Business Development & Proposal Manager

At GFT, we're not just pursuing projects-we're strategically capturing opportunities that shape our communities. The Strategic Growth Office is the engine behind GFT's enterprise-wide growth. It fuels our most significant pursuits by aligning talent, insights, and strategy to win complex, high-impact projects. From vision through delivery, we partner across all Business Groups to develop compelling, competitive proposals that reflect our core values and technical excellence.

The BD & Proposal Manager is a senior position that supports either multiple regional businesslines or one Global Business Line and contributes to meeting the goals in GFT's strategic plan by leading key business development support efforts. Working independently or through management of a team of resources for larger, more complex pursuits, the BD&P Manager is an internal BD support position that also works externally in support of (not in place of) the business lines' client and capture managers. The BD&P Manager is responsible for owning the cradle-to-grave internal support from client management phase through proposal development phase of the BD Lifecycle Program (BDLP), including managing respective proposal efforts and/or participating routinely in the writing and reviewing of the proposal.

Supervisory

• May manage one or more assistant proposal specialists/proposal specialists on a day-to-day basis. Responsibilities includes assignment of tasks to appropriate team member and review of work to ensure compliance with quality and department-specified practices and procedures
• May manage and/or assist Business Development Manager or Leader with proposal workload and resourcing for regional or global business development team
• May serve as timesheet approver, perform Performance Evaluation Reviews (PER), and recommend training for staff and provide input to annual training plan for department
• Other duties as assigned

Proposals

• Manages proposals and assures the capture strategy is defined and transitioned to the proposal strategy through the course of proposal development phases and final submittal/interviews, as required.
• Leads multiple large, long-term and complex pursuits concurrently
• Responsible for leading interview development and working closely with Manager for input and oversight
• Provides by discussing and writing the key strategic win theme development and messaging and organizes resources to support overall proposal effort (graphics, other proposal specialists, print production, operations, etc.) and requires no direct oversight from Manager to produce a quality proposal

CAPTURE PLANNING

• Proactively identifies opportunities in the pipeline that should start capture and then initiates with the business line, promotes, and leads Capture Planning support efforts for longer-term, complex opportunities concurrently with no oversight required by Manager
• Proactively researches and drives the development of the opportunity with the Capture Manager
• Concurrently works across multiple opportunities at any given time and establishes the priorities per each opportunity in alignment with the Capture Manager
• Able to flex within the framework of best practices
• Keeps all CRM documentation updated
• Uses capture management plans in accordance with company templates and standards
• Coordinates with respective MARCOM staff to define needs and develop strategic plan recommendations for the business line for early opportunity pre-positioning activities that will be led by MARCOM and overseen by the BD&P Manager

CLIENT MANAGEMENT

• In support of the client manager, develops client and teaming relationships at the direction of the client or capture managers. The BD&P manager may develop understanding of the pursuit through industry activities, such as trade shows to develop relationships and develop opportunities in support of the business line
• Leads any Tier 1 and/or 2 client management plans for a single business line with no oversight from Manager required
• Communicates/prioritizes BDM support efforts based on understanding of business plan
• Facilitates client management meetings and assures documentation in CRM
• Coordinates with respective MARCOM staff to define needs and develop strategic plan recommendations for the business line for early client pre-positioning activities that will be led by MARCOM and overseen by the BD&P Manager

• Normally a 4-year degree required in English, marketing, journalism, communications, or applicable field is required
• Must have the requisite experience in the Midwest

• Normally 10+ years of total combined experience in the full lifecycle of business development (marketing, communications, client, capture, and proposal phases), with most of the experience focused in one or more of GFT's core business lines
• Minimum of 3 years of demonstrated experience supporting, facilitating, and participating in capture planning support
• Demonstrated success in taking opportunities successfully from capture support though and including successfully performing all phases of proposal management responsibilities
• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrated increasing responsibility in the business development lifecycle phases (marketing, communication, client, capture, proposal)
• At least 2 years of experience supervising staff (if applicable)
• Certification or training in business development, marketing, communications, or sales received through an industry professional organization is highly desirable