Strategic Pursuit Leader: Proposals & Growth

MWH; Corona (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Group health & welfare benefits

401(k) Plan with company match

Paid holidays

Paid parental leave

Paid time off

Job summary

MWH Constructors is seeking a Pursuit Team Lead to guide the CMS Group in Corona, CA. You will drive strategy for client-focused win themes, manage the pursuit portfolio, and mentor proposal and marketing staff to improve win probability.

You will collaborate with Campaign Managers, Business Development, Preconstruction, Operations, and executives to ensure readiness, alignment, and effective messaging across RFQ/RFP processes. Strong leadership and strategic planning are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Business, Graphic Design, English, Public Relations, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in proposal management, marketing, business development support, or pursuit leadership, preferably within the architecture, engineering, construction (AEC), infrastructure, or water/wastewater industries.
• Demonstrated success leading complex, high-value pursuits and managing multiple concurrent proposal efforts.
• Experience leading and mentoring proposal, marketing, or pursuit teams, including workload management, staff development, performance coaching, and resource planning.
• Advanced knowledge of proposal strategy, capture planning, compliance management, content development, and interview preparation.
• Expert proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud applications, including InDesign, Acrobat Pro, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
• Strong technical writing, editing, proofreading, and document development skills.
• Exceptional project management, organizational, communication, and leadership abilities.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, tight deadlines, and high-profile pursuits in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and implementation of best practices.
• Experience in the water, wastewater, heavy civil, or infrastructure construction markets is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Guide pursuit teams in developing client-focused win strategies, differentiators, value propositions, competitive positioning, and key messaging that strengthen MWH's position prior to and throughout the solicitation process.
• Provide strategic oversight across MWH's active pursuit portfolio, helping evaluate priorities, resource needs, risks, deadlines, and pursuit readiness.
• Lead regular pursuit portfolio and workload discussions, ensuring resources are appropriately aligned with strategic priorities and upcoming business development needs.
• Provide leadership, mentorship, and coaching to proposal and marketing staff, creating opportunities for team members to take greater ownership of pursuits and grow their strategic capabilities.
• Support workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, training, career development, mentorship, and succession planning to strengthen the long-term capabilities and capacity of the pursuit team.
• Partner with pursuit leaders to review RFQ/RFP requirements and identify evaluation drivers, client priorities, competitive considerations, potential gaps, and opportunities to differentiate MWH.
• Establish expectations and provide strategic guidance for major proposal milestones, including kickoff, strategy development, content planning, reviews, executive messaging, and interview preparation.
• Provide senior-level review and coaching on proposal messaging, executive summaries, win themes, graphics, presentations, and other high-impact pursuit materials, with an emphasis on strategy and effectiveness rather than day-to-day production.
• Support interview and presentation strategy, including storyline development, team positioning, messaging, rehearsal planning, and executive coaching.
• Develop and maintain pursuit best practices, capture tools, content resources, templates, and strategic planning processes that improve consistency and enable proposal teams to operate more independently.
• Identify trends and lessons learned across pursuits and translate those insights into improved capture strategies, training, tools, and business development practices.
• Partner with Business Development and operational leadership to strengthen market intelligence, client positioning, competitor awareness, teaming strategies, and early pursuit planning.
• Represent MWH at industry conferences, client events, networking opportunities, and professional organizations to support relationship development, market awareness, and future opportunity identification.
• Foster a collaborative pursuit culture focused on strategy, accountability, knowledge sharing, professional development, and continuous improvement.
• Provide effective strategic leadership for MWH's highest-priority pursuits, with clear pursuit strategies, positioning, differentiators, and win themes established early in the pursuit lifecycle.
• Improve early engagement and capture planning for priority opportunities before RFQs/RFPs are released.
• Strengthen alignment between Business Development, Operations, Preconstruction, Campaign Managers, and proposal teams throughout the pursuit lifecycle.
• Maintain visibility across the pursuit pipeline and proactively identify resource constraints, schedule conflicts, and strategic support needs.
• Effectively mentor and develop proposal and marketing staff, increasing the team's ability to independently lead pursuits and assume greater levels of responsibility.
• Improve the consistency and effectiveness of pursuit strategy, executive messaging, proposal reviews, and interview preparation.
• Expand and improve pursuit tools, content libraries, AI-enabled resources, templates, and best practices that increase team efficiency and reduce reliance on individual institutional knowledge.
• Capture and apply lessons learned from wins and losses to strengthen future pursuit strategies.
• Support company growth objectives through stronger capture planning, strategic pursuit leadership, team development, market intelligence, and cross-functional collaboration.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Proposal management

Team mentoring

Communication skills

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Adobe Creative Cloud

Job description

MWH Constructors is seeking a Pursuit Team Lead to guide the CMS Group in Corona, CA. You will drive strategy for client-focused win themes, manage the pursuit portfolio, and mentor proposal and marketing staff to improve win probability.

You will collaborate with Campaign Managers, Business Development, Preconstruction, Operations, and executives to ensure readiness, alignment, and effective messaging across RFQ/RFP processes. Strong leadership and strategic planning are essential.