SENIOS PROPOSAL MANAGER

Senior Proposal Manager

Arizona State University

Research Development

Campus: Tempe

70418BR

Job Description

Under minimal direction of the Executive Director of Research Development, the Senior Proposal Manager operates with a high-degree of autonomy to lead large-scale (i.e., multimillion dollar, multi-institution) and strategic initiatives in advance of, and in response to, federal or philanthropic sponsored research funding opportunities. The Senior Proposal Manager elevates the work of Research Development by leveraging a deep understanding of federal solicitations (e.g., RFP, FOA, RFA, BAA, etc.) and mechanisms (e.g., grants, cooperative agreements, contracts) across multiple federal agencies to increase the quality and quantity of proposals and applications at Arizona State University.

Salary Range

$72,150 - $80,000 per year; DOE

Close Date

20-September-2021

Essential Duties

• Contribute to growth of Research Development and the expansion of the research enterprise at ASU through capture and proposal development activities.
• Develop relationships across ASU and the nation at a variety of institutions to enable successful bids for research funding, i.e., consulting firms.
• Independently navigate and negotiate business relationships (e.g., subaward contracts, memoranda of understanding, etc.) that bring substantial benefit to ASU faculty initiatives.
• Actively lead regular internal and external business development meetings (e.g., capture strategy development and proposal development) with faculty leadership across units at the university in support of large and strategic initiatives for sponsored research funding.
• Work closely with relevant leaders, faculty members, and university staff to develop professional, complete, persuasive, and compliant documents in response to a request for proposals (or similar request).
• Plan and execute on timelines for document production, leveraging existing networks and policies at the university.
• Understand location, value, and contributions of university service offerings to respond to requests for proposals, sources sought, or information.
• Be responsible for the entire business lifecycle of a proposal, inclusive of capture management, for multiple initiatives concurrently or in parallel.
• Contribute to, and advocate for, industry best practices at ASU (and within other professional groups) for proposals, inclusive of mentoring staff, implementation of best practices, and designing presentations on the subject.
• Clearly and effectively report on activities to the Vice President of Research and others at similar levels.
• Ability to translate industry best-practices (as described by the Association of Proposal Management Professionals; APMP) into the academic environment and serve as a resource across campus for these practices.
• In addition to providing calendars, checklists, and shell documents (e.g., annotated outlines) for proposals, responsible for developing capture strategy for teams (working with Competitive Intelligence), partnership negotiation, storyboarding content, developing graphics, crafting win strategies, and win themes for proposals irrespective of discipline or sponsor agency.
• Regular communication and interaction with sponsor agency personnel, in formal and informal circumstances, is expected in this role.
• Identify, assign, and coordinate internal and external resources in support of work assigned. Internal resources include, but are not limited to, colleagues within Research Development, i.e., Strategic Intelligence, Limited Submissions, Graphics, and Events, as well as internal peer review, Research Advancement/Administration, Project Management Office. External resources include, but are not limited to, identification and assignment of peer review of proposals, external consultants, and graphics/video consultants.
• Ability to significantly contribute to capture strategy (i.e., upstream positioning prior to release of a solicitation) in partnership with university leadership and faculty teams.
• Work as a contributing member of the Research Development team toward continuous improvement of the existing processes that support work of ASU faculty members (e.g., creation of formal standards/templates for capture and proposal development).
• Demonstrate team leadership within the Research Development group, with emphasis on growing the skills and abilities of proposal managers at ASU.
• As a leader at ASU, the Senior Proposal Manager will serve as a mentor and trainer for staff members inside and outside of the Research Development group, to increase ASU's research performance.
• The successful candidate will be able leverage university resources and their own skillset to quickly and effectively contribute to and manage a proposal, concept note, or similar prospectus document from concept to submission under minimal direction.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in business or related field and seven (7) years’ experience in research, information analysis or program evaluation, three (3) of which are in proposal production or capture related experience with increasing responsibility; OR any equivalent combination of education and/or experience from which comparable knowledge, skills, and abilities have been achieved.

Desired Qualifications

• Demonstrated knowledge of federal and philanthropic sponsor guidelines generally, with expertise in multiple sponsor agencies, implicit and explicit requirements.
• Experience in conveying sponsor requirements to stakeholders; adapt extracted submission requirements as needed to complex proposals; experience serving as an external reviewer.
• Experience in creating and maintaining an internal resource that serves to streamline process and procedures for other proposal professionals (e.g., boilerplate, graphics library, etc.);
• Experience in using an extensive network of colleagues and consultants when necessary
• Experience in documenting team performance and assesing team function upon completion of a proposal
• Demonstrated knowledge of university pre-award infrastructure, process and procedures.
• Experience in using best practice in composition and editing of persuasive text, messaging, and narrative construction, including the drafting and organization of all relevant text across all required documents
• Experience in conducting business in a professional manner across multiple platforms (e.g., email, phone, video) across multiple schools and units within the university.
• Experience in working with a proposal team from inception to document delivery to determine, articulate and implement a competitive proposal strategy;
• Experience with gap analysis and drawing upon a wide network to close gaps in team function or approach, including internal support personnel.
• Experience in identifying potential team, sponsor, or infrastructure issues that could compromise the quality or timeliness of a proposal submission; able to answer complex questions cogently using experience or appropriate resources. 
• Experience in working within the university system to secure and use appropriate programs and platforms in support of teaming, document coordination, and submission (e.g., ERA, SharePoint, Dashboards, SuperReport, Research Analytics pivot table, etc.); adept and extracting information from federal sponsor awards databases (e.g., NSF and NIH).
• Experience in fostering partnerships; developing understanding of needs, issues, problems; works to developing win/win relationship
• Experience in serving as a mentor to aspiring proposal managers.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the principles, methods and techniques of process/quality improvement for proposal management.
• Experience in the principles of proposal management and adaptation to complex proposals; regular internal and external workshops and presentations on proposal management practices.
• Evidence of a Certification at the Practitioner level for the Association for the Proposal Management Professionals (APMP).

Working Environment

• Activities are primarily performed in a regular, climate controlled office setting subject to extended periods of sitting, standing, walking.
• Activities include presentations to varied audiences in person and via video.
• Visual acuity and manual dexterity associated with daily use of desktop computer; bending, stooping, reaching and lifting up to 20 pounds.
• Ability to walk up to 20 minutes at a time.
• Ability to clearly communicate verbally in to perform essential duties.

Department Statement

Mission: Research development works with ASU research faculty, staff and leaders to improve funding success and grow the research enterprise.

Values: Our office values the individual merits and experience of every person across the network of research at ASU regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, language or belief system, and their inherent ability, as well as our own ability, to learn how to improve the scale, fidelity, accuracy and quality of our work.

Goals: We accomplish our mission through empowering and emboldening ASU faculty, staff and students to increase their competitive edge in support of the expanding quality and quantity of the research enterprise.

Research development is comprised of five different functional groups: strategic intelligence, proposal management, limited submissions, events and graphics.

• Our strategic intelligence function provides actionable insights and future-looking intelligence to inform leadership decisions and proposal strategy.
• Our proposal management function connects early and often with teams to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposal development period using industry best practices for large-scale and strategic proposals. It also leverages the power of graphics for communicating key themes.
• Our limited submissions function serves as a transparent, robust system for selecting the most competitive proposals for selected opportunities while providing actionable feedback for all submissions.
• Our events function brings small and large groups together to discuss current opportunities and to plan for future ones to create a community of practice dedicated to improving teaming, proposals and award performance within and across ASU’s research enterprise.
• Our graphics function measures input for work in order to improve process and impact through effective use of graphics.

ASU Statement

Arizona State University is a new model for American higher education, an unprecedented combination of academic excellence, entrepreneurial energy and broad access. This New American University is a single, unified institution comprising four differentiated campuses positively impacting the economic, social, cultural and environmental health of the communities it serves. Its research is inspired by real world application blurring the boundaries that traditionally separate academic disciplines. ASU serves more than 80,000 students in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, the nation's fifth largest city. ASU champions intellectual and cultural diversity, and welcomes students from all fifty states and more than one hundred nations across the globe.

ASU is a tobacco-free university. For details visit www.asu.edu/tobaccofree

AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and other national service alumni are encouraged to apply.

Arizona State University is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor and an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by law.

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ASU conducts pre-employment screening which may include verification of work history, academic credentials, licenses, and certifications.

Check Statement

ASU conducts pre-employment screening for all positions which includes a criminal background check, verification of work history, academic credentials, licenses, and certifications. Employment is contingent upon successful passing of the background check.

Instructions to Apply

Application deadline is 3:00PM Arizona time on the date indicated.

Please include all employment information in month/year format (e.g., 6/88 to 8/94), job title, job duties and name of employer for each position.

Resume should clearly illustrate how prior knowledge and experience meets the Minimum and Desired qualifications of this position.

ASU does not pay for travel expenses associated with interviews, unless otherwise indicated.

Only electronic applications are accepted for this position.

IMPORTANT NOTE: What is the meaning of “equivalent combination” in the minimum qualifications? It means one year of higher education or 24 credit hours, is equal to one year of experience. For example, a four year Bachelor’s degree is equal to four years of experience.

To apply please go to www.asu.edu/asujobs/ see Req Id# 70418BR