Research and Development Associate jobs in Lynchburg, VA

Business Development (BD) Manager 

Charlottesville, VA

Data Driven. People Centered.

Elder Research is a fast-growing consulting firm specializing in data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Being in the data science business over 20 years, we pride ourselves in our ability to find creative, cutting-edge solutions to real-world problems. We work hard to provide the best value to our clients and allow each person to contribute their ideas and put their skills to use immediately. Our team members are passionate, curious, life-long learners with a wide range of educational backgrounds in fields such as computer science, mathematics, biology, economics, English, finance, aerospace engineering, art and music, and others. Join us and find great opportunities to hone your analytic skills and work on complex problems with amazing teammates.

Summary of Position:      

Elder Research Inc. is looking for a Business Development (BD) Manager who will focus on growing and supporting our presence across our U.S. Government business units. As a Business Development Manager, you will report to the Senior Director of BD and Operations and support multiple portfolios with the objective of expanding, sustaining, and diversifying our business. While executing across the business development life cycle there will be a strong emphasis in driving proposals to successful completion and submission. The ideal candidate is organized, self-motivated and has experience with DoD and Federal contracting and proposals. 

You will utilize experience reading and analyzing instructions, requirements, and evaluation criteria of the opportunity (RFPs, RFQs, BPAs, IDIQs, RFIs, SBIRs, STTRs), and the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that govern Federal contracting, to determine our potential to provide a competitive submission. You will ensure we provide a compliant and compelling format for the response. You will need exceptional organization, grammar, proofreading, and technical writing abilities. You must be able to work in a deadline-driven environment to complete the responses on time with high-quality. You will also work to communicate the proposal requirements in various ways to technology partners and team members across Business Units and Service Lines.

You will be able to execute small proposals with limited support or oversight. You will also lead larger proposal initiatives that require resources across Business Units and Service Lines, thus you must be able to drive complex proposals to ensure that deadlines are met. You could be working on multiple proposals at the same time. You will either be developing a template for the proposal or ensuring that an established template is followed and work with the team in building and managing the proposal process. Finally, you will be responsible for communicating the progress of proposals to Elder Research management. 

Essential Functions: 

Participate in Capture Activities:

• Assist portfolio directors in the capture, proposal process, defining a pipeline and provide training and coaching as needed.
• Work with Business Unit Leaders to identify and capture new opportunities that are in alignment with strategic goals.

Driving Compliant and Compelling Proposals to Completion: 

• Analyze the government solicitation, identify all requirements and criteria for evaluation, and conduct proposal development research.
• Develop and maintain a response schedule; prepare, lead/conduct/participate in meetings and reviews at all stages in the proposal (kick-off, planning and working sessions, team status calls, color team reviews, and lessons learned sessions).
• Lead the initial first draft compilation and writing of a portion of RFI and RFP responses (red team).
• Work with Business Unit leaders to develop win themes, best value proposition, and discriminators. Maintain focus on the win strategy throughout the proposal process and infuse that strategy and its resultant tactics effectively throughout the entire proposal.
• Respond rapidly to RFP amendments and implement required changes to proposal.
• Identify roles and responsibilities for each proposal; communicates data calls, tasks, writing assignments, and deadlines clearly and unambiguously and ensures accountability on all requirements.
• Drive and oversee the production of all the parts of the proposal, making sure all the aesthetics and written content is on point.
• Verify complex technical solutions, strategies, and themes are easily understandable, readable, and compelling.
• Provide final quality control check, including proofreading for grammar, request for proposal (RFP) compliance and conformance to established strategies and plans.
• Develop, format, organize, and assemble proposal deliverables including the proposal volumes, CDs, cover letters, and other attachments in a timely manner.
• Act as a liaison with the Finance and HR departments to aid in pricing strategies and approaches.

Assist in Continuously Improving Government Capture and Proposal Processes: 

• Define, document, implement, and support continual proposal process improvement.
• Drive existing processes to push information, knowledge, and past performance history to internal Elder Research knowledge vault. 
• Engage management, technical leadership, and staff in understanding and implementing capture management and proposal development best practices; provides on the job and just in time training accordingly to line staff, proposal writers and reviewers as needed.
• Participate in strategic planning that includes evaluating marketing intelligence, identifying customer concerns and key issues, and developing win strategies.
• Assist in the development of other marketing collateral such as brochures, company website, etc.
• Attend industry functions to generate new leads.
• Perform other job-related duties as needed.

Job Specifications/Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in related field (business, marketing, engineering, analytics, etc.) or commensurate experience in absence of a degree.
• Professional knowledge and understanding of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Leaning necessary for business development.
• 5 years of related proposal preparation.
• 3 years of experience in a government contracting environment developing and coordinating responses to Federal opportunities (IDIQs, BPAs, RFQs, RFIs, SBIRs, STTRs) including required sections (Technical Response, PWS, QASP, Conflict of Interest, Executive Summary, Management and Staffing).
• Ability to create detailed compliance matrices, response templates, and proposal timelines. 
• Ability to drive creative proposal frameworks (i.e., response structure, win themes) working alongside technical writers and executives. 
• Strong cross-functional communication skills across business, finance, and technical teams. 
• Strong understanding of marketing and value proposition principles within the technology, engineering, and/or analytics industries.
• Previous experience with the creation, maintenance, and development of marketing and proposal databases.
• Advanced user in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access).
• Experience and ability to manage multiple priorities/tasks; possess strong organizational skills.
• Must be able to independently manage a challenging workload when faced with unexpected changes in priorities and deadlines.

Desired Skills

• Experience with capture activities (meeting with government contracting staff, networking, teaming discussions, identifying win themes)
• Ability to understand complex technical solutions and communicate with technical, data science, and engineering staff.
• During proposal seasons, able to work as an individual or on a team and have flexibility to work non-traditional hours when necessary, in a deadline-oriented environment.
• Ability to create compelling proposal graphics using tools like Adobe Creative Suite including In Design and Illustrator. 
• Experience with designing marketing material.
• Experience with Box (or another document management platform) and Govwin/Deltek.