Lead Proposal Developer - Water & Environment

The Opportunity

Ulteig is seeking a Lead Proposal Developer to join the Proposal Department within our Commercialization & Growth business unit, supporting Water & Environment LifeLine® sector pursuits. You will lead complex and strategically important proposals and shortlist interviews while contributing expertise that strengthens proposal practices across the department and enterprise.

This experienced individual contributor role combines hands-on proposal execution with mentorship, thought leadership, and initiative delivery. You will manage pursuit teams through Ulteig’s Shipley process and personally write, edit, design, and produce proposal and interview materials. You will also help colleagues develop their skills, advise pursuit teams, and lead or support improvements in how Ulteig pursues work. This position has no supervisory responsibilities; leadership comes through expertise, collaboration, and influence.

What You Will Do

Lead complex proposals and interviews

• Independently manage complex, multidisciplinary, and strategically important RFQ, RFP, and statement of qualifications responses from pursuit planning through submission and shortlist interviews.
• Partner with Sales and technical leaders to clarify client priorities, assess competitive positioning, and develop win themes and differentiators supported by evidence. Translate pursuit strategy into clear content and presentation plans.
• Analyze solicitation requirements, evaluation criteria, and addenda. Develop compliance matrices, annotated outlines, schedules, and assignments; align the level of effort with pursuit needs and available resources.
• Facilitate strategy sessions (Blue Team), kickoff meetings, progress meetings, and Shipley color reviews. Guide teams through competing viewpoints, document decisions, and drive review comments and action items to resolution.
• Manage concurrent pursuits, coordinate contributors and teaming partners, and anticipate content, resource, and schedule risks. Recommend solutions and engage Proposal leadership when priorities or resources require decisions.
• Lead shortlist interview strategy, storyboarding, presentation development, rehearsals, and mock question-and-answer sessions. Coach technical presenters on client-focused messaging, delivery, transitions, and timing.

Write edit and design persuasive materials

• Research and write original proposal content, including executive summaries, cover letters, project descriptions, qualifications, and technical narratives developed with subject matter experts.
• Interview technical staff, identify gaps in the proposed story, and translate complex engineering and environmental information into clear, persuasive responses aligned with client evaluation criteria.
• Perform substantive technical editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Challenge unsupported claims and generic content, strengthen the narrative, and coordinate technical validation with subject matter experts.
• Design and produce proposal layouts, interview presentations, and custom graphics, including process diagrams, organizational charts, schedules, and infographics, using Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft tools.
• Manage version control, final production, approvals, and submission. Verify that final materials meet solicitation requirements, brand standards, and quality expectations.

Mentor colleagues and strengthen proposal practice

• Mentor proposal professionals through coaching, paired assignments, and constructive reviews of writing, editing, design, facilitation, and proposal management practices.
• Serve as an experienced resource for pursuit teams and a reviewer on proposals led by others. Help teams identify compliance gaps, sharpen client messaging, and resolve difficult proposal challenges.
• Develop and deliver practical training, guidance, and examples for proposal staff and technical contributors. Support onboarding and knowledge sharing across markets.
• Bring thought leadership to the department by evaluating AEC pursuit trends and proposal practices, recommending approaches suited to Ulteig, and turning lessons learned into usable guidance.

Lead improvements across the department and enterprise

• Lead or support assigned initiatives involving proposal workflows, quality standards, templates, content, training, and tools. Define deliverables, coordinate stakeholders, track progress, and support implementation and adoption.
• Partner with Sales, …