Industry: Consulting

Experience:
12–15 years

Location:
New Delhi / Lucknow, India

About the Role
We are looking for an experienced Proposal Management Lead to drive the development, coordination, and quality assurance of strategic proposals and business development initiatives. The role involves managing the complete proposal lifecycle, ensuring compliance with international donor requirements, strengthening donor and partner engagement, and improving internal proposal development processes. The ideal candidate will work closely with Strategic Initiative (SI) leadership, technical teams, and cross-functional departments to develop competitive proposals that align with organisational capabilities and business development priorities. The role also involves mentoring junior team members, strengthening knowledge management systems, and using data-driven insights to improve proposal quality, submission efficiency, and conversion rates.

Key Responsibilities
1. Proposal Management and Coordination
• Lead and coordinate the complete proposal lifecycle for strategic bids, from opportunity identification and bid planning to proposal development, quality assurance, and timely submission.
• Develop proposal plans, establish timelines, coordinate inputs, and monitor progress to ensure submissions meet deadlines and quality standards.
• Work closely with technical teams and SI leadership to define proposal strategies, allocate resources, and align submissions with donor requirements and organisational priorities.
• Coordinate with relevant internal teams to ensure proposals are complete, consistent, and submitted within stipulated timelines. 2. Proposal Quality Assurance and Compliance
• Review, edit, and quality-check technical and financial proposals to ensure clarity, consistency, accuracy, and strategic positioning.
• Ensure compliance with donor guidelines, eligibility criteria, submission requirements, and evaluation frameworks.
• Oversee proposal documentation for international donors, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), FCDO, USAID, GIZ, and DFAT.
• Ensure that proposals effectively communicate MSC's capabilities, technical expertise, proposed methodologies, and value proposition.
• Identify gaps in proposal content and coordinate with relevant teams to address them before submission. 3. Team Leadership and Mentoring
• Supervise and mentor junior team members supporting proposal development and business development activities.
• Provide guidance, feedback, and support to strengthen team members' writing, research, analytical, and coordination skills.
• Plan and allocate tasks based on complexity, dependencies, available resources, and submission deadlines.
• Delegate responsibilities effectively, balance workloads, and ensure the efficient utilisation of team capacity.
• Collaborate with SI leadership to prioritise proposals and manage competing requirements across multiple opportunities. 4. Content Development and Documentation
• Support the preparation and refinement of Expressions of Interest (EOIs), capability statements, technical proposals, CVs, and other business development documents.
• Consolidate inputs from technical teams and ensure that content is coherent, concise, persuasive, and aligned with donor expectations.
• Develop and maintain high-quality written materials that effectively communicate MSC's expertise, experience, and organisational capabilities.




• Review and edit business documents and correspondence to ensure professional presentation, accuracy, and consistency. 5. Business Development and Donor Engagement
• Work closely with SI leadership to support business development strategies, donor engagement, and partner identification initiatives.
• Conduct donor and partner scoping, landscape assessments, and opportunity research across relevant geographies.
• Identify, research, and profile existing and potential donors, funding agencies, and strategic partners.
• Analyse donor priorities, funding opportunities, and market developments to identify potential business opportunities.
• Summarise findings and share relevant insights with the wider MSC team to support strategic decision-making.
• Support training and capacity-building initiatives for SI and technical teams on proposal writing, budgeting, and donor compliance.
• Assist in presenting MSC's organisational capabilities, expertise, and service offerings to internal and external stakeholders. 6. Process Improvement and Knowledge Management
• Develop and implement tools, frameworks, and standardised processes to improve proposal quality, turnaround time, and submission efficiency.
• Maintain and enhance the proposal content library, CV database, capability statements, and standard proposal templates.
• Establish effective knowledge management practices to ensure the systematic organisation, retrieval, and reuse of relevant proposal content.
• Identify bottlenecks in the proposal development process and recommend improvements to strengthen coordination, consistency, and efficiency.
• Promote the use of standardised documentation and workflows across proposal development activities. 7. Cross-functional Coordination
• Coordinate with Finance, HR, Operations, SI leadership, and technical teams to gather budgeting inputs, compliance documents, staffing plans, and team composition requirements.
• Facilitate the timely collection, review, and consolidation of inputs from relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure alignment between technical approaches, financial proposals, resource requirements, and donor expectations.
• Maintain effective communication across teams to resolve dependencies and minimise delays during proposal preparation. 8. Performance Monitoring and Reporting
• Track proposal submissions, conversion ratios, and other relevant business development performance indicators.
• Maintain accurate records of proposal opportunities, submission status, outcomes, and associated documentation.
• Analyse proposal performance and identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
• Document lessons learned from successful and unsuccessful bids to strengthen future proposal strategies.
• Update data fields, synthesise information, and conduct data analysis to support reporting and evidence-based decision-making. Required Qualifications and Experience
• Master's degree in English, Business Management, or an equivalent relevant field.
• 12–15 years of relevant professional experience in business development, proposal management,



proposal writing, or donor engagement within a consulting or development organisation.
• Demonstrated experience in managing the end-to-end proposal lifecycle and preparing competitive bids for international donors.
• Proven experience in ensuring compliance with donor requirements, particularly those of the World Bank, ADB, FCDO, USAID, GIZ, DFAT, or similar funding agencies.
• Experience in donor and partner scoping, landscape assessments, opportunity identification, and business development research.
• Demonstrated experience in team leadership, task allocation, delegation, and mentoring junior professionals.
• Solid experience in reviewing, editing, and quality-assuring technical proposals, financial proposals, and related business development documents. Required Skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to produce clear, concise, and persuasive business documents.
• Strong writing, editing, proofreading, and quality-control capabilities.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly MS Word and PowerPoint, with advanced MS Excel skills.
• Ability to manage databases, update data fields, synthesise information, and conduct rigorous data analysis.
• Strong planning, organisational, and coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple proposals and competing deadlines.
• Ability to assess task complexity, identify dependencies, allocate resources, and delegate responsibilities effectively.
• Strong analytical and research skills, particularly in donor profiling, partner mapping, and funding landscape assessments.
• Ability to develop and deliver training on proposal writing, budgeting, and related business development processes.
• Excellent stakeholder-management skills and the ability to collaborate with multidisciplinary and geographically distributed teams.
• Strong documentation and knowledge management skills, including maintaining standard templates, content libraries, and proposal databases. Key Competencies
• Strategic thinking and business development orientation.
• Strong proposal management and quality assurance capabilities.
• Leadership, mentoring, and effective delegation.
• Excellent written communication and attention to detail.
• Analytical thinking and evidence-based decision-making.
• Effective coordination across technical and non-technical teams.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a demanding, results-oriented environment.
• Proactive problem-solving, initiative, and continuous improvement.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities and work beyond regular hours when required to meet critical deadlines. Expected Outcomes
• Timely submission of high-quality, competitive, and donor-compliant proposals.
• Improved proposal development processes, coordination, and turnaround time.
• Stronger donor and partner intelligence to support business development opportunities.
• Improved proposal quality, strategic positioning, and conversion rates.
• Effective mentoring and development of junior proposal management resources.
• A well-maintained proposal content library, CV database, and standard documentation system.
• Improved collaboration among SI leadership, technical teams, Finance, HR, and Operations.
• Consistent monitoring of proposal performance and application of lessons learned to strengthen future submissions.

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