Location: This position can work onsite or hybrid from one of our offices (College Park, MD or Bothell, WA) or fully remote in the US.
Travel: Up to 15% travel, primarily domestic.
Job ID: 1511

The Role:

We are looking for a Senior Manager, Enterprise Proposal to join our Go-to-Market / Enterprise Proposals team. As a Senior Manager, Enterprise Proposal, you’ll be part of a cross-functional team whose mission is to help IonQ win strategic commercial opportunities by turning breakthrough quantum capabilities into clear, compelling, customer-centered proposals.

In this role, you will own the end-to-end response process for enterprise RFPs, RFIs, RFQs, compliance matrices, and related submission materials while leading a small team of 2–3 technical and business contributors. The ideal candidate is a high-agency operator who treats every proposal like a revenue-critical moment, charges through obstacles, rallies virtual teams, and owns outcomes without drama.

Responsibilities:

• Own the full lifecycle of commercial enterprise proposal responses, from intake and qualification through final submission and post-submission clarification support.
• Lead and coach a small team of proposal contributors while orchestrating subject matter experts across field engineering, engineering, product, marketing, sales, business development, legal, and finance.
• Translate complex customer requirements into response plans, compliance matrices, content outlines, schedules, and clear assignments that keep teams aligned and accountable.
• Partner closely with sales and business development to shape win themes, differentiators, and business-value narratives that strengthen IonQ’s position in competitive pursuits.
• Facilitate kickoff meetings, working sessions, review cycles, and executive checkpoints so teams move with urgency and clarity.
• Drive the development of persuasive, accurate, and compliant proposal content that connects IonQ’s technical capabilities to customer outcomes.
• Coordinate inputs related to technical solutioning, pricing, commercial terms, legal risk, implementation approach, and customer references to produce a unified submission.
• Manage multiple concurrent opportunities, reprioritizing quickly as deal conditions evolve without sacrificing quality, compliance, or deadlines.
• Own final quality control for responsiveness, consistency, formatting, and submission readiness before external delivery.
• Build and improve repeatable proposal infrastructure, including content libraries, templates, review processes, lessons learned, and operating metrics that increase speed and quality over time.
• Act as an extension of the sales team by bringing structure, urgency, and message discipline to late-stage opportunities that directly impact revenue.

What success looks like

• Month 3 — You own the end-to-end process for every active RFP, RFI, and RFQ on the board. Cross-functional relationships with Sales, Field Engineering, Legal, and Finance are live and functional — not still being introduced. Deadlines are being hit. IonQ is not losing opportunities because of process gaps.
• Month 6 — The infrastructure is built and being used. A working content library, reusable templates calibrated to IonQ's portfolio — compute, networking, sensing, security — and a codified review process are in place and holding up under real deadline pressure. Your contributors aren't guessing about roles, scope, or standards. Turnaround time is measurably faster, and the quality of what goes out the door reflects it.
• Month 9 — Win rate on managed opportunities is tracked, reported, and trending in the right direction. The playbook is documented and repeatable — not just in your head. The proposal function is recognized internally as a competitive differentiator, not just an administrative step. At a company competing for marquee enterprise, federal, and partner opportunities in one of the fastest-moving technology sectors in the world, you've made IonQ harder to beat on paper.

Requirements:

• 13+ years of professional experience in proposal management, bid management, capture support, sales enablement, or a closely related field within enterprise technology, deep tech, cybersecurity, networking, hardware, cloud, or B2B SaaS.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven experience owning complex commercial RFP, RFI, and RFQ responses, including compliance matrix development, schedule management, review cycles, and final submission.
• Experience leading cross-functional proposal efforts and influencing contributors across technical and business teams; prior direct people leadership experience is strongly preferred.
• Exceptional ability to translate sophisticated technical capabilities into customer-facing business outcomes for executive, procurement, and technical audiences.
• Strong project management, writing, editing, and executive communication skills, with the judgment to escalate risk and drive decisions in fast-moving situations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-stakes deadlines simultaneously in a startup-speed, high-growth environment.
• High ownership, resilience, and bias to action; someone who solves problems, removes blockers, and keeps momentum high.

Preferred Qualifications:

• APMP Foundation, Practitioner, or equivalent proposal-management training or certification.
• Experience supporting enterprise security questionnaires, vendor due-diligence responses, and commercial proposal workflows outside of government-only environments.
• Experience building proposal content libraries, reusable assets, and operating metrics that improve cycle time, consistency, and win quality.
• Familiarity with quantum computing, quantum networking, cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, or other emerging technical domains.
• Experience in a startup or high-growth public-company environment where processes must scale quickly alongside revenue.

The approximate base salary range for this position is $128,445 - $167,497. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.