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 700+ employees in 31 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:

The BD Services Manager supports the management of the BD services team Tunnel and Underground Business Unit. This position reports to the Director of Marketing and involves working closely with key members of the Business Unit that are responsible for business development, strategy implementation, and client management. This individual works effectively across business lines to manage development efforts required to support the firm’s and business unit’s business development goals.

The BD Services Manager supports the planning, strategy, development, and senior review of qualifications materials, including proposals, SOQs, presentations and other materials necessary to secure new client and project opportunities. This position also works collaboratively with the Creative Services and Communication teams and Prequalifications to ensure alignment with brand standards and firm wide messaging themes. This position also provides supervision, training and mentoring to junior staff within the BD Services Team.

Job Responsibilities

• Collaborate with senior executives and Business Unit management, BD personnel, and subject matter experts to provide proposal leadership, support, and overall direction.
• Collaborate with various internal and external stakeholders to manage the entire proposal/SOQ lifecycle, including go/no-go, planning, strategy development, content development, QA/QC processes, submission and interview preparation.
• 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.
• Build and maintain relationships with key clients and partners.
• Work directly with prime contractors and subcontractors in preparation and submitting proposal materials. Serves as the primary point of contact for clients during the proposal process.
• Proofreads proposals and other marketing content.
• 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.
• Ensures win strategy, technical solution, win themes, discriminators, compliance, and clear understanding of the requirements are well-articulated and consistent throughout final proposal documents after and during review.
• Works with BD Services Team to develop a proposal review process and facilitates these reviews.
• Support development and editing of presentations for shortlist interviews.
• Works with Creative Services to develop graphics and infographics working within the framework/templates developed by Creative Services.
• Develop marketing materials such as flatsheets, pitch pieces, etc., in collaboration with technical staff, BD professionals, Business Unit leaders and Market Pursuit Directors.
• Develop content, boilerplate materials, project lists, resumes and project profiles for use in proposal and qualifications submittals.
• Manages leads/opportunity tracking for business unit.
• Support development and production of market and project award submissions.
• Assist with conference coordination and development of related materials for respective business unit. This includes scheduling/registrations/calendar/delivery of materials to conferences. Works in cooperation with BD Services Team and the Creative Services Team to develop booth graphics, social media, email blasts, and event coordination.
• Attend industry conferences and events as a representative of Schnabel.
• Support the review and approval of business unit’s social media/communications.
• Oversees and manages training of new BD Services team staff and provides mentoring and review for the business unit’s BD services team.

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.
• Effective teamwork skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Excellent organizational skills to manage timelines, resources and multiple tasks.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Ability to lead and coordinate cross-functional teams, including SMEs and teaming partners. Capability to analyze solicitation documents and RFPs and develop strategic responses.
• Proficiency in Adobe InDesign/Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office.
• Exceptional understanding of database management. Deltek Vantagepoint experience preferred.
• Willingness to work extra hours and/or different time zones, if needed to meet deadlines.
• Willingness to travel as necessary to offices and professional meetings, as well as client 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 compensation range for this position is between $90,000 - $110,000. Compensation for this position may vary based on geographic location and other factors. We remain committed to providing competitive and equitable compensation to all employees, regardless of their location.