Proposal Manager – Federal Health in Columbia, Maryland at Cogent People Inc

Location: Columbia, MD (Hybrid)

Residency Requirement: Candidates must have lived in the U.S. for at least 3 of the past 5 years and be authorized to work in the U.S. (Citizen, Permanent Resident, or EAD).

Sponsorship: This position does not offer sponsorship.

Job Overview:

Cogent People Inc. is seeking an experienced, results-oriented Proposal Manager to lead and manage the development of high-quality, compliant, and compelling proposals in support of the company’s federal health IT growth strategy. This role is responsible for managing proposal efforts from solicitation release through final submission, coordinating cross-functional proposal teams, establishing schedules and assignments, driving content development and reviews, and ensuring all responses meet customer requirements and Cogent People quality standards.

The Proposal Manager leads the proposal team to translate capture strategy, customer requirements, solution concepts, win themes, and differentiators into clear and persuasive proposal responses. Success in this role requires exceptional organization, strong federal proposal management experience, excellent writing and communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to lead diverse teams under compressed deadlines while maintaining accountability for the quality and compliance of the final submission.

Responsibilities:

Proposal Planning & Management

• Lead the end-to-end development and submission of federal proposals, RFIs, Sources Sought Notices (SSNs), RFQs, task order responses, and other government procurement responses.
• Support and participate in pre-proposal activities, including capture planning, solutioning, strategy development, and proposal readiness efforts.
• Analyze solicitation documents, including RFPs/RFQs, PWS/SOW/SOOs, evaluation criteria, amendments, Q&As, and submission instructions to identify requirements and develop the proposal response strategy.
• Develop and maintain proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, assignments, calendars, and other proposal management artifacts.
• Conduct proposal kickoffs and lead recurring status meetings, working sessions, and other proposal-related meetings throughout the response lifecycle.
• Assign and manage writing responsibilities across technical SMEs, solution architects, delivery personnel, corporate resources, and teaming partners.
• Track proposal activities, dependencies, action items, risks, and deadlines to ensure the team remains on schedule.
• Maintain accountability across the proposal team and proactively escalate schedule, content, staffing, or quality risks when necessary.
• Establish and enforce disciplined proposal processes, templates, artifacts, and quality standards while contributing to the continuous improvement of proposal SOPs and workflows

Proposal Development & Writing

• Translate capture strategy, customer priorities, win themes, discriminators, and solution concepts into clear, compelling proposal content.
• Write, edit, and refine proposal sections, including executive summaries, management approaches, staffing approaches, transition plans, past performance, corporate experience, and other response content as needed.
• Work closely with technical and operational SMEs to transform complex technical concepts into concise, customer-focused narratives.
• Ensure proposal content directly addresses solicitation requirements, evaluation criteria, customer objectives, and identified pain points.
• Review proposal sections for clarity, consistency, responsiveness, persuasiveness, and appropriate use of supporting evidence and metrics.
• Integrate content developed by multiple authors into a cohesive response with a consistent voice, structure, terminology, and messaging.
• Coordinate development of graphics, tables, callout boxes, organizational charts, process diagrams, and other visual elements with graphic design resources.

Compliance & Quality Management

• Develop and maintain detailed compliance matrices and crosswalks to ensure all solicitation requirements are addressed.
• Perform ongoing compliance reviews throughout proposal development rather than relying solely on final-stage quality checks.
• Validate page limits, formatting requirements, file requirements, naming conventions, forms, attachments, certifications, and submission instructions.
• Lead and coordinate structured proposal reviews, including Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team, executive reviews, and final quality-control reviews.
• Consolidate, adjudicate, and track reviewer comments to ensure feedback is appropriately incorporated.
• Conduct final document reviews for completeness, consistency, grammar, formatting, cross-references, and submission compliance.
• Manage final proposal production and submission activities to ensure complete and on-time delivery.

Team & Stakeholder Coordination

• Partner closely with BD leadership, capture managers, solution architects, technical SMEs, recruiting, delivery leadership, contracts, pricing, graphic design, and executive leadership throughout proposal development.
• Coordinate proposal activities and contributions from subcontractors and teaming partners, including assignments, deadlines, reviews, resumes, past performance, and corporate information.
• Facilitate interviews and working sessions with SMEs to obtain the information necessary to develop strong proposal responses.
• Communicate proposal status, risks, decisions, and upcoming milestones clearly to proposal teams and leadership.
• Support capture-to-proposal handoffs to ensure customer intelligence, competitive positioning, win themes, discriminators, and solution strategies are reflected throughout the proposal.
• Maintain organized proposal files, working documents, reference materials, reusable content, and final submission records within SharePoint and other collaboration environments.

Operational & Growth Support

• Support development of proposal templates, reusable content, past performance libraries, resume repositories, graphics libraries, and other proposal assets.
• Maintain lessons learned and support post-submission and post-award proposal reviews to improve future performance.
• Manage RFIs, market research responses, capability statements, presentations, oral presentations, technical challenges, and other growth-related deliverables as required.
• Collaborate with BD leadership, capture managers, and solution architects during pre-RFP activities to improve proposal readiness and identify content, staffing, past performance, and solution gaps before solicitation release.
• Support development and continuous improvement of Cogent People’s proposal processes, tools, workflows, and SOPs.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field (e.g., Business, Communications, English, Information Systems, Public Policy) or equivalent professional experience.
• 5+ years of experience in federal proposal management, proposal development, capture, or related government contracting growth functions.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex federal proposals from solicitation release through final submission.
• Experience supporting proposals for federal healthcare agencies such as CMS, HHS, VA, NIH, or similar civilian federal agencies strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of federal acquisition processes, solicitation structures, evaluation criteria, proposal instructions, and compliance requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze RFPs, RFQs, RFIs, SSNs, PWS/SOW/SOOs, amendments, and other procurement documentation.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated ability to write, edit, and structure persuasive federal proposal content.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to coordinate multiple contributors, assignments, dependencies, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Demonstrated ability to lead proposal teams under aggressive timelines while maintaining quality, compliance, and accountability.
• Experience developing proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, review plans, and other proposal management artifacts.
• Experience facilitating structured proposal reviews such as Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team, and executive reviews.
• Strong attention to detail and demonstrated ability to perform comprehensive proposal compliance and quality-control reviews.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint-based collaboration environments.
• Proven judgment, discretion, ownership, and ability to operate independently while effectively collaborating across technical, operational, growth, and executive teams.
• Strong attention to detail with a commitment to delivering high-quality and accurate work.
• Proven ability to manage time and prioritize tasks in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills with a proactive and solution-oriented mindset.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience directly supporting CMS proposal development efforts
• Deep familiarity with the federal acquisition and proposal lifecycle, including RFIs, SSNs, RFQs, RFPs, task orders, and oral or technical challenge procurements.
• Experience applying structured proposal development methodologies, including Shipley, APMP, or similar approaches.
• Demonstrated experience leading proposal reviews, including Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team, compliance reviews, and final production reviews.
• Experience developing and managing proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, content plans, and review cycles for complex federal submissions.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with capture, business development, software engineering, data, integration, solution architecture, recruiting, and delivery teams to translate technical solutions into clear and compelling proposal responses.
• Experience coordinating proposal contributions from subcontractors and teaming partners across multi-company proposal teams.
• Familiarity with federal health IT programs, technical terminology, and solution areas such as software engineering, data and analytics, cloud modernization, DevSecOps, system integration, and Agile delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor proposal writers, coordinators, SMEs, or other contributors and promote consistent proposal processes and quality standards.
• Experience conducting competitive analysis using SAM.gov, USAspending, FPDS, CPARS, and agency forecast data
• Hands-on experience with market intelligence platforms (e.g., GovWin, GovTribe, HigherGov)
• Interest in responsibly leveraging AI/LLMs and other emerging technologies to improve proposal development, content management, compliance reviews, research, and knowledge reuse.

Why Cogent People Inc.

At Cogent People, we foster a collaborative, growth-driven environment where innovation thrives. You’ll be part of a team working on mission-critical solutions that make a real impact. We offer competitive salaries, career development opportunities, and the chance to contribute to meaningful projects that shape the future.

We prioritize employee satisfaction and provide a supportive, inclusive culture where every team member is valued and empowered to succeed. We are a Certified Great Place to Work

Benefits:

Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance: Comprehensive coverage.

401(k) Plan: Matching contributions.

Life Insurance & Disability Coverage: Company-paid life, short-term, and long-term disability insurance.

Paid Time Off: 3 weeks of PTO annually, plus 10 holidays.

EEO Employer:

Cogent People Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability status, or any other status protected by law.