Technical Proposal Writer

lodestarspace; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Lodestar Space is seeking an experienced proposal writer to translate complex space-tech concepts into compelling, evaluator-ready proposals for government customers.

You will work closely with the technical team to extract input, ensure compliance, and own multiple submission cycles across DoD, NASA, and IC opportunities.

Qualifications

• 3 to 6 years of hands-on technical proposal writing experience supporting DoD, DoW, NASA, or IC customers.
• Experience writing for space systems, satellite tech, defense software, or adjacent aerospace domains.
• Ability to decompose complex solicitations—Section L/M analysis, compliance matrices, annotated outlines—before drafting.

Responsibilities

• Write technical, management, and past performance volumes for prime and subcontractor submissions.
• Analyze solicitations and ensure compliance across all volumes with annotated outlines.
• Coordinate inputs from tech, BD, legal, and operations to assemble cohesive submissions on deadline.

Skills

Proposal writing

DoD/NASA experience

RFP/solicitations analysis

Compliance matrices

Cross-functional coordination

Job description

About Lodestar

About Lodestar

Lodestar Space is rewriting the paradigm of national security in orbit. We don't wait for a decade-long government requirements cycle; we build autonomous capabilities ahead of the threat and deliver them at the speed of relevance.

As space transforms into a contested operational and war-fighting domain, our national security assets and critical infrastructure that underpins our modern way of life faces unprecedented vulnerabilities. Lodestar addresses this crisis head-on. We are the architects of Mithril , the world's first fully autonomous, AI-driven intelligence designed to operate independently in space. We're building Mithril to autonomously maneuver and enable complex RPO missions, while simultaneously conducting the length of the kill-chain from detection, classification and intent prediction, to responding to orbital threats in denied environments. Combining cutting-edge machine vision, onboard edge computing, and pioneering fires and effects architectures, Lodestar gives warfighters and commercial operators unprecedented situational awareness and space superiority in the final frontier.

Backed by elite deep-tech venture capital, international space agencies and government stakeholders, Lodestar is rapidly expanding its footprint across the U.S. Space Force, the Department of War, and major commercial satellite operators. We are a lean, high-autonomy team of engineers and operators building the space defense infrastructure of tomorrow. Join us.

About the Job

Our engineering team is building some of the most technically sophisticated autonomous systems in the defense space ecosystem. Your job is to make sure that sophistication is translated into winning contracts.

This is a hands-on practitioner role where your writing is the work. You will collaborate closely with our technical team, learning what they have built and helping translate it into compliant, compelling, evaluator-ready proposals that resonate with government evaluators. We are a lean and supportive team that moves fast - you will have real ownership over your work and the autonomy to do it well, with the full backing of the commercial and engineering team behind you.

You will work across RFIs, RFPs, OTAs, CSOs, BAAs, SBIRs, etc. primarily targeting U.S. Space Force, AFRL, DIU, Space RCO, SDA, NASA, and Intelligence Community customers.

What You'll Do

1. Proposal Writing and Content Development
   • Own the writing of technical, management, and past performance volumes for prime and subcontractor submissions across DoD, DoW, NASA, IC, etc. solicitations.
   • Translate complex engineering concepts - orbital mechanics, autonomous systems architecture, machine vision, onboard edge computing, RPO, directed energy, etc. - into clear, compliant, evaluator-ready narrative without requiring engineers to draft or heavily redline your work.
   • Write executive summaries, capability descriptions, technical approaches, staffing narratives, and past performance write-ups that are both compliant and compelling.
   • Build and maintain a reusable proposal content library - boilerplate, capability sheets, past performance templates - that reduces per-submission workload over time.
2. Solicitation Analysis and Compliance
   • Perform thorough RFP decomposition - Section L, Section M, SOW, CDRLs, and all attachments - and produce compliance matrices and annotated outlines before writing begins.
   • Track and enforce compliance across all volumes, ensuring every requirement is addressed, cross-referenced, and verifiable at submission.
   • Apply working knowledge of FAR and DFARS to ensure submissions meet regulatory requirements without over-engineering the response.
   • Flag solicitation ambiguities, conflicts, or requirement gaps early and raise them before they become submission-day problems.
3. Cross-Functional Coordination
   • Work directly with Lodestar's technical team to extract input efficiently - structured interviews, architecture reviews, and targeted written Q&A rather than open-ended drafting requests.
   • Coordinate inputs from Business Development, Finance, Legal, and Mission Operations to assemble complete, cohesive submissions on deadline.
   • Support team reviews and incorporate feedback quickly without losing compliance or narrative coherence.
   • Own proposal schedules, draft cycles, and submission logistics across multiple concurrent opportunities.

Qualifications

• 3 to 6 years of hands-on technical proposal writing experience supporting DoD, DoW, NASA, or IC customers. We need someone who can execute independently on day one.
• Demonstrated experience writing for space systems, satellite technology, autonomous systems, defense software, or adjacent aerospace and defense domains. You need to understand what you are writing about well enough that engineers trust your first draft.
• Proven ability to decompose complex solicitations independently - Section L/M analysis, compliance matrix development, annotated outlines - before a single word of narrati