Senior Manager, Proposals

Infleqtion; Louisville (KY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Unlimited PTO

401(k) match

Equity program

Job summary

Infleqtion, a leader in quantum information and photonics, is seeking a Senior Manager, Proposals to own the proposal-development operating system and manage complex opportunities from handoff to submission. The role collaborates across BD, Capture, Engineering, Pricing, Contracts, Legal, Finance, Security, and external teammates to produce compliant, compelling responses.

You will establish processes, content assets, capacity plans, and quality controls to scale the proposal function, lead a

Qualifications

• Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience in government proposal management, capture support, business operations, or a related role, including experience managing complex, multi-volume proposals.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent deadlines, lead cross-functional teams, and drive decisions in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. Government solicitation and proposal practices, including compliance management, proposal reviews, pricing and contractual coordination, and electronic submission processes.
• Experience designing or improving operational processes, workflows, knowledge-management systems, metrics, and reporting for a proposal, business development, or similar function.
• Excellent project management, written communication, editing, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned proposal efforts from intake through submission, ensuring compliance, completeness, and timely delivery.
• Analyze solicitation instructions and requirements; build plans, matrices, schedules, outlines, and review plans tailored to each opportunity.
• Lead kickoff, status, and formal reviews, managing actions, risks, and escalations.
• Guide contributors across technical, programmatic, pricing, contracts, legal, finance, procurement, and subcontractor teams to develop responsive narratives.
• Establish and enforce document standards, version control, and configuration management across all proposal volumes.

Skills

Leadership

Proposal management

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

AI tools experience

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft 365

Proposal tools

Job description

The Senior Manager, Proposals leads the proposal-development operating system for Infleqtion and independently manages complex proposal efforts from opportunity handoff through final submission. The role is responsible for producing compliant, compelling, and on-time responses to U.S. Government and strategic customer opportunities while establishing the processes, tools, content assets, capacity plans, and quality controls that allow the proposal function to scale.

The Senior Manager, Proposals partners with Business Development, Capture, Engineering, Program Management, Pricing, Contracts and Subcontracts, Legal, Finance, Procurement, Security, and external teammates. Capture leadership owns pursuit strategy and win positioning; this role converts that strategy into a disciplined, well-managed proposal process and high-quality submission. The Senior Manager, Proposals leads a team including proposals specialists and/or managers as well as pricing specialists.

Essential Responsibilities

Proposal Leadership and Execution

• Independently lead assigned proposal efforts, including RFIs, RFPs, BAAs, white papers, sources-sought responses, and multi-volume proposals, from intake and kickoff through submission, ensuring all deliverables are compliant, complete, compelling, and submitted on time.
• Analyze solicitation instructions, evaluation criteria, amendments, and solicitation requirements; build proposal plans, compliance matrices, schedules, outlines, assignments, review plans, and communication cadences tailored to each opportunity.
• Lead kickoff meetings, status meetings, and formal reviews, including Pink, Red, Gold, and executive/deal-desk reviews as appropriate. Manage actions, decisions, risks, dependencies, and escalations.
• Guide proposal contributors across technical, programmatic, pricing, contracts, legal, finance, procurement, and subcontractor teams in developing responsive solution narratives that align with customer requirements, capture strategy, company roadmaps, and approved win themes.
• Establish and enforce document standards for structure, format, style, version control, and configuration management across all proposal volumes. This may also include the need to coordinate with graphics and technical contributors to ensure visuals effectively communicate the solution, discriminators, and evaluator-relevant information.
• Oversee final production, quality assurance, and submission activities, including file naming, portal readiness, version control, and confirmation of successful submission.
• Lead development of required proposal artifacts, including representations and certifications, letters, standard forms, intellectual-property disclosures, subcontracting plans, and partner inputs, with appropriate functional review.
• Lead final production, book checks, compliance validation, approval routing, portal submission, and contingency planning; confirm successful submission and retain required records.

Proposal Operations Management

• Own the proposal department operating model, including opportunity intake, prioritization, resourcing, workload balancing, and escalation practices across concurrent pursuits.
• Maintain an integrated proposal calendar and capacity forecast; recommend staffing, contractor, and cross-functional support needs based on pipeline demand and critical deadlines.
• Develop, document, and continuously improve standard operating procedures, templates, checklists, review gates, and quality controls for proposal development and submission.
• Establish and administer proposal management tools, shared workspaces, version-control practices, content libraries, and records-retention processes that protect sensitive information and enable efficient reuse.
• Build and maintain a curated repository of approved boilerplate, past-performance materials, resumes, solution briefs, graphics, and lessons learned; ensure content remains current, accurate, and appropriately approved.
• Create dashboards and regular operational reporting that track proposal volume, on-time submission, win/loss trends, review outcomes, cycle time, workload, and process-improvement actions.
• Lead proposal retrospectives and win/loss knowledge capture; convert findings into actionable improvements to tools, processes, content, and team training.
• Support annual operating planning and budget inputs for proposal systems, external support, training, and department improvement initiatives.

Stakeholder Partnership and Team Development

• Serve as a trusted operational partner to Business Development and Capture, helping align pursuit decisions, bid schedules, solution-brief development, and proposal execution with business priorities.
• Support Business Development and Strategic Partnerships in preparing concise, compelling company and solution briefs for customer, partner, and investor engagements when requested.
• Coach proposal contributors on proposal best practices, compliance discipline, effective writing, review expectations, and use of standard tools and templates.
• Builds and manages a team of pricing and proposal specialists. Contribute to onboarding, training, and mentoring of proposal personnel and frequent contributors; support development of a scalable proposal operations capability.
• Maintain productive relationships with internal stakeholders and external teammates, suppliers, and consultants while reinforcing accountability, professionalism, and clear decision-making.

AI Enablement and Information Stewardship

• Evaluate and help implement approved AI-enabled tools that improve proposal development, content management, quality assurance, and operational efficiency.
• In partnership with Legal, IT, Security, and the Chief Administrative Officer, establish and maintain practical guidance for responsible AI use in proposal activities and related business processes.
• Support training and adoption of approved AI tools while ensuring handling of customer, company, export-controlled, proprietary, and other sensitive information follows applicable policy and contractual requirements.

• Bachelor's degree in business, communications, engineering, or a related field; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered.
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience in government proposal management, capture support, business operations, or a related role, including experience managing complex, multi-volume proposals.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent deadlines, lead cross-functional teams, and drive decisions in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. Government solicitation and proposal practices, including compliance management, proposal reviews, pricing and contractual coordination, and electronic submission processes.
• Experience designing or improving operational processes, workflows, knowledge-management systems, metrics, and reporting for a proposal, business development, or similar function.
• Excellent project management, written communication, editing, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and common proposal collaboration, scheduling, document-management, and workflow tools; experience with AI-enabled proposal tools is preferred.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and discretion when handling proprietary, export-controlled, customer, and other sensitive information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting defense, federal research and development, or advanced-technology pursuits.
• Experience managing or mentoring proposal professionals or coordinating a distributed proposal contributor network.
• APMP certification or comparable proposal-management training.

• Salary Range: per year 140000-180000
• 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, short/long-term disability
• Employer-funded Health Savings Account
• Unlimited PTO
• 401(k) match
• Company-paid Life and AD&D Insurance
• Flexible Savings Account
• Paid FMLA, Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Employee Assistance Program
• Student Loan Repayment
• Equity Program

Notice to Recruitment Agencies:

Infleqtion does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies. Infleqtion is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.