Proposal Manager

Who we are:

Illumia is an industry leader in bringing the best integrated technology solutions to education, healthcare, and business campuses worldwide. Illumia was built on the collective expertise of Transact Campus + CBORD, and brings together people, technology, and insight to pioneer the art of the experience across the communities we serve. Be a part of this exciting organization and improving the lives of people doing mission-critical work.

Why join our team?

We strive to provide the best customer experience in the industry and have succeeded with a single, strong motivating principle: We serve our user community.

Our success and growth are directly attributed to our people. Our newly named company is dedicated to fostering a culture of integrity, respect, and continuous personal development. We maintain an entrepreneurial spirit, where creativity, innovative problem-solving, and learning agility drive our day-to-day actions.

What you will be doing:

The Proposal Manager within the Proposal Team is an individual contributor who will play an integral role in the team’s success by leading the end-to-end response process for RFPs, RFIs, and sales proposals, coordinating subject matter expert (SME) inputs across the organization, managing timelines and compliance, and ensuring polished, on-time submissions.

Job Summary / Purpose

• The Proposal Manager leads and coordinates all aspects of the proposal response lifecycle, serving as the central liaison between Sales and internal stakeholders to produce compliant, compelling, and on-brand submissions. This role drives schedules, facilitates SME inputs, mitigates risks, and manages final production to ensure every deliverable is accurate, complete, and submitted on time.

Who you will work with:

The Proposal Manager works closely with stakeholders across the organization, including Sales, Contracts, Legal, Security, HR, Product, and Client Success, to gather inputs, validate requirements, and assemble high-quality responses. The role also works with those stakeholders and other Proposal team members to maintain a shared content library and continuously improve proposal processes.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

• Manages and leads all aspects of RFP/RFI/proposal coordination end-to-end, acting as a liaison with all business units required to complete response requirements (e.g., Sales, Contracts, Legal, Security, HR, Product, Client Success).

• Drives the response process by facilitating SME inputs, managing internal deadlines, and escalating risks to keep submissions on track.

• Maintains response trackers and status reporting; coordinates reviews and submission readiness to ensure requirements, forms, and attachments are complete.

• Monitors client communications during the response period and coordinates timely Q&A and addenda updates.

• Leads planning calls to confirm project context, history, win themes, potential red flags, and milestones; gains alignment on deliverables and timelines.

• Manages RFP kickoffs and compliance artifacts (e.g., requirements list, compliance matrix, responsibilities, internal deadlines).

• Maintains and improves the proposal content library/knowledge base, enabling effective reuse of boilerplate and past responses and supporting creation of new content as needed.

• Performs compliance and quality reviews to ensure every requirement is addressed and all attachments, forms, signatures, and portal steps are complete.

• Leverages proposal tools and processes (e.g., SharePoint, Microsoft Word/Excel/Teams, Responsive (formerly RFPIO), Adobe Acrobat, and AI tools including Copilot and Claude) to improve efficiency and submission quality.

• Owns final document assembly, including conversion to PDF, naming conventions, portal uploads, and validation of rendering and page limits.

What you bring to the table:

Proposal management and bid strategy expertise (or equivalent), with strong project management, writing, and stakeholder coordination skills. Able to solve complex problems independently, influence without direct authority, and operate with urgency in a deadline-driven environment while supporting multiple concurrent proposal efforts.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree preferred; additional Project Management or Proposal Management certification (e.g., APMP) is a plus.

• Experience: Minimum 4+ years of proposal coordination and/or project management experience working with multiple internal/external groups; minimum 4+ years writing sales proposals and/or responding to RFPs, including large-scale, complex bids (US$500K+ value) with proven success.

• Skills: Exceptional time management and multitasking in deadline-oriented environments; strong written communication and editing; influence and facilitation skills; advanced proficiency with Microsoft Word (styles and mid-to-high level formatting), Outlook, and Excel; proficient with collaboration tools and running online meetings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Preferred: Proposal management and/or project management certification (APMP); experience maintaining proposal content libraries/boilerplate; familiarity with proposal tools such as Responsive (formerly RFPIO), SharePoint, and Adobe Acrobat; comfort using AI tools (e.g., Copilot, Claude) to improve efficiency and quality.

Essential Functions of the job:

The duties and responsibilities described in this job description are intended to represent the essential functions of the position as defined under applicable federal, state, and local labor laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These functions are the fundamental job duties required for successful performance.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions unless such accommodations impose an undue hardship on the organization.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities. Duties may be added, removed, or modified at any time in accordance with business needs and applicable law.

What is good to know:

• Collaboration and stakeholder management; ability to influence without direct authority.

• Strong project execution, organization, and attention to detail; clear written and verbal communication; adaptability and learning agility; problem-solving mindset; commitment to quality and compliance.

Competencies and Behaviors

• Humble: The right leaders for Illumia don’t need to own the spotlight — they share credit, define success collectively, and are quick to elevate the contributions of others. This is a company that still writes its story. The leaders who thrive here find energy in building something together, not in being recognized as the smartest person in the room.

• Hungry: We are not looking for caretakers. We are looking for leaders who are restless about what’s possible, self-motivated to close the gap between where we are today and where we need to be, and who are already thinking about the next opportunity before anyone asks.

• Smart: At Illumia, our leaders must operate across a complex, distributed organization spanning multiple product lines, two legacy cultures, and thousands of customers with competing priorities. Technical skills matter, but the ability to read a room, build trust across functions, and bring people along is what separates a great leader from one who burns the organization out.

This position is classified as Exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and applicable state wage-and-hour laws.

What you get when you join our team:

• Flexible time off to include paid holidays and volunteer time.

• Robust health, dental, and vision insurance plans on your first day of employment

• Comprehensive employee assistance program (EAP)

• Employer-paid life insurance/AD&D/short-term and long-term disability insurance 

• Flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) 

• Matched 401(k) 

• Employee stock purchase plan

Base salary offers for this position may vary based on factors such as location, skills, and relevant experience. Some positions may include additional compensation in the form of bonus, equity, or commissions.

Illumia is an equal employment opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, gender, age, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, protected military/veteran status, or any other protected factor.