Senior Principal Proposal Excellence Strategist

Leidos LLC; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 278,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a Senior Principal Proposal Excellence Strategist to lead and shape multi-discipline proposal efforts for federal, FEDSIM, GWAC, and commercial procurements. Based in Reston, VA with leadership responsibilities across writing, slide engineering, and orals coaching.

The role requires extensive experience in proposal strategy, messaging, and coordinating dispersed teams to deliver compelling, compliant documents that win. Citizenship and security considerations apply.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 15+ years of professional experience (or Master's with 13+ years).
• Minimum five years supporting Federal proposals valued at $100M+.
• Demonstrated experience across proposal management, proposal writing, oral presentations, slide development, and orals coaching.
• Experience supporting traditional Federal, FEDSIM, GWAC, IDIQ, and commercial procurements.
• Demonstrated record of producing high-scoring proposals and successful oral presentations.
• Strong knowledge of the Federal acquisition process and proposal best practices.
• Ability to synthesize customer requirements, solution strategy, technical content, pricing, and win themes into compelling deliverables.
• Exceptional writing, editing, facilitation, presentation, and organizational skills.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed proposal teams.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office and SharePoint.
• Extensive experience using Gen AI responsibly throughout proposal development.
• U.S. Citizenship required.

Responsibilities

• Flex between proposal management, writing, slide engineering, and orals coaching based on business priorities.
• Lead proposal development efforts from pre-proposal planning through submission and post-submittal activities.
• Establish proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, content plans, and review strategies.
• Partner with capture leadership to develop customer-focused win strategies, discriminators, and compelling messaging.
• Facilitate kickoffs, solution sessions, color team/executive reviews, and recovery plans; monitor proposal quality for compliance and content.
• Coordinate geographically dispersed teams supporting multiple concurrent pursuits.
• Write and edit management, technical, transition, staffing, past performance, and resume volumes.
• Interview SMEs and translate complex technical concepts into clear, persuasive content.
• Develop compelling themes, proof points, and value propositions throughout proposal volumes.
• Develop oral presentation strategies, high-caliber presentation slides, scripts, and supporting materials.
• Transform written proposal content into concise, visually compelling presentation narratives.
• Coach presenters on executive presence, messaging, confidence, timing, and delivery.
• Lead rehearsals, customer simulations, mock evaluation panels, and Q&A preparation.
• Direct video proposal development and coordinate production support when required.
• Apply Gen AI responsibly to accelerate proposal development while maintaining compliance and quality.

Skills

Proposal management

Proposal writing

Orals coaching

Presentation development

Team leadership

Gen AI usage

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

SharePoint

Job description

At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our exceptional talent who are dedicated to our customers' success. Leidos' Capture Operations & Excellence, Proposal Operations organization leads and supports more than $50 billion in annual proposal submissions and is seeking an extraordinary Senior Principal Proposal Excellence Strategist to serve as one of our most versatile proposal professionals. This individual is a proven proposal expert capable of leading proposal efforts, developing compelling written content, engineering high-quality oral presentation materials, and coaching presentation teams — all while adapting to the unique needs of each pursuit. Rather than serving in a single functional discipline, this role flexes across multiple: proposal management, proposal writing, oral presentation development, slide engineering, and orals coaching depending on business priorities. The successful candidate partners directly with Capture and Proposal teams to produce compliant, compelling, customer-focused proposals that consistently score highly and win. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience supporting traditional Federal, FEDSIM, and commercial procurements, thrives in fast-paced environments, and leverages Gen AI responsibly to improve proposal quality, efficiency, collaboration, and innovation. This role is based out of Leidos Global Headquarters in Reston, VA.

Primary Responsibilities

• Flex between proposal management, writing, slide engineering, and orals coaching based on business priorities.
• Lead proposal development efforts from pre-proposal planning through submission and post-submittal activities.
• Establish proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, content plans, and review strategies.
• Partner with capture leadership to develop customer-focused win strategies, discriminators, and compelling messaging.
• Facilitate kickoffs, solution sessions, color team/executive reviews, and recovery plans Monitor proposal quality throughout development, ensuring compliance, consistency, and evaluator-focused content.
• Coordinate geographically dispersed teams supporting multiple concurrent pursuits.
• Write and edit management, technical, transition, staffing, past performance, corporate experience, executive summary, and resume volumes.
• Interview SMEs and translate complex technical concepts into clear, persuasive customer-focused content.
• Develop compelling themes, proof points, and value propositions throughout proposal volumes.
• Develop oral presentation strategies, high caliber presentation slides, scripts, and supporting materials.
• Transform written proposal content into concise, visually compelling presentation narratives.
• Coach presenters on executive presence, messaging, confidence, timing, and delivery.
• Lead rehearsals, customer simulations, mock evaluation panels, and Q&A preparation.
• Direct video proposal development and coordinate production support when required.
• Apply Gen AI responsibly to accelerate proposal development while maintaining compliance and quality.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 15+ years of professional experience (or Master's with 13+ years).
• Minimum five years supporting Federal proposals valued at $100M+.
• Demonstrated experience across proposal management, proposal writing, oral presentations, slide development, and orals coaching.
• Experience supporting traditional Federal, FEDSIM, GWAC, IDIQ, and commercial procurements.
• Demonstrated record of producing high-scoring proposals and successful oral presentations.
• Strong knowledge of the Federal acquisition process and proposal best practices.
• Ability to synthesize customer requirements, solution strategy, technical content, pricing, and win themes into compelling deliverables.
• Exceptional writing, editing, facilitation, presentation, and organizational skills.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed proposal teams.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office and SharePoint.
• Extensive experience using Gen AI responsibly throughout proposal development.
• U.S. Citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active security clearance.
• Experience supporting opportunities exceeding $1B.
• APMP certification or equivalent proposal credentials.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling.

At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Pay Range

Pay Range $154,050.00 - $278,475.00 The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary.

Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available here.

Securing Your Data

Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information at any part of the employment application process. And Leidos will communicate with you only through emails that are sent from a Leidos.com email address. If you receive an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information, please report the email to [e-mail].

Commitment and Diversity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.

Leidos Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $17.2 billion for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2026. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.