Business Development Proposal Manager in Scott AFB, Illinois at Paragon Technology

Job Title: Proposal Manager Location: Remote (occasional travel as needed) Position Type: Full-Time Salary: $105,000 - $135,000 (commensurate with experience and qualifications)

Overview

Paragon is seeking a Proposal Manager to lead the development of high-quality, compliant, and visually polished task order responses across Polaris, OASIS+, MAS and similar vehicles. This role is responsible for driving proposal production from kickoff through submission, ensuring every response meets strict formatting, page count, and compliance requirements while maintaining a compelling, evaluator-friendly presentation.

The ideal candidate is a true Microsoft Word expert who can produce "white glove" deliverables under tight timelines. This individual is highly detail-oriented, thrives in fast-paced environments, and brings hands-on experience building and scaling AI-powered proposal workflows — including designing prompt libraries, configuring AI tools, and developing reusable content frameworks that accelerate development and improve quality. They must also be capable of independently producing rapid-turn responses such as MRAS and RFIs using existing corporate content and tools.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end proposal development, including kickoff, scheduling, content integration, reviews, and final submission.
• Own document production quality, ensuring proposals are visually consistent, professionally formatted, and fully compliant with solicitation requirements.
• Serve as the team's Microsoft Word authority, managing styles, templates, section breaks, headers/footers, TOCs, cross-references, and complex formatting issues.
• Enforce page limits, formatting rules, and submission requirements with precision.
• Develop and manage compliance matrices and ensure all RFP/RFQ instructions are addressed.
• Coordinate color team reviews (Pink, Red, Gold) and drive incorporation of feedback into final deliverables.
• Work closely with Capture Managers and Solution Architects to assemble complete, cohesive responses.
• Manage proposal schedules and ensure on-time delivery across multiple concurrent efforts.
• Create and refine reusable templates, boilerplate content, and standardized response structures.
• Design, build, and maintain AI-powered proposal workflows, including prompt libraries, content generation pipelines, compliance check automations, and reuse frameworks.
• Develop and curate a structured content library optimized for AI-assisted drafting, ensuring past performance narratives, solution descriptions, and boilerplate are tagged, versioned, and ready for AI retrieval and synthesis.
• Establish and document AI-augmented standard operating procedures for proposal drafting, editing, and review cycles, enabling repeatable efficiency gains across the team.
• Support light graphics integration, ensuring visuals align cleanly within the document.
• Maintain organized proposal files, version control, and document repositories.
• Manage proposal content within SharePoint, including document libraries, version control, permissions, and real-time collaboration across distributed teams.
• Establish and enforce SharePoint-based proposal workflows for draft control, review cycles, and final production.
• Independently develop MRAS and RFI responses by leveraging existing proposal artifacts, corporate templates, and internal tools, requiring minimal oversight.
• Rapidly synthesize prior content, past performance, and standard solution narratives into tailored, submission-ready responses.
• Identify content gaps and proactively coordinate with internal stakeholders to complete responses on accelerated timelines.

Key Qualifications and Experience

• 5+ years of experience managing federal proposals, preferably in a task order, GWAC, or IDIQ environment.
• Advanced Microsoft Word expertise required. Must be able to build and troubleshoot complex, submission-ready documents without external support.
• Proven ability to deliver high-quality proposals under tight deadlines with minimal errors.
• Strong understanding of federal solicitation structures and compliance requirements.
• Experience managing full proposal lifecycle, including schedules and review cycles.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple proposals simultaneously.
• Proven ability to independently produce MRAS, RFI, or sources sought responses using existing corporate materials and templates.
• Strong skill in content reuse, adaptation, and synthesis, turning fragmented inputs into cohesive responses.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with limited direction in fast-turn environments.
• Hands-on experience using SharePoint for proposal management, including document libraries, version control, permissions, and collaborative workflows.
• Experience working with AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or similar platforms for proposal-specific or content-development use cases.
• Familiarity with structured content libraries and prompt frameworks that support consistent, high-quality AI-assisted drafting.

AI and Process Expectations

• Take an active role in building and improving AI-powered proposal systems — configuring tools, developing prompts, and refining workflows based on real proposal experience.
• Develop prompt engineering frameworks tailored to federal proposal requirements, including section-specific prompts, compliance checks, and content reuse logic.
• Build and maintain a living content library structured for AI retrieval, including past performance, corporate capabilities, standard methodologies, and differentiators.
• Establish measurable AI adoption benchmarks and track efficiency gains in draft turnaround time, content reuse rates, and compliance accuracy.
• Continuous improvement mindset toward proposal efficiency, quality, and turnaround time.

Preferred Qualifications

• APMP certification (Foundation or higher).
• Experience supporting Polaris, OASIS+, MAS, SEWP, or similar vehicles.
• Familiarity with CMMI Level 3 and ISO-aligned quality processes.
• Basic PowerPoint or Visio skills for integrating simple graphics.
• Familiarity with AI platforms relevant to proposal development (e.g., Claude, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar).
• Experience structuring knowledge bases or content repositories for AI-assisted retrieval and generation.

What Success Looks Like