Director, Proposals (R6263)

Job Description:

Shield AI is seeking a Director of Proposals to lead our Business Proposals organization and turn complex deal strategies into compelling, compliant, and timely customer submissions. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Deal Strategy and Execution, you will build the team, standards of excellence, and execution discipline that help Shield AI win domestic and international business.

You will lead proposal Sr. Managers and proposal professionals supporting the Americas, international markets, and emerging products. Working closely with account teams, Regional Deal Strategists, and functional leaders, you will translate customer mission needs, technical capabilities, and approved commercial approaches into clear, persuasive proposals that earn customer confidence.

You will develop strong methodologies, processes and systems that raise the quality of written persuasion, allocate resources across competing opportunities, and establish repeatable practices that increase speed and consistency as proposal volume and complexity grow.

What you'll do:

Proposal Organization and Talent

• Lead, coach, and develop proposal managers and their teams, establishing clear expectations for quality, accountability, collaboration, and professional growth.
• Build workforce and capacity plans aligned with the opportunity pipeline, regional demand, pursuit complexity, and emerging product requirements.
• Assign proposal leadership and resources across concurrent pursuits, making prioritization recommendations to the Sr. Director of Deal Strategy and Execution when demand exceeds capacity.
• Establish a team culture grounded in candid feedback, excellent writing, sound judgment, and shared ownership of results.

Proposal Strategy and Customer Persuasion

• Partner with account teams and Regional Deal Strategists early in pursuits to shape proposal strategy, win themes, discriminators, and supporting evidence around customer priorities and evaluation criteria.
• Translate complex offerings spanning autonomous platforms, software, payloads, integration, training, services, and sustainment into clear customer value narratives.
• Set the standard for executive summaries, technical and management narratives, graphics, and integrated proposal storytelling. Personally write, edit, and challenge critical content on priority pursuits.
• Ensure proposal claims are accurate, substantiated, and consistent with approved capabilities, configurations, scope, and delivery assumptions.

Proposal Execution and Compliance

• Own the proposal lifecycle from intake and solicitation analysis through planning, development, reviews, production, and submission, including customer clarifications and revisions.
• Establish proposal schedules, compliance matrices, content plans, contributor assignments, and review milestones tailored to the size and complexity of each pursuit.
• Lead disciplined color team reviews that test compliance, persuasiveness, technical accuracy, and alignment with the approved deal strategy. Ensure findings are resolved before release.
• Hold teams accountable for complete, accurate, and timely submissions, with rigorous version control, production checks, and confirmation of delivery.
• Support both strategic pursuits and the broader portfolio of written responses, including requests for information, requests for proposals, and other customer submissions.

Functional Alignment and Risk Management

• Coordinate contributions from Sales, Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Contracts, Delivery, Partnerships, and other subject matter experts, with clear owners and deadlines.
• Ensure proposed scope, pricing, terms, partner responsibilities, and delivery commitments reflect decisions approved by the appropriate functional owners.
• Surface missing inputs, unsupported claims, unresolved decisions, and submission risks early. Escalate with clear recommendations, required decisions, and schedule implications.
• Integrate proposal milestones with established Opportunity Review and Management Review processes while reducing duplicate work and unnecessary meetings.
• Maintain an accurate record of submitted commitments, assumptions, exclusions, and approved revisions to support contracting and delivery handoffs.

Scalable Processes and Continuous Improvement

• Build and maintain a searchable library of approved proposal content, templates, proof points, graphics, and reusable response modules, with named owners and review cadences.
• Connect proposal content to approved capability definitions and deal frameworks so teams can reuse validated material with confidence.
• Partner with GTM systems and tools leaders to improve proposal workflows, collaboration, content retrieval, and reporting.
• Lead proposal retrospectives and incorporate customer feedback, evaluation results, and lessons from wins and losses into team practices and reusable content.
• Measure submission timeliness, compliance, response cycle time, rework, content reuse, and win rate on submitted proposals. Use results to improve execution and inform resource decisions.

How you will work:

The Director of Proposals owns the proposal organization, proposal strategy and execution plans, contributor coordination, written quality, compliance, and submission readiness. Regional Deal Strategists lead deal strategy and commercial construction on assigned pursuits, partnering with proposal teams to keep the submission aligned with the agreed approach.

Account teams retain ownership of customer relationships and the close. Functional leaders retain authority over their respective technical, financial, contractual, export, and delivery decisions. You will ensure those decisions are accurately reflected in the proposal and escalate unresolved issues through the Sr. Director of Deal Strategy and Execution.

Required qualifications:

• Significant progressive experience leading proposals for complex defense, aerospace, national security, or government technology opportunities, with a demonstrated record of delivering competitive, compliant submissions.
• Experience leading proposal managers and multidisciplinary proposal teams, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and resource allocation across concurrent pursuits.
• Demonstrated ability to develop winning proposal strategies and translate technical capabilities into clear, credible customer value.
• Strong command of solicitation analysis, compliance matrices, proposal planning, color team reviews, content development, and submission production.
• Detailed oriented with exceptional writing and editing skills, with the ability to improve executive narratives and technical content under demanding deadlines.
• Experience coordinating contributions and securing decisions across Sales, Engineering, Product, Finance, Legal, Contracts, and delivery organizations.
• Familiarity with government acquisition and contracting requirements, including the ability to identify proposal obligations and engage the appropriate experts.
• Sound judgment in handling sensitive information, managing competing priorities, and escalating risks with clear recommendations.
• A record of building practical processes and reusable content that improve quality and speed in a growing organization.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience supporting both U.S. government and international defense proposals, including partner contributions and coordination of export and contracting reviews.
• Experience with offerings that combine hardware, software, integration, training, field services, and sustainment.
• Experience supporting autonomous systems, aviation, defense software, or emerging technology pursuits.
• Experience establishing or scaling a centralized proposals function while preserving responsiveness to regional account teams.
• Familiarity with Shipley methods, APMP certification, or comparable proposal management training.
• Experience applying approved automation and AI tools to proposal workflows with appropriate information protection and human review.

What success looks like:

• Repeatable onboarding and performance standards established that challenge and uplevel the Deal Strategy & Execution org.
• Proposals are compelling, compliant, delivered on time, and aligned with approved deal strategy and executable commitments.
• Proposal managers and contributors operate with clear ownership, realistic plans, and earlier visibility into decisions and risks.
• Account teams receive responsive proposal support across strategic opportunities and the broader submission portfolio.
• Reusable content and consistent practices reduce avoidable rework and improve response speed.
• Proposal quality, team capability, and pursuit outcomes improve through measurable feedback and continuous learning.