Automation Proposal Manager

We are seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Proposal Manager to lead the development of technical scopes and proposals from initiation through submission. This role is critical in aligning customer needs with engineering solutions, ensuring proposals are technically sound, competitively priced, and delivered on time. 

The ideal candidate will serve as a strategic liaison between sales, engineering, and project support teams, translating customer requirements into actionable scopes of work and comprehensive proposals. Success in this role requires strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills, along with a deep understanding of engineering services, estimating practices, and proposal management methodologies. 

As a Project Engineer – Proposal Manager a typical day might include the following: 

• Conduct business development meetings with sales representatives and customers 

• Communicate with customers to understand their technical needs and recommend solutions within SEL Engineering Services’ competencies 

• Collaborate with the local branches to attain technical reviewer and support in developing proposals 

• Estimate Engineering Services and subcontractor labor, equipment, and expenses 

• Orchestrate proposal development, internal review, and submission to customer 

• Evaluate and quantify project risks in accordance with proposed scope of work 

• Evaluate subcontractors in accordance with proposed scope of work 

• Collaborate with project support team to ensure bid documents are complete and submitted on time 

• Construct front-end milestone and construction schedules 

• Communicate with customers regularly on proposal status and provide revisions, as necessary. Document and archive important communications for project execution team 

• Ensure status for proposal submission, due dates, and estimated project execution dates are accurate 

• Conduct bid review meetings with sales team and customers 

• Review purchase orders and contracts for scope, schedule, and budget compliance and deviations from submitted bid documents 

• Conduct internal kickoff meeting with project team to hand-off internally 

• Collaborate in external customer kickoff meeting and complete project turnover to customer 

• Orchestrate post-mortem analyses on completed projects to develop action plans for proposal writing, estimating, and project execution team performance  

• Develop tools that facilitate on time to promise (OTP) proposal delivery to the customer 

• Maintain customer relationships and serve as a trusted advisor.  

This job might be for you if you possess the following skills: 

• A strong technical background and are pursuing career growth in the project management profession 

• A strong understanding of SEL products, solutions and SEL Engineering Services capabilities

• Experience in estimating labor, equipment, subcontractor costs, and project expenses 

• Proficient in developing milestone and construction schedules 

• Ability to evaluate and quantify project risks and evaluate contracts and purchase orders for compliance with scopes, schedules, and budgets 

• Enjoy customer communication and serving as a trusted advisor 

• Enjoy the autonomy of creating tools and templates to improve group processes and tracking 

Required Qualifications: 

• One of the following: Bachelors degree in Engineering or related technical field; Associates Degree with minimum of 4 years relevant experience; or PMP Certification or similar with 6 years relevant experience.

• Basic knowledge of electric power system protection and control, integration and/or automation and communications applications 

• Working knowledge of electric power system design, studies, information and communication technology and protective relay applications 

• Willing to travel both domestically and internationally a minimum of 25% based on focus area