Proposal Manager

POSITION OVERVIEW

We seek a proposal manager to lead our formal proposal and pursuit methodologies in concert with the firmwide Business Development team. The proposal manager will prioritise work from the international (i.e. non-US) offices and will be based in London.

Key Responsibilities

• Responding to RFPs and developing proposals, presentations and other pursuit materials in support of international business.  Providing support on the creation of other less formal pitch materials, when necessary.
• Managing the pursuit process; including development of proposal plans and strategies; writing content and customising boilerplate to answer questions in a dynamic and responsive manner; leading the effort to review, update, edit and submit proposals in a timely manner; and creating presentations for client orals/interview meetings and follow-up sessions. Providing overall quality control for all pursuit materials.
• Managing entire proposal life cycle, including the project management, strategy, production, co-ordination, logistical and administrative aspects of proposal development and delivery
• Collecting and synthesizing information from various sources; coordinating with other departments, including Financial Services, Business Intake/Conflicts and internal and external research providers to manage the overall proposal process
• Conducting review meetings with Business Development Managers and partners to assess the results and gather competitive intelligence, including participating in debrief sessions
• Manage and analyse reports and related data that track new business opportunity wins/losses and related benchmarks firmwide
• Leading taskforces and implementing various initiatives to improve the pursuit function and providing support for the strategic advancement of the firm's business unit
• Performs additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.  For a more senior and experienced candidate, these may include\: Firmwide responsibilities related to the management of our overall RFP processes; supervision of other proposal managers in other offices; management of the Firmwide pitch statistical analysis and quality control (on a bi-annual basis); and post-proposal interaction with proposal recipients to obtain feedback.

Duties and Responsibilities

Primary 

• Responds to RFPs and develops proposals, presentations and other pursuit materials in support of domestic and/or international business. Provides support on the creation of other less formal pitch materials, when necessary.
• Manages the pursuit process; including development of proposal plans and strategies; writing content and customizing boilerplate to answer questions in a dynamic and responsive manner; leads the effort to review, update, edit and submit proposals in a timely manner; and creates presentations for client orals/interview meetings and follow-up sessions. Provides overall quality control for all pursuit materials. 
• Manages entire proposal life cycle, including the project management, strategy, production, coordination, logistical and administrative aspects of proposal development and delivery.  
• Collects and synthesizes information from various sources; coordinates with other departments, including Financial Services, Business Intake/Conflicts and internal and external research providers to manage the overall proposal process. 
• Conducts review meetings with Business Development Managers and partners to assess the results and gather competitive intelligence, including participating in debrief sessions.
• Collaborates on the development of reports/databases to track wins/losses.  
• Leads taskforces and implements various initiatives to improve the pursuit function and provide support for the strategic advancement of the firm's business unit.

Secondary

• Performs additional duties and responsibilities as necessary.

Working Conditions

• Job is performed in a typical office environment, but is subject to time pressures and constraints, and is often dependent on input from others.
• Long hours are often required, requiring flexibility in work schedule to respond to requests across time zones.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by persons assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications and skills required of personnel so classified. The firm reserves the right to revise or modify this job description at any time.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:  Bachelor's degree required.

 
Experience:  Eight years of experience in proposal management in professional services, preferably with law firms.

Special Knowledge:  Exceptional project management capabilities with the ability to work effectively under tight deadlines and to manage numerous competing priorities.

Technical Skills:  Strong technical proficiencies in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Experience with the use of CRM/contact databases (InterAction) is preferred. Experience with on-line research databases, such as CapitalIQ, MergerMarket, and other web-based research tools is preferred. Experience with proposal generation system and/ or desktop publishing is a plus.

Attributes: Proven ability to lead proposal process improvement designs and work flow integrations for pursuit teams. Superior communication, writing, editing, organizational, problem solving, analytical and research skills.  Proficiency at gathering and distilling information from various sources.

Other Qualifications:  Able to work in diverse team environments, facilitate meetings, update team members on status of deliverables and related issues and mentor junior staff.