Senior Pursuits Manager

Timmons Group is seeking an experienced Senior Pursuits Manager to join our dynamic Marketing Team in our Richmond, Virginia office location.

The Senior Pursuits Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for Timmons Group’s firmwide pursuit and proposal management function, leading a team of Pursuits Managers who oversee Pursuits Coordinators. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), this role elevates pursuit strategy, proposal effectiveness, team capabilities, and performance to strengthen competitive positioning and improve win rates.

This leader advances pursuits from reactive proposal production to proactive, strategic, and consultative partnership. Working with principals, technical leaders, and business development, the role emphasizes early positioning, compelling differentiation, innovative strategies, and a high-performing team committed to excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Pursuit Strategy & Proposal Excellence

• Lead and elevate the firmwide pursuit process, including go/no-go decisions that evaluate strategic fit, competitive position, resources, and potential ROI; capture planning, proposals, and shortlist interviews.
• Drive proactive opportunity identification and early positioning through CIP research, market intelligence, client insights, and engagement with technical and business development leaders.
• Coach pursuit teams to create compelling, client-focused proposals with strong win themes, persuasive messaging, clear value propositions, and meaningful differentiation.
• Challenge conventional approaches and introduce creative storytelling, innovative strategies, and best practices that improve proposal impact and effectiveness.
• Establish, lead, and continuously improve firmwide proposal QA/QC processes, review protocols, and tools to ensure RFP compliance, accuracy, consistency, and high-quality deliverables; lead shortlist interview strategy and preparation.
• Tailor pursuit strategies to AEC procurement requirements, including federal, state, and local RFPs, private-sector pursuits, and design-build RFQs.

Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor pursuit metrics, including win rates, proposal effectiveness, quality, workload, and resource utilization.
• Provide actionable reporting, insights, and recommendations to the CMO and firm leadership to inform pursuit decisions and growth strategies.
• Champion continuous improvement through debriefs, lessons learned, CRM, automation, and AI tools for proposal development, management, and proofreading, including Kantiv.

Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead, mentor, and coach Pursuits Managers who lead teams of Pursuits Coordinators, building leadership capabilities and elevating strategic thinking, writing, storytelling, and consultative skills across the function.
• Set clear expectations and coach Pursuits Managers to strengthen proposal quality, effective review practices, compliance expertise, and their teams’ attention to detail, while fostering accountability and continuous improvement.
• Oversee staffing, resource planning, workload management, and priorities across teams; provide ongoing feedback, performance guidance, and support for strong execution.
• Partner with the CMO and business development leadership to align pursuit priorities with firmwide growth strategy; build trusted, consultative relationships with technical leaders.

Strategic Pursuit Involvement

• Provide hands-on strategic leadership for select high-priority pursuits, from early positioning and capture planning through proposals and interviews.
• Partner with principals, client managers, and business development to turn CIP research, client and competitive intelligence into early positioning, client engagement, and capture strategies.
• Facilitate strategic discussions that sharpen positioning, uncover differentiators, strengthen win themes, and improve the firm’s ability to win.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or related field and/or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum 12–15 years of progressive pursuit and proposal management experience in the AEC industry (required); engineering-sector experience preferred.
• Proven success developing winning pursuit strategies and differentiated proposals across public and private markets, including federal, state, local, and design-build procurement.
• Demonstrated success leading managers and developing multi-level pursuit teams through coaching, performance management, and a commitment to elevating individual and team capabilities.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite; experience with Deltek Vantagepoint and AI-enabled proposal management and proofreading tools (e.g., Kantiv) preferred.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, writing, editing, storytelling, and creative problem-solving skills; ability to translate technical information into persuasive messaging.
• Strong consultative, communication, and organizational skills; exceptional attention to detail, ability to influence leaders, and capacity to manage competing deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead proposal QA/QC processes and uphold rigorous quality and compliance standards; proactive, solutions-oriented leadership with sound judgment and ownership.
• Understanding of CIP research, market intelligence, proactive opportunity identification, and strategic capture planning.

Compensation: Our best estimate of the salary range for this position is $140,000-$160,000. There may be flexibility on salary on experienced candidates. Offers are based on a range of job-related factors such as internal equity, experience, skills, education, credentials, role complexity, and location. Information on our comprehensive benefits package can be found here. 

The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skills and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

We are looking for high energy, creative, flexible, patient, self-starters who are willing to work at a dynamic pace. Candidates must share a commitment to our company’s Vision, Mission and Shared Values.

Timmons Group is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or protected Veteran status.

Timmons Group is a full-service engineering and technology firm recognized nationally as a “Best Firm to Work For” by CE News. With 22 offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and South Central United States, we provide civil engineering, environmental, economic development, GIS/geospatial technology, landscape architecture, and surveying services to a diverse client base. As one of Engineering News Record’s (ENR) Top 500 Design Firms for over 30 years, we are dedicated to being an employer of choice and providing our people with the best resources, technology, and culture to help them thrive in an engaging career development setting. For more information, visit www.timmons.com.

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