
• Design and maintain proposal templates, pricing tools, and approval workflows, coordinating with Marketing & Revenue Ops and Salesforce/CRM integration.
• Define and track metrics for proposal accuracy, consistency, and turnaround time.
• Escalate complex scoping and pricing decisions outside standard templates; contribute drafting workload as needed.
• Collaborate with Commercial Operations leadership to refine pricing models and capacity planning.
• Coordinate with Technical Sales and scientific staff for complex studies to ensure accurate scoping.

Skills

People leadership

Pricing judgment

Process improvement

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences / biomedical engineering / business or related field

Tools

Microsoft 365 (Excel, Word)

Dynamics/PowerApps

Salesforce

Job description

CBSET in Lexington, MA is seeking a Proposals Manager to lead the end-to-end proposal function, directing a team of Proposal Development Specialists and instituting standards for accuracy, consistency, and fast turnaround.

The role demands 5+ years in proposal development or commercial operations, a life sciences or related degree, and strong pricing judgment with familiarity in Microsoft 365 and Salesforce. On-site with hybrid flexibility in MA.