We are seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Proposal Manager to lead the development of technical scopes and proposals from initiation through submission. This role is critical in aligning customer needs with engineering solutions, ensuring proposals are technically sound, competitively priced, and delivered on time.
The ideal candidate will serve as a strategic liaison between sales, engineering, and project support teams, translating customer requirements into actionable scopes of work and comprehensive proposals. Success in this role requires strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills, along with a deep understanding of engineering services, estimating practices, and proposal management methodologies.
As a Project Engineer – Proposal Manager a typical day might include the following:
Conduct business development meetings with sales representatives and customers
Communicate with customers to understand their technical needs and recommend solutions within SEL Engineering Services’ competencies
Collaborate with the local branches to attain technical reviewer and support in developing proposals
Estimate Engineering Services and subcontractor labor, equipment, and expenses
Orchestrate proposal development, internal review, and submission to customer
Evaluate and quantify project risks in accordance with proposed scope of work
Evaluate subcontractors in accordance with proposed scope of work
Collaborate with project support team to ensure bid documents are complete and submitted on time
Construct front-end milestone and construction schedules
Communicate with customers regularly on proposal status and provide revisions, as necessary. Document and archive important communications for project execution team
Ensure status for proposal submission, due dates, and estimated project execution dates are accurate
Conduct bid review meetings with sales team and customers
Review purchase orders and contracts for scope, schedule, and budget compliance and deviations from submitted bid documents
Conduct internal kickoff meeting with project team to hand-off internally
Collaborate in external customer kickoff meeting and complete project turnover to customer
Orchestrate post-mortem analyses on completed projects to develop action plans for proposal writing, estimating, and project execution team performance
Develop tools that facilitate on time to promise (OTP) proposal delivery to the customer
Maintain customer relationships and serve as a trusted advisor.
This job might be for you if you possess the following skills:
A strong technical background and are pursuing career growth in the project management profession
A strong understanding of SEL products, solutions and SEL Engineering Services capabilities
Experience in estimating labor, equipment, subcontractor costs, and project expenses
Proficient in developing milestone and construction schedules
Ability to evaluate and quantify project risks and evaluate contracts and purchase orders for compliance with scopes, schedules, and budgets
Enjoy customer communication and serving as a trusted advisor
Enjoy the autonomy of creating tools and templates to improve group processes and tracking
Required Qualifications:
One of the following: Bachelors degree in Engineering or related technical field; Associates Degree with minimum of 4 years relevant experience; or PMP Certification or similar with 6 years relevant experience.
Basic knowledge of electric power system protection and control, integration and/or automation and communications applications
Working knowledge of electric power system design, studies, information and communication technology and protective relay applications
Willing to travel both domestically and internationally a minimum of 25% based on focus area
Protection Focus
Strong protection background in Generation, Transmission and Distribution
Experience developing BOM, layouts, schematics, wiring diagrams and protection schemes
Experience developing coordination and arc flash studies
Experience conducting FAT and SAT with customer
Automation Focus
Strong automation background in SCADA, PLC, control systems, HMIs, and network & cybersecurity.
Experience developing BOM, layouts, schematics, wiring diagrams and communications scheme.
Experience developing infrastructure for communications, automation, and control systems.
Experience conducting FAT and SAT with customer
Location:
We are open to multiple locations: Fairview Heights, IL, Houston, TX, Denver, CO, Plymouth, MI.
Competitive pay. Superior benefits. Inspiring work.
People are at the core of our company and we hire employee-owners. We welcome you to learn more about how we support employees.
- We’re 100% employee owned. Retirement benefits include an employer funded stock ownership plan (ESOP) and personal 401(k) options.
- We offer top tier medical, prescription, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
- We recognize the importance of a healthy life balance and offer: 10 paid holidays, annual vacation accrual starting at 12 days, 9 paid sick days, and paid family and medical leave that covers 90% of your pay.
- We foster growth and development of our employees through avenues such as STEM courses, apprenticeships, tuition assistance, and engineering development programs.
- Ask our team about other benefits including wellness, fertility, adoption, and flexible spending benefits.
Pay Range Data
New hires generally start between $110,000 - 175,000. We base our starting pay offer on location and job-related factors such as candidate experience, training, knowledge, and skills. Our salary ranges are determined by job, responsibility, and location
Communication with Applicants
We communicate with all applicants. If you do not receive a response about your application, please check your SPAM filter or reach out to us at [email protected].
SEL is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Vets/Disabled.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field
- Alternatively, an Associate's degree with at least 4 years of relevant experience
- Alternatively, PMP certification or similar with at least 6 years of relevant experience
- Basic knowledge of electric power system protection and control, integration or automation, and communications applications
- Working knowledge of electric power system design, studies, information and communication technology, and protective relay applications
- Willingness to travel domestically and internationally at least 25%
- Experience estimating labor, equipment, subcontractor costs, and project expenses
- Experience developing milestone and construction schedules
- Ability to evaluate and quantify project risks and assess contracts and purchase orders for scope, schedule, and budget compliance
- Strong protection background in generation, transmission, and distribution
- Experience developing bills of material, layouts, schematics, wiring diagrams, and protection schemes
- Experience developing coordination and arc flash studies
- Experience conducting factory acceptance testing and site acceptance testing with customers
- Strong automation background in SCADA, PLC, control systems, HMIs, networks, and cybersecurity
- Experience developing infrastructure for communications, automation, and control systems
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) and has not been reviewed or approved by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL).
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage is described as comprehensive, with the employer covering a significant share of premiums. Feedback suggests on-site clinics, EAP, and wellness programs further strengthen day-to-day health support at major campuses.
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Retirement Support — Employee ownership through an ESOP is positioned as a meaningful long-term benefit for full-time employees. Feedback suggests many view the ownership model and retirement programs as strong components of total rewards.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid vacation and sick time are characterized as generous alongside company holidays and special leave options. Feedback suggests time off begins accruing immediately and supports key life events.
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) Insights
What We Do
SEL serves the power industry worldwide through the design, manufacture, supply and support of products and services for power system protection, monitoring, control, automation, communications and metering. For more than 30 years, SEL has offered unmatched local technical support, a 10‐year, worldwide warranty and a commitment to making electric power safer, more reliable and more economical.
