Deal Manager in McLean, Virginia at Merlin International Inc

About Merlin Group

Merlin Group operates at the intersection of cyber innovation, national security, and technology-driven transformation. With a mission to accelerate the adoption of high-impact technologies across the U.S. public sector and regulated commercial markets, Merlin is uniquely structured around three core tenets – Invest, Enable, and Scale – each designed to address a specific stage of the technology lifecycle. Together, our affiliates – Merlin Ventures, CGC, and Merlin Cyber – form a flywheel that builds enduring capability for customers, partners, and the broader cyber ecosystem, operationalizing technological advancement into mission-ready, enterprise-grade solutions.

At Merlin, we believe our strength lies in our people. Team members are encouraged to be creative, collaborative, and nimble, pursuing paths to deliver the cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions that our customers rely on. From next-generation cyber defense to secure cloud and AI, we are united by one purpose – transforming innovation into mission impact.

The Opportunity

Merlin Deal Managers (DM) own and manage the end-to-end sales renewal process and support Sales Team development activities from capture through proposal submission. As a critical role within our Enterprise Deal Desk, our DMs apply strong time management, attention to detail, and effective communication to provide the internal structure needed to seamlessly coordinate complex movements in response to our customers’ requests. Collaborating with every team, from Account Executives to Finance and Legal to our Leadership team, DMs deliver high-quality, timely, compelling, and compliant offerings to our customers. This opportunity is hybrid. You will report to our McLean, VA offices on Monday and Wednesday each week to collaborate with your team.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Manage activities across a portfolio of deals: Collaborating with the Account Executive, the DM develops a schedule of milestones and required tasks for each opportunity in the portfolio. The DM is accountable for tracking updates in real time and providing the status of all components of a deal in periodic reviews and ad-hoc reports. Portfolios include unsolicited proposals, responses to official requests for quotes or information, market research, and other formal and informal artifacts used to advance a deal.
• Organize inputs and key stakeholders: DMs synthesize inputs from the Solution Architects, partners, OEMs, pricing teams, and other stakeholders who contribute critical insights to advance each opportunity and keep the team proactively informed and prepared to make well-reasoned responses. DMs use a deep understanding of contract vehicles, market norms, and industry regulations to ensure the team gathers appropriate data well ahead of delivery deadlines.
• Execute internal approval processes: To ensure high-quality, compliant offerings in accordance with our corporate governance structure, the DM facilitates internal processes to ensure all components of offerings receive timely approvals from contracts, legal, finance, and executive leadership, in collaboration with the Account Executive.
• Communicate seamlessly: From the engineering team to business development, from the pre-award team to the post-award team, the DM ensures that communication is complete and seamless. DMs leverage templates, document repositories, and business information tools to communicate key details and lead our internal kickoff activities, setting our delivery teams up for success upon award.
• Work transparently and efficiently: The Enterprise Deal Desk leverages common sales tools and custom templates to drive consistency, quality, and transparency across the business. DMs use these tools and templates while proactively contributing to their evolution and improvement. DMs support Account Executives in keeping opportunity details up to date by leveraging our internal tools for quoting, our standard templates, our sales opportunity management tool, document management, and collaboration platform.
• Move fast, be flexible: Our customers often have requirements we must meet within a very limited time. DMs must thrive in fast-moving environments where new information drives frequent changes and the need to adapt in near real time. Precision and accuracy can never be sacrificed.
• Other duties as assigned: Projects come up. The DM may be assigned tasks by Leadership, Sales, or other stakeholders. Responsiveness and accuracy are expected, no matter the task.

Qualifications

• Able to juggle concurrent activities and stakeholders: The DM role is not for those who prefer to work in a serial environment. Supporting multiple Account Executives and a continually evolving partner ecosystem, the DM must thrive in a dynamic setting and adapt to the creative approaches we infuse in our offerings.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills: The DM's understanding of the components and deadlines for any given opportunity is necessary but not sufficient for success. The DM represents Merlin in written and verbal communications with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders, and must deliver a high-energy, crisp representation of Merlin in all interactions. Timely updates on activities in required systems are critical.
• High level of Excel proficiency: The DM spends well over 50% of their day in Excel. Experience and proficiency, including but not limited to the ability to understand and use formulas and pivot tables, are required for this role. Analytics is a key piece of our process.
• Proactive thinking: The DM anticipates each stakeholder's next needs and has them ready as soon as possible to accelerate our business.
• Inside sales and/or account management experience a plus: Merlin welcomes a broad array of experiences to improve business execution, however, experience with Federal Government contracts as well as account management or inside sales is preferred.

Success Attributes

• Commitment to personal and professional integrity and respect for others.
• Roll-up-your-sleeves attitude and low-ego approach.
• Commitment to teamwork and professional relationship development.
• Passion for lifelong learning, growth, and development.
• Flexible and nimble; comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change.
• Strong communication and functional project management skills.
• Desire to innovate, try new things, and creatively explore novel solutions to business challenges.
• Professional and respectful approach to the diversity of thought, action, identity, and attributes.

Benefits & Perks

We want to empower and inspire employees to be and do their best. Our workdays are dynamic, collegial, and fun. Our office features multiple places to work unconstrained by typical office barriers. Our wellness package provides access to an on-site gym and includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as FSA and EAP options. We offer a 401(k) with an employer match, unlimited PTO, and a culture that respects the reality that not everything in one’s personal life is guaranteed to happen only after hours.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.