Aretum is seeking an accomplished Director, Capture – DoD to lead the identification, shaping, qualification, and capture of strategic Department of Defense opportunities.
This is a hands-on senior leadership role for a proven capture professional who can turn early market intelligence into winnable pursuits. The successful candidate will bring strong DoD customer knowledge, disciplined capture leadership, and a demonstrated ability to develop winning strategies, build effective teams, shape differentiated solutions, and drive complex opportunities through proposal submission.
This role will focus exclusively on DoD customers and mission areas, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Pentagon organizations, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, defense agencies, combatant commands, or related organizations.
The Director will work closely with executive leadership, technical leaders, proposal management, pricing, recruiting, operations, and external partners to position Aretum for sustainable DoD growth.
Due to the nature of our work as a federal consulting organization, employees may be expected to handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and must adhere to applicable safeguarding, security, and compliance requirements.
Responsibilities
- Lead the identification, qualification, pursuit, and capture of strategic DoD opportunities from early market awareness through proposal submission.
- Develop and execute capture strategies for priority DoD customers, mission areas, and target opportunities.
- Build and manage a qualified pipeline aligned with Aretum’s growth priorities, capabilities, and revenue objectives.
- Develop customer insight through market research, customer engagement, acquisition intelligence, industry activity, and competitive analysis.
- Shape opportunities before solicitation release by helping influence solution direction, teaming strategy, positioning, and customer understanding.
- Develop and maintain capture plans, customer engagement strategies, competitive assessments, win themes, discriminators, solution concepts, and pursuit schedules.
- Build and manage strategic teaming relationships with large and small business partners, including evaluation of capability fit, customer access, contract vehicle access, past performance, and workshare value.
- Partner with technical leaders and subject matter experts to develop credible, differentiated, and executable solutions that address customer mission needs.
- Lead or participate in pipeline reviews, gate reviews, capture meetings, solutioning sessions, pricing discussions, and executive pursuit reviews.
- Recommend bid/no-bid, investment, teaming, and pursuit decisions based on customer access, competitive position, solution strength, delivery readiness, and likelihood of win.
- Partner with proposal leadership to ensure capture intelligence, win strategy, customer priorities, and discriminators are translated into compelling and compliant proposal responses.
- Support proposal development as needed, including executive summaries, win themes, solution narratives, staffing strategies, past-performance positioning, and oral presentation strategy.
- Coordinate cross-functional pursuit activities with executives, technical leaders, pricing, contracts, recruiting, operations, proposal personnel, and external partners.
- Maintain accurate opportunity and capture information in approved CRM, SharePoint, and business-development systems.
- Represent Aretum at customer meetings, industry events, conferences, teaming discussions, and other business-development forums.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in business, management, engineering, public administration, international relations, a technical discipline, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Eight or more years of progressive experience in federal business development, capture management, growth strategy, proposal leadership, or a related government-contracting discipline.
- At least five years of direct DoD capture experience.
- Demonstrated experience leading or materially shaping competitive federal pursuits from opportunity qualification through proposal submission.
- Proven ability to develop customer engagement strategies, capture plans, teaming strategies, competitive assessments, win themes, discriminators, and solution approaches.
- Strong understanding of the DoD acquisition environment, including customer organizations, acquisition processes, competitive dynamics, contract vehicles, and solicitation practices.
- Experience supporting one or more major DoD customer communities, such as the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, defense agencies, combatant commands, or Pentagon organizations.
- Demonstrated ability to build and influence cross-functional teams, including executives, technical leaders, proposal teams, pricing personnel, recruiters, operations leaders, and external partners.
- Strong written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple high-priority pursuits in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and experience using SharePoint, CRM systems, or comparable opportunity-management tools.
- Ability to travel as needed to support customer engagement, capture activity, proposal efforts, teaming meetings, and internal collaboration.
Preferred Qualifications
- Ten or more years of DoD-focused business development and capture-management experience.
- Demonstrated success leading captures for complex technology, cyber, digital transformation, engineering, professional services, mission-support, or management-consulting opportunities.
- Established DoD customer knowledge and relevant industry relationships in Aretum’s priority growth areas.
- Experience with major DoD and governmentwide contract vehicles, including SeaPort NxG, OASIS+, GSA Multiple Award Schedule, IDIQs, GWACs, BPAs, or task-order environments.
- Experience using GovWin, Bloomberg Government, SAM.gov, USAspending.gov, FPDS, Salesforce, SharePoint, or similar market-intelligence and opportunity-management tools.
- Familiarity with Shipley-based capture, proposal, and color-team practices.
- Experience supporting oral presentations, customer demonstrations, executive briefings, or solution workshops.
- Active U.S. security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain one, if required for assigned work.
- Military service, civilian DoD experience, or prior experience supporting a DoD customer organization.
Travel Requirements
This is a hybrid position, with work performed both remotely and at designated client or corporate locations, as needed. Travel requirements may vary depending on project assignments, client meetings, or internal collaboration and will be communicated in advance whenever possible.
EEO Statement
Aretum is committed to fostering a workplace rooted in excellence, integrity, and equal opportunity for all. We adhere to merit-based hiring practices, ensuring that all employment decisions are made based on qualifications, skills, and ability to perform the job, without preference or consideration of factors unrelated to job performance.
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Aretum complies with all applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.
We are proud to support our nation’s veterans and military families, providing career opportunities that honor their service and experience.
If you require reasonable accommodation during the hiring process due to a disability, please contact [email protected] for assistance.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled
U.S. Work Authorization
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. This position does not offer sponsorship.
Benefits
- Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Plan (401k)
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Paid Time Off
- Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
- Short Term & Long-Term Disability
- Training & Development
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a related business or technical discipline.
- Minimum 5 years in Federal Government capture and business development (identify, capture, and close).
- Prior experience and relationships with U.S. Navy and Navy systems.
- Demonstrated success identifying, qualifying, and winning large captures.
- Deep understanding of Federal contracting practices.
- Experience preparing and delivering presentations to Senior Leadership.
- Proven record of achieving business development and revenue goals.
- Experience navigating gate review processes as a business developer, capture manager, or proposal manager.
- Strong writing and editorial skills to support proposal submissions.
- Experience supporting winning proposals focused on technical solutions-based opportunities.
- Ability to handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and adhere to safeguarding and compliance requirements.
- Excellent planning, time management, and organization skills.
- Excellent communications skills, including meeting facilitation and presentation expertise.
- Experience working with standardized proposal development tools and templates.
- Knowledge of professional services (a plus).
- Retired Officer or SES within past five years from Navy, Army, Air Force, or Marines (preferred).
What We Do
Panum, a Maryland-based company, provides a continuum of services and strategies to accelerate innovation and transformation for the federal government in meeting its mission. Panum has had significant growth in the last 5 years due to its people, process, and innovative solution and services offered to its federal customers. Panum brings innovative ideas with a passion and a culture of “expect excellence” in Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Health Sciences, Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity, FOIA Support, Logistics, Training, and Organizational Change Management. It provides these services to more than 25 federal agencies. Panum has received numerous excellence awards from its federal customers including the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Agriculture. Panum provides its employees with work-life balance, an opportunity to innovate, learn, and grow their skills while working on solving the most complex federal government problems. Panum's management team consists of seasoned executives with both industry and government experience. This team boasts decades of business experience in diverse businesses with domestic and international operations, as well as small and large businesses. Why choose Panum? We are readily available to assist our customers with the necessary expertise and support to accomplish their mission.
