Strategic Pursuits Lead (R3979)

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 
Job Description:We are seeking a Strategic Pursuits Lead to lead the development of persuasive, compliant, and strategically aligned proposals in support of U.S. Government and defense industry opportunities. This individual will play a critical role in shaping high-quality submissions that clearly articulate the value of our technical and management solutions.
The ideal candidate is a world-class technical proposal writer with a track record of securing U.S. Government wins. This includes a demonstrated history of producing 100+ proposals/white papers with above average conversion rates, exceptional throughput capacity, and the ability to mentor and elevate a team of writers.

What you'll do:

• Lead the development of written content across the full proposal lifecycle—including RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, and white papers.
• Translate win strategies, themes, and technical input into clear, compelling, and compliant proposal narratives.
• Serve as a volume lead (technical, management, past performance) on high-priority pursuits; collaborate with capture leads and SMEs to build differentiated responses.
• Develop and maintain compliant proposal structures, including annotated outlines, storyboards, compliance matrices, and response templates.
• Deliver high-throughput proposal production while maintaining exceptional quality and compliance — consistently producing winning submissions on aggressive timelines.
• Demonstrate a high yield rate (win/conversion rate) on competitive pursuits.
• Work closely with proposal managers to support kickoff meetings, color team reviews (Pink, Red, Gold), and final production.
• Ensure narrative consistency, accuracy, and alignment with PWS/SOW requirements and customer value propositions and win themes.
• Maintain a reusable content library, develop boilerplate content, and support the creation of strategic messaging and solution frameworks.
• Contribute to visual content including graphics, infographics, and tables that reinforce narrative clarity.
• Lead, coach, and mentor junior proposal writers to improve their technical writing skills, compliance discipline, and throughput.
• Provide quality assurance and peer reviews for proposals in development.

Required qualifications:

• Minimum 7+ years of proposal writing experience in the federal contracting environment, with Government-acquisition fluency.
• Proven track record: Authored 100+ competitive proposals or white papers with a 50%+ win/conversion rate.
• Demonstrated throughput capacity — ability to manage and produce multiple complex proposals concurrently without sacrificing quality or compliance.
• Strong understanding of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), proposal compliance, and evaluation methodologies.
• Expertise in technical proposal writing for complex solutions, including systems, software, engineering services, and R&D projects.
• Exceptional writing, storytelling, editing, and grammar skills tailored to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to integrate technical, management, and past performance volumes into a cohesive, winning proposal.

Preferred qualifications:

• Proposal writing experience from FFRDCs (e.g., MITRE, MIT Lincoln Laboratory) or UARCs (e.g., Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins APL, Georgia Tech Research Institute)
• Experience leading proposal volumes or managing small-to-mid-sized proposals independently.
• Familiarity with producing bids for BAA, IDIQ, GWAC, and task order contracts.
• Experience in leading proposal volumes or managing small proposals independently.
• Background in supporting capture strategy and solution development.

#LD
Full-time regular employee offer package: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package: Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensati