[Hiring] Founding Proposal Manager @Schemata

Role Description

We submit a lot of federal proposals for a company our size: SBIR and STTR topics, CSO and sBAA white papers, OTA prototype proposals, consortium submissions, and RFI responses. Today that work is carried by our CEO, VP of Business Development, and outside consultants. It gets done, but it pulls our senior people away from customers and new markets, and consultant first drafts still need heavy rewriting before they sound like us.

We are hiring a Founding Proposal Manager to own the writing and the machinery of getting proposals out the door. This is a writing-first role. About 70% of your time goes to drafting and running proposals. About 30% goes to capture support: screening opportunities, shaping early documents, and making sure our bid decisions are made on evidence.

Our sales team owns customer relationships and win strategy. Your job is to turn that strategy into compliant, persuasive, on-time submissions, and to make each one faster and better than the last. This is an individual contributor role. "Manager" refers to managing the proposal, not managing people.

What You'll Own

• Proposal writing and management (about 70%)
• Write proposals, draft technical and management volumes, executive summaries, white papers, solution briefs, and quad charts from engineering and customer input.
• Turn engineering explanations into prose a technical evaluator can score.
• Run every proposal from kickoff to submission: shred the solicitation, build the compliance matrix and outline, set the schedule, name section owners, and hold people (including leadership) to their dates.
• Size the review process to the bid.
• Coordinate cost volumes and supporting documents with finance and leadership.
• Own membership profiles and submission mechanics across DSIP, SAM.gov, and service and consortium portals.
• Build and maintain a reusable content library in Google Drive.
• Capture support (about 30%)
• Screen opportunities from SAM.gov, DSIP topic releases, CSOs and BAAs, OTA consortia, and partner referrals.
• Prepare bid and no-bid packets for leadership.
• Draft early shaping documents: RFI responses, capability statements, and white papers.
• Research the competitive field and past awards.
• Keep the Solicitations tracker.
• Request and run debriefs on every loss.

Your First 90 Days

• By day 30: You own the Solicitations tracker end to end and can tell us what is due in the next 60 days.
• By day 60: You have run at least one proposal on your own from kickoff through submission.
• By day 90: A working content library exists.

Qualifications

• Four to seven years in federal proposal writing or proposal management.
• Direct experience with DoW solicitation types: SBIR and STTR, OTAs, CSOs and BAAs, RFPs, and RFIs.
• Excellent writing and editing skills.
• Command of compliance.
• Comfort owning a schedule and holding senior people to their deadlines.
• Working fluency with modern writing tools.
• U.S. person, able to obtain and maintain a DoW Secret clearance.

Preferred

• Capture exposure.
• Experience with SBIR and STTR Phase II, TACFI or STRATFI, and Phase III transition.
• Familiarity with training, readiness, sustainment, or maintenance programs in the military.
• APMP certification, Shipley training, or equivalent.
• Working knowledge of FAR and DFARS.
• Experience at a company under 50 people.

How We Measure Success

• On-time, compliant submission rate.
• Proposals submitted per quarter.
• Win rate on committed bids.
• Reuse rate from the content library.
• Debriefs requested and completed on losses.

How We Work

• No zombie bids.
• Lean, not bureaucratic.
• Plain language wins.
• Specific beats generic.

How to Apply

Send your resume, a short cover letter, and a writing sample you authored. A proposal section is ideal if you're permitted to share it (redacted is fine), but any professional writing works: a white paper, a published SBIR abstract, a report, or an article.

Benefits

• Meaningful equity stake in a high-growth, venture-backed defense tech startup.
• Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Competitive salary that reflects your experience and track record.
• 401(k) plan.
• Paid parental leave.
• High visibility and real impact.