The Role
Leads full-lifecycle pre-award recruiting for federal government contract proposals, primarily supporting defense and intelligence clients. Develops sourcing strategies, builds cleared talent pipelines, screens candidates against technical and contract requirements, coordinates hiring activities, and advises leadership on staffing risks. Partners with proposal, business development, HR, and recruiting teams from opportunity identification through contract award and transition. Maintains recruiting systems, ensures compliance, and improves proposal recruiting processes.
Summary Generated by Built In
In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next!
At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what’s possible.
Job Description:
Parsons is looking for an amazingly talented Federal Proposal Recruiter to join our team! In this role you will lead full-lifecycle pre-award recruiting activities for federal government contract proposals mostly supporting the defense and intelligence communities.
Candidates located in the Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., or Maryland area are preferred, as this position may periodically require in-person meetings, hiring events, and other business activities.
What You'll be Doing
- Own the full life-cycle pre-award recruiting activities in support of federal proposals, from initial opportunity identification through contract award and transition to the funded recruiting team.
- Develop and execute recruiting strategies for technical and non-technical positions.
- Translate job requirements, contract labor categories, security requirements, and customer staffing needs into targeted sourcing and screening plans.
- Build and maintain reusable talent pipelines aligned with Parsons’ growth areas.
- Maintain a skills inventory and candidate pipeline for cleared and other scarce technical talent.
- Source, assess, and engage candidates through cleared recruiting networks, professional associations, universities, veteran programs, employee referrals, passive-candidate outreach, and other targeted channels.
- Partner with proposal managers, business development, HR and recruiting leadership to define and support proposal requirements, staffing timeliness and anticipated awards.
- Screen candidates against technical qualifications, contract labor-category requirements, education, experience, certifications, and security-clearance criteria.
- Coordinate interviews, selection activities, background requirements, and hiring approvals.
- Brief TA and HR leadership on program staffing status, pipeline health, staffing risks, and recommended mitigation actions.
- Identify potential staffing gaps and proactively develop mitigation strategies to address talent availability, clearance requirements, geographic constraints, and competitive market conditions.
- Maintain accurate and timely candidate and requisition information in Workday and related recruiting systems.
- Ensure recruiting activities comply with applicable employment laws, company policies, contract requirements, and information-handling procedures.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of proposal recruiting processes.
What Required Skills You'll Bring:
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field with at least 5 years of proposal recruiting experience, or at least 9 years of relevant recruiting experience in lieu of a degree.
- Experience supporting proposal-related recruiting, pre-award staffing, capture activities within the defense, aerospace, intelligence, federal IT, construction and engineering, or government consulting organizations.
- Familiarity with federal proposal development, capture management, RFP requirements, staffing volumes and key personnel evaluation criteria.
- Demonstrated success recruiting technical and/or niche professionals in a high-volume, fast-paced government contracting or consulting environment.
- Experience recruiting candidates for positions requiring Secret, Top Secret, TS/SCI, or other sensitive security clearances.
- Familiarity with government-contract labor categories, contract-specific qualifications, customer staffing requirements, and personnel ramp-up timelines.
- Proven experience sourcing candidates through cleared recruiting networks, professional associations, university and veteran pipelines, employee referrals, and passive-candidate engagement.
- Ability to interpret technical resumes and assess candidates against requirements.
- Knowledge of U.S. employment laws, equal employment opportunity requirements, and applicable recruiting compliance obligations.
- Demonstrated ability to develop compensation-informed offers and negotiate effectively using internal guidance and external market data.
- Strong communication, business acumen, organizational, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to manage competing priorities, meet time-sensitive staffing objectives, and operate independently.
- Proficiency with Application Tracking Systems (ATS), Microsoft Office Suite, and recruiting/sourcing tools.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
What Desired Skills You'll Bring:
- Experience improving pre-award to post-award recruiting processes.
- Workday experience highly preferred.
- Active Secret Clearance.
Security Clearance Requirement:
NoneThis position is part of our Corporate team.For over 80 years, Parsons Corporation, has shaped the future of the defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets. Our employees work in a close-knit team environment to find new, innovative ways to deliver smart solutions that are used and valued by customers around the world. By combining unique technologies with deep domain expertise across cybersecurity, missile defense, space, connected infrastructure, transportation, smart cities, and more, we're providing tomorrow's solutions today.Salary Range: $88,400.00 - $154,700.00We value our employees and want our employees to take care of their overall wellbeing, which is why we offer best-in-class benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), 401(k), life insurance, flexible work schedules, and holidays to fit your busy lifestyle!This position will be posted for a minimum of 3 days and will continue to be posted for an average of 30 days until a qualified applicant is selected or the position has been cancelled.Parsons is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.We truly invest and care about our employee’s wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest—APPLY TODAY!Parsons is aware of fraudulent recruitment practices. To learn more about recruitment fraud and how to report it, please refer to https://www.parsons.com/fraudulent-recruitment/.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field with at least 5 years of proposal recruiting experience, or at least 9 years of relevant recruiting experience in lieu of a degree
- Experience supporting proposal-related recruiting or pre-award staffing in defense, aerospace, intelligence, federal IT, construction and engineering, or government consulting organizations
- Familiarity with federal proposal development, capture management, RFP requirements, staffing volumes, and key personnel evaluation criteria
- Experience recruiting technical or niche professionals in a high-volume, fast-paced government contracting or consulting environment
- Experience recruiting candidates for positions requiring Secret, Top Secret, TS/SCI, or other sensitive security clearances
- Familiarity with government-contract labor categories, contract-specific qualifications, customer staffing requirements, and personnel ramp-up timelines
- Experience sourcing candidates through cleared recruiting networks, professional associations, universities, veteran pipelines, employee referrals, and passive-candidate engagement
- Ability to interpret technical resumes and assess candidates against requirements
- Knowledge of U.S. employment laws, equal employment opportunity requirements, and recruiting compliance obligations
- Experience developing compensation-informed offers and negotiating effectively using internal guidance and external market data
- Strong communication, business acumen, organizational, and relationship-building skills
- Ability to manage competing priorities, meet time-sensitive staffing objectives, and operate independently
- Proficiency with applicant tracking systems, Microsoft Office Suite, and recruiting or sourcing tools
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance
- Experience improving pre-award to post-award recruiting processes
- Workday experience
- Active Secret Clearance
Parsons Corporation Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Parsons Corporation and has not been reviewed or approved by Parsons Corporation.
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs are framed as a major value driver, with an ESOP alongside a 401(k) match and additional stock-purchase options contributing meaningfully to total rewards. This structure is positioned as especially attractive for employees who value long-term wealth-building over immediate cash.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as broad and choice-rich, with multiple plan types (PPO, HDHP, and some HMO networks) plus dental, vision, EAP, and wellness resources. The availability of different plan designs and national-carrier coverage supports varied employee needs.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off offerings are portrayed as competitive, including PTO, holidays, flexible schedules such as a 9/80 option for eligible roles, and floating holidays in the U.S. Paid parental leave of 160 hours is also highlighted as a meaningful component of the overall package.
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The Company
What We Do
Parsons is a digitally enabled solutions provider with a focus on making the world safer, smarter, healthier, more sustainable, and more connected. Founded in 1944, Parsons primarily serves the defense, security, and infrastructure markets. Uniquely qualified to deliver cyber/converged security, technology-based intellectual property, and other innovative services, the corporation delivers state-of-the-art solutions to federal, regional, and local government agencies as well as to private industrial customers worldwide. Parsons has a reputation for inclusion and diversity and has been named to the Ethisphere Institute’s list of World’s Most Ethical Companies for 10 consecutive years. Parsons facilitates a culture of innovation by encouraging collaboration among its employees and providing opportunities for career growth. With offices around the globe, people of varied talents and backgrounds, and a wide range of exciting projects, the possibilities at Parsons are endless. For more about Parsons, visit www.parsons.com. Mission: Delivering innovative infrastructure, defense, and security solutions to enable a more sustainable, safer, smarter, and more connected world.
