Proposal Manager - AZ/CA

MWH is a leading water and wastewater treatment-focused general contractor in the US with a rich history dating back to the 19th century. Fueled by the mission of Building a Better World, our teams are rapidly growing across the nation.

As a company committed to our team's well-being and growth, we offer a supportive work environment, opportunities for advancement, and the chance to contribute to a mission that shapes the future. Your expertise and ambition are valued here.

The work we do matters. The critical systems infrastructure we build changes lives, betters' communities, and improves ecosystems. If you're passionate about this, we want to hear from you!

MWH is looking for an experienced Proposal Manager to work from our Phoenix AZ or Corona, CA office.

The Proposal Manager independently leads the proposal process by analyzing RFQ/RFP documents, outlining requirements, developing pursuit production plans, creating deliverables calendars, and coordinating the development of all response materials with the Campaign Manager, operational leads, subject matter experts, and providing direction to other marketing/design and proposal professionals. The Proposal Manager independently drafts compelling proposal content by leveraging industry knowledge, process expertise, and an understanding of specific project requirements. Provides mentorship and guidance to junior proposal personnel. The position requires diligence to ensure assignments are completed in a timely manner with a high degree of attention to detail and accuracy.

Essential Functions:

• Leads pursuit execution from kickoff through submission.
• Attend industry conferences and engagement events, as needed.
• Review RFQ/P documents, outline requirements, develop pursuit production plans, and create deliverable calendars in coordination with the Campaign Manager.
• Facilitate status meetings and maintain effective communication across stakeholders and external partners.
• Develop and produce compelling written content and creative graphical elements to generate winning submittals that meet submittal requirements and are easily reviewed by selection panels.
• Work with business development, preconstruction, and construction staff to develop compelling project-specific content.
• Lead structured review processes (e.g., color reviews) and integrate feedback to strengthen deliverables.
• Create innovative imagery to represent technical data or metrics, organizational information, project and staff information, or procedural materials.
• Review and edit copy for spelling, grammar, AP style, consistency, accuracy, readability, and branding.
• Demonstrate a strong eye for quality, integrity, and attention to detail, while taking full ownership of assigned tasks and deliverables from concept through final submission.
• Drive continuous improvement of proposal processes, tools, and content libraries.
• Mentor and develop junior staff, fostering professional growth while working collaboratively and effectively with individuals of diverse personalities, work styles, and backgrounds.
• Strong understanding of marketing strategy, document layout, branding, and graphic integration.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Engineering, Graphic Design, Journalism, English, Fine Arts, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Minimum of 8-10 years of experience leading proposal management and business development efforts within engineering, construction, or professional services (A/E/C industry preferred).
• Proven success managing the full proposal lifecycle from pre-positioning and/or capture planning through submission and interview.
• Advanced user of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook).
• Skilled in Adobe Acrobat Pro, InDesign, and Illustrator, including advanced PDF creation and editing, layout and graphic production, formatting, form development, markup/comment workflows, file optimization, version control, and preparation of compliant, submission-ready documents.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage multiple concurrent pursuits, priorities, and deadlines with minimal oversight while maintaining high standards of quality, compliance, and responsiveness.
• Strong written and oral communication, negotiation, problem-solving, presentation, planning, and time management.
• Strong organizational abilities and time management skills to multi-task in a fast-paced environment and work under pressure to meet multiple deadlines.
• Competitive nature and driven to continuously improve processes and content to develop winning submittals.
• Passion for learning and identifying new ways to display information and improve our pursuit and marketing materials and implementing new technologies to differentiate from competitors.
• Adapt to changing priorities and meet tight deadlines.

KPIs

• Develop compliant, competitive, and compelling proposals through effective collaboration.
• Lead consistent, efficient proposal meetings and status calls.
• Maintain high standards for content, formatting, and presentation of final work products.
• Complete assigned proposal tasks on time (95%+).
• Respond to internal requests within 1 business day.
• Ensure compliance with company branding and formatting standards.
• Minimize document rework due to administrative errors.
• Complete required training and professional development activities.