Assistant BD Services Manager

Schnabel is an employee-owned, professional engineering and consulting firm that focuses on solving problems related to the earth and environment through specialization in geotechnical, geostructural, tunnel, and dam engineering. Schnabel’s high standards for quality, business ethics, and concern for the communities in which we live are a vital part of who we are. Schnabel is an ENR Top 500 Design Firm with 650+ employees in 30 offices throughout the United States.

Recognized by CE News as one of the Best Engineering Firms to Work for, Schnabel provides employees with a competitive benefits package including maternity leave, tuition reimbursement for continuing education, health, dental, life and disability insurance and a wellness program. As an employee-owned company, through the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, Schnabel employees directly benefit from the success of our growing firm.

Benefit options include:

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending accounts
• Employee life & ADD insurance (100% company-paid)
• Short-term disability (100% company-paid)
• Long-term disability
• Supplemental life insurance
• 401(k) and profit-sharing plan
• Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)
• Bonus program
• Paid time off
• 9 Paid Holidays
• Wellness program
• Professional development and tuition reimbursement

Job Description: 

Schnabel Engineering is seeking a proactive and detail-oriented Assistant BD Services Manager to support strategic growth initiatives within our business unit. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a collaborative environment, excels at proposal quality assurance, and is passionate about mentoring and developing others. You’ll play a key role in aligning business development strategies with unit goals, managing opportunity pipelines, and ensuring the highest standards in proposal submissions—all while helping to train and guide new team members as a mentor and leader.

Job Responsibilities: 

• Develop and implement strategies that align with the business unit goals including attending Market Pursuit calls.  
• Quality review of proposals/SOQ prepared by proposal staff to ensure accuracy, proper grammar, quality and compliance with legal, regulatory and client requirements, as well as overall messaging.  
• Manages leads/opportunity tracking for business unit. 
• Assists in training new BD Services team staff and provides mentoring. 
• Manage the entire proposal/SOQ lifecycle, including go/no go, planning, strategy development, content development, and submission. 
• Maintains proactive communication with proposal and Business Unit leadership to ensure all necessary resources and activities are available to achieve a successful proposal submission. 
• Interprets technical and management requirements of RFP and SOQs. 
• Collaborates with management and business development staff in the development of compelling themes, discriminators, and messaging. 
• Works directly with prime contractors and subcontractors in preparation and submittal of proposal materials. Serves as the primary point of contact for clients during the proposal process.  
• Ensures win strategy, technical solution, win themes, discriminators, compliance, and clear understanding of the requirements are well-articulated and consistent throughout final proposal documents before and during review. 
• Support development and editing of presentations for shortlist interviews. 
• Develop content, boilerplate materials, project lists, resumes and project profiles for use in proposal and qualifications submittals.  

Required Skills/Experience:  

• Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, communications, or marketing preferred.  
• 10+ years of experience in proposal development required, preferably in the AEC industry. 
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. 
• Exceptional organizational skills to manage timelines, resources and multiple tasks. 
• Ability to lead and coordinate cross-functional teams, including SMEs and teaming partners.  
• Capability to analyze solicitation documents and RFPs and develop strategic responses.  
• Technical proficiency in Adobe InDesign/Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office. 
• Exceptional understanding of database management. Deltek Vantagepoint experience preferred. 
• Willingness to travel as necessary to offices and to professional meetings.

Other Requirements:  

• Ability to pass a background check which may include criminal history, motor vehicle record and credit check 
• Ability to pass a pre-employment drug screening 

The comp