Senior Proposal Manager

The primary function of this role is the leading and managing of international government and commercial proposals across Shield AI’s India business. The BD Ops team is looking for this candidate to have strong technical writing experience, capable of conflating complex technical ideas into succinct prose.

The candidate should also have excellent verbal communication and team coordination skills to facilitate contributions from teams across the Shield AI team. In this capacity the proposal manager will be able to support our growing number of proposals and manage, write, and respond to requests for information.

Leadership skills:

• Lead India proposal efforts, align stakeholders, and communicate key customer, market, and BD strategy insights.
• Strong communicator: Strong oral and written communication skills. (Technical writing experience preferred.) Strong presentation skills. Ability to communicate seamlessly at all levels of Shield AI and customer organizations.
• Attention to detail in a fast-paced environment: Be rigorous and go fast is one of Shield AI’s leadership traits and, possibly, the most relevant one for BD Ops. Our ideal candidate must always work with efficiency and a keen attention to detail. Both are critical to supporting on time, compliant Bids/Proposals and related deliverables.
• Organization and time management: Strong organizational and time management skills enabling the tracking and execution of multiple workstreams with stakeholders across Shield AI.
• BD Ops serves as the primary cross-functional lead for Bids/Proposals across product lines and geographic regions. We manage the proposal lifecycle from start to finish including kickoff, collaboration with stakeholders, color reviews, and management reviews with senior leaders/executives. We are ultimately responsible for everything that does or does not happen in the Bid/Proposal process.
• The ideal candidate will demonstrate the ability to be flexible, work hard, hold themself and others to high standards, embrace teammates, and act with kindness.

What you will do:

• Manage competing priorities across proposal and other deliverable (WPs, RFIs, ROMs, etc.) development in the fast-paced environment of the Int’l BD Ops team.
• Lead end-to-end proposal execution from pre-RFP planning through submission and closeout.
• Drive cross-functional proposal teams to deliver compliant, high-quality submissions on schedule.
• Continuously improve proposal processes, tools, templates, and best practices.
• Mentor proposal contributors and foster high-performing, collaborative teams.
• Support India GTM team with briefing and presentation development for customer engagements.
• Support customer meetings, demonstrations, and GTM events as required.
• Provide additional support to BD Ops and GTM team leadership as needed.

Required qualifications

• 2-4+ years of Government of India / Indian Ministry of Defence or international government proposal development or BD operations experience.
• In lieu of direct government proposal experience, have 3+ years of experience working with Government of India or international government requirements. 
• Bachelor's degree in business, communication, marketing, engineering, or equivalent industry experience.
• Strong record of academic achievement.
• Experience with proposal methodologies (e.g. Shipley), compliance matrices, and implementing project management tools and processes.
• Proven record of leadership in a professional setting.
• Ability to communicate complex, technical ideas effectively – both orally and in writing.
• Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly as part of a team, embrace the startup environment.
• Ability to work effectively with people at all levels of an organization.
• Demonstrated record of hard work, trustworthiness, holding oneself and others to high standards, and being kind to others.

Preferred qualifications

• Strong technical background especially with unmanned/uncrewed systems and/or autonomy software. \
• Demonstrated understanding and knowledge of military operations and India defense acquisition processes.
• Understanding of international markets/geopolitical trends in aerospace / defense industry.
• Experience managing Foreign Military Sale and Direct Commercial Sale bids/proposals.
• Active Indian security clearance.