Senior/Proposals Manager

CBSET, Inc. • Full-time • Lexington, Massachusetts, United States • $80,000 - $105,000 / year • 1w ago

About CBSET

CBSET is a preclinical translational contract research organization (CRO) with a 20-year legacy of supporting medical device and biopharma sponsors through rigorous, science-driven safety and efficacy testing, complex histopathology, specialized toxicology, and both lab-based and consulting services. Backed by Arlington Capital Partners, CBSET is scaling its commercial engine as part of a multi-year aggressive growth plan. This is supported by organic business growth, and a new state-of-the-art facility build that substantially increases the capacity of current capabilities and enables new service lines for the business.

Position Summary

The Proposals Manager owns CBSET's proposal function end to end: people, process, and output. This role manages a team of Proposal Development Specialists, sets and enforces standards for accuracy, consistency, and turnaround time, and serves as the point of escalation for complex or non-standard scoping decisions. The Proposals Manager is CBSET's first dedicated leader for this function (first-in-kind hire). As such, a key mandate is to establish the team's operating rhythm, tools, and quality standards to maintain CBSET’s high-quality technical proposals, while evolving into the most efficient workflow to quickly delivery quotes to clients.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership

Manage, coach, and develop a team of Proposal Development Specialists, including workload distribution and prioritization across an active bid volume of approximately 800 proposals annually
Establish onboarding, training, and quality-review processes for proposal staff, including guidance on scoping judgment for non-standard requests
Own hiring and performance management for the proposal team as it scales

Proposal Process & Quality Ownership

Design and maintain CBSET's proposal templates, pricing tools, and approval workflows, working closely with Marketing & Revenue Ops on tooling and Salesforce/CRM integration
Set and enforce standards for proposal accuracy, consistency, and turnaround time; define and track the metrics that measure them
Serve as the escalation point for complex, high-value, or ambiguous scoping and pricing decisions that fall outside standard templates
Carry certain amount of proposal drafting load, commensurate with other manager duties

Pricing Strategy & Accuracy

Partner with Commercial Operations leadership to maintain and refine CBSET's pricing models and cost structures as service lines and capacity assumptions evolve
Validate that proposals for complex or strategic studies (e.g., advanced therapy, cell therapy, orthopedic programs) reflect accurate scientific and operational scoping, coordinating with Technical Sales and scientific staff as needed
Identify recurring pricing or scoping issues and recommend process or template changes to resolve them systematically

Cross-Functional Partnership

Work directly with Key Account Executives and Business Development Executives to align proposal turnaround with deal urgency and account strategy
Partner with the Director of Strategic Accounts & Client Growth on reporting proposal pipeline status, win/loss trends, and turnaround performance
Provide input to leadership on how proposal volume and complexity trends should inform future headcount and capacity planning

Qualifications

Required

Bachelor's degree in life sciences, biomedical engineering, business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
5+ years of experience in proposal development, sales operations, or commercial operations, including at least 2 years in a people-management or team-lead capacity
Experience in a CRO, pharmaceutical, medical device, or broader life sciences environment strongly preferred
Demonstrated ability to build or mature a process from an ad hoc or individual-contributor state into a managed, standardized function
Strong quantitative fluency with pricing models and cost structures
Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications (Excel, Word, Dynamics/PowerApps) and CRM platforms (Salesforce preferred)

Preferred

Familiarity with GLP study design, preclinical testing, or medical device/biologics/advanced therapy regulatory pathways
Experience managing high volume, fast-turnaround proposal or bid functions
Track record of building templates, tools, or workflows that improved proposal accuracy or speed at scale

Core Competencies

Builder mentality: comfortable standing up a function's process, tools, and standards where none currently exist
People leadership: develops team members' scoping and pricing judgment rather than reviewing every proposal personally
Commercial judgment: balances pricing accuracy and turnaround speed against win-rate and margin considerations
Cross-functional credibility: works fluently with sales, technical, and scientific stakeholders to validate complex scopes

Physical Demands

Must be able to perform duties which require talking, hearing, standing or sitting for long periods of time, entering data into a computer. May occasionally require wearing of safety equipment (PPE) according to OSHA regulations and company standards during on-site tours.

Work Environment

· Animal facility and laboratories with moderate noise possible

· Office working environment with quiet noise conditions

Comments

This position may require (>20%) domestic and international travel or performing duties on weekends and/or holidays.

What CBSET offers

The opportunity to help build a commercial organization from the ground up inside a growing, well-capitalized firm
Direct exposure to executive leadership and a clear line of sight to the company's growth strategy
Competitive base salary plus performance-based incentive compensation, commensurate with experience
Comprehensive benefits package

Pay: $80,000.00 - $105,000.00 per year

Benefits: