Job Information
WSP USA Manager, Proposal Support in Chicago, Illinois
This Opportunity
WSP is hiring for a Proposal Manager role for the Property & Buildings business line. This role can sit out of an U.S. city where WSP has an office. This role will work closely with senior business leaders responsible for achieving sales and funding performance goals in alignment with strategic and business plans, meeting our client’s objectives and solving their challenges.
WSP’s Strategic Growth Team (SGT) is a national group of collaborative and innovative problem solvers who frequently work across regions and business lines to advance growth initiatives, secure the win, and leverage the expertise of the broader organization. We are looking for a BL proposal manager to bring the best strategies and resources to drive client engagement, pursuits, and marketing activities across the practice. This role will facilitate and/or support teams in positioning for major pursuits, including capture planning, proposal development, and interview coaching and debriefs, with an eye for continuous improvement. In addition, they will act as a knowledge manager for the BL, maintain BL-specific collateral, support marketing communications activity, and improve awareness of BL services to enhance cross-selling opportunities.
Your Impact
Work with business line leads (BLL) to align growth priorities and drive successful proposal, pursuit, and market strategy initiatives.
Support teams in positioning for complex pursuits from lead identification through contract award.
Drive improved pursuit outcomes, including increased win rates, higher-quality submissions, and stronger client positioning across the business line.
Drive successful client accounts including gathering and disseminating intelligence, and sales pipeline development activities.
Work in coordination with SGT regional marketing managers to ensure the right level of support is assigned based on client and pursuit complexity.
Share knowledge, mentor and lead training initiatives.
May participate in professional development activities (e.g., SMPS, AIA, etc.) to enhance business acumen and industry relationships.
Perform additional responsibilities as required by business needs.
Development Coordination (25%)
Collaborate with BLL to drive WSP’s business development process for pursuits and proposals, sales pipeline development, and industry visibility plans.
Serve as an SGT partner on account team(s) to drive strategy, cross-selling execution and accelerate revenue growth.
Top Opp Pursuits/Proposals/Other Proposals (75%)
Lead priority pursuits end-to-end, including strategy development, messaging, content quality, compliance, team coordination, interviews, and post-procurement debriefs. Gather and synthesize client and competitor business intelligence to challenge pursuit assumptions and develop, refine, and provide feedback on key sales messages, themes, and differentiators that strengthen WSP’s competitive positioning.
Oversee pursuit teams and monitor progress on key pursuits in alignment with WSP standards.
Collaborate with technical staff to write, review, and edit original content for clarity, compliance, and key messages.
Work with graphic design staff to plan, create, and produce graphics to effectively communicate the strategic vision, sales themes and differentiators.
Coach and lead presentation teams in prep meeting to develop interview strategy, coach and provide feedback to presenters, and prepare teams for Q&A.
Lead debriefing activities post procurement.
Ensure compliance with sales and business development policies and procedures, including audit requirements, Go/No-Go engagement, and proposal quality.
Act as a connector across regional BL teams and cross-business line expertise to ensure we’re positioning and selling the complete OneWSP offering to clients and partners.
Assist in the ongoing development and refinement of sales and business development procedures and processes
Who You Are
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, journalism or closely related field
Minimum of 7 years of experience in the A/E/C industry with experience across a multi-state region or practice
Thorough understanding of business line and approach to the marketplace
Strong communications experience with the ability to articulate complex ideas in a creative manner to influence or persuade others
Demonstrated experience of leadership, personal accountability, persistent and goal-oriented
Strong business acumen with an aptitude for improving processes with a commitment to internal and external client service
Knowledge of the pursuit development process from creation through submission
Highly organized; detail oriented; skilled with implementation/logistics
Competitive passion for winning and the ability to build that passion in others
Strategic thinker that can look at the big picture and drive strategy to achieve tactical objectivesroficient with Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, SharePoint, and other communications-related software programs
Ability to travel, as needed
Exercise responsible and ethical decision-making regarding company funds, resources and conduct and adhere to WSP’s Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures
Proven track record of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP’s health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies
WSP Benefits:
WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.
Compensation:
Expected Salary (all locations): $88,300.00 - $157,410.00
WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.
Expected Salary (Colorado only): $88,300.00 - $147,730.00
WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position within the state of Colorado, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.
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About WSP
WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.
www.wsp.com
WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career.
At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?
WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.
The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.
NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES:
WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Unsolicited resumes include any resume or hiring document sent to WSP in the absence of a signed Service Agreement where WSP has expressly requested recruitment/staffing services specific to the position at hand. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers or other business leaders, will become the property of WSP and WSP will have the right to hire that candidate without reservation – no fee or other compensation will be owed or paid to the recruiter, employment agency, or other staffing service.