Senior Proposal Development Specialist

At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our exceptional talent who are dedicated to our customers' success. Leidos' Capture Operations & Excellence, Proposal Operations organization leads and supports more than $50 billion in annual proposal submissions and is seeking an extraordinary Senior Proposal Development Specialist to serve as one of our most versatile proposal professionals. This individual is a proven proposal expert capable of leading proposal efforts, developing compelling written content, engineering high-quality oral presentation materials, and coaching presentation teams — all while adapting to the unique needs of each pursuit.

Rather than serving in a single functional discipline, this role flexes across multiple: proposal management, proposal writing, oral presentation development, slide engineering, and orals coaching depending on business priorities. The successful candidate partners directly with Capture and Proposal teams to produce compliant, compelling, customer-focused proposals that consistently score highly and win.

The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience supporting traditional Federal, FEDSIM, and commercial procurements, thrives in fast-paced environments, and leverages Gen AI responsibly to improve proposal quality, efficiency, collaboration, and innovation.

This role is based out of Leidos Global Headquarters in Reston, VA.

Primary Responsibilities

Flex between proposal management, writing, slide engineering, and orals coaching based on business priorities.

Lead proposal development efforts from pre-proposal planning through submission and post-submittal activities.

Establish proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, content plans, and review strategies.

Partner with capture leadership to develop customer-focused win strategies, discriminators, and compelling messaging.

Facilitate kickoffs, solution sessions, color team/executive reviews, and recovery plans

Monitor proposal quality throughout development, ensuring compliance, consistency, and evaluator-focused content.

Coordinate geographically dispersed teams supporting multiple concurrent pursuits.

Write and edit management, technical, transition, staffing, past performance, corporate experience, executive summary, and resume volumes.

Interview SMEs and translate complex technical concepts into clear, persuasive customer-focused content.

Develop compelling themes, proof points, and value propositions throughout proposal volumes.

Develop oral presentation strategies, high caliber presentation slides, scripts, and supporting materials.

Transform written proposal content into concise, visually compelling presentation narratives.

Coach presenters on executive presence, messaging, confidence, timing, and delivery.

Lead rehearsals, customer simulations, mock evaluation panels, and Q&A preparation.

Direct video proposal development and coordinate production support when required.

Apply Gen AI responsibly to accelerate proposal development while maintaining compliance and quality.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree with 15+ years of professional experience (or Master's with 13+ years).

Minimum five years supporting Federal proposals valued at $100M+.

Demonstrated experience across proposal management, proposal writing, oral presentations, slide development, and orals coaching.

Experience supporting traditional Federal, FEDSIM, GWAC, IDIQ, and commercial procurements.

Demonstrated record of producing high-scoring proposals and successful oral presentations.

Strong knowledge of the Federal acquisition process and proposal best practices.

Ability to synthesize customer requirements, solution strategy, technical content, pricing, and win themes into compelling deliverables.

Exceptional writing, editing, facilitation, presentation, and organizational skills.

Experience leading geographically dispersed proposal teams.

Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office and SharePoint.

Extensive experience using Gen AI responsibly throughout proposal development.

U.S. Citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications

Active security clearance.

Experience supporting opportunities exceeding $1B.

APMP certification or equivalent proposal credentials.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting: August 17, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range: Pay Range $154,050.00 - $278,475.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.