Strategic Proposals Lead

Forvis Mazars US; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Forvis Mazars, LLP seeks a Lead Proposal Specialist in Nashville to guide winning strategies for complex pursuits. You will manage planning, content development, and reviews from kickoff through delivery, coordinating with partners and national teams to shape client-centered materials.

Ideal candidates bring strong proposal management, writing, and leadership skills, with experience in professional services and a deep understanding of sector messaging and best practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in relevant area.
• 3-5 years of relevant experience in proposal management, pursuit strategy, marketing or business development, professional services, sector or industry marketing, content strategy, or a related field.
• Demonstrated proposal writing, editing, storytelling, and strategy skills, including the ability to turn client needs, sector priorities, and technical information into clear, client-centered language.
• Executive presence and communication skills needed to lead kickoff calls, facilitate strategy discussions, and work confidently with partners, senior leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of proposal and pursuit best practices, including RFP analysis, proactive proposal development, win theme development, differentiator development, content reuse, compliance review, and draft management.
• Practical understanding of sector and industry nuances, including client pain points, buying triggers, and opportunity-specific messaging shape proposal strategy.
• Sound judgment, critical thinking, and attention to detail, with the ability to identify risks, gaps, inconsistencies, escalation needs, and opportunities to improve proposal positioning or process.
• Proven capacity to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while balancing urgent proposal deadlines with longer-term pod, content, and process improvement priorities.
• Proficiency with proposal automation, content management, AI-enabled drafting and review tools, Microsoft Office applications, and related workflow platforms, with the ability to use them safely and effectively to improve efficiency, consistency, and quality.
• Collaborative working style, with the ability to mentor and guide others without direct supervisory responsibility and reinforce UCX principles throughout proposal strategy, content, process, and stakeholder interactions.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned RFPs, proactive proposals, oral presentations, and other pursuit deliverables from planning through final delivery.
• Evaluate proposal requirements and guide teams in focusing on the client’s needs, opportunity drivers, evaluation criteria, differentiators, win themes, content requirements, and required subject matter professional involvement.
• Serve as a sector and industry pod lead for assigned areas by coordinating proposal activity, monitoring recurring needs and trends, and helping align proposal support with national sector leaders, industry leaders, marketing professionals, and client service stakeholders.
• Translate sector and industry priorities into proposal-ready guidance, including positioning themes, client pain points, differentiators, related service opportunities, and reusable language that can be tailored across pursuits.
• Partner with proposal specialists, production specialists, designers, content team members, and internal reviewers to coordinate deliverables and improve consistency across assigned opportunities and pod priorities.
• Collaborate with the proposal content team to identify reusable content, harvest strong language from completed proposals, refresh existing service descriptions, reduce duplication, and support consistent use of approved content across proposal tools and libraries
• Use approved templates, content management tools, AI-enabled proposal resources, and firm guidance safely and effectively to improve speed, quality, and consistency while maintaining appropriate risk, legal, brand, confidentiality, and Words to Watch standards.
• Share pod-level insights with National Proposal Team leadership and sector stakeholders, including proposal activity, win/loss themes, debrief feedback, content gaps, risks, accomplishments, future priorities, and process improvement opportunities.

Skills

Proposal management

Pursuit strategy

Marketing

Business development

Content strategy

Stakeholder coordination

Executive communication

RFP analysis

Proposal writing

Team mentorship

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in relevant area

APMP certification

Job description

Forvis Mazars, LLP seeks a Lead Proposal Specialist in Nashville to guide winning strategies for complex pursuits. You will manage planning, content development, and reviews from kickoff through delivery, coordinating with partners and national teams to shape client-centered materials.

Ideal candidates bring strong proposal management, writing, and leadership skills, with experience in professional services and a deep understanding of sector messaging and best practices.