# Proposal Writer - Defense

**Company:** [Applied Intuition](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/applied-intuition)
**Location:** Arlington, VA
**Role:** Technical Writing
**Salary:** $100k – $150k/yr
**Experience:** 3+ years
**Skills:** proposal writing, Technical Writing, rfps, statements of work, basis of estimates, pricing proposals, far/dfars, department of defense procurement, technical specifications, grant writing
**Posted:** 2026-08-06

> Writes compliant, customer-focused proposals, Statements of Work, pricing narratives, and technical documentation for defense contracts. The role requires a bachelor's degree, 3–8 years of relevant writing experience, technical fluency, and strong attention to solicitation requirements.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Draft and edit proposals from first draft through final submission, including executive summaries, technical volumes, management volumes, past performance narratives, staffing plans, resumes, and other required sections.
- Collaborate with Engineering, Product, Delivery, and Solutions teams to translate technical capabilities and engineering inputs into clear, customer-facing language addressing evaluation criteria and government customer pain points.
- Ensure proposals comply with solicitation instructions, evaluation factors, page limits, formatting requirements, required attachments, and submission rules.
- Draft Statements of Work with clear deliverables, milestones, and acceptance criteria aligned with technical approaches and pricing structures.
- Develop Rough Order of Magnitudes, pricing proposals, milestone-based pricing structures, and Basis of Estimates narratives in collaboration with contracts and engineering teams.

## Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in English, Communications, Technical Writing, Engineering, or a related field.
- 3–8 years of proposal writing, technical writing, grant writing, or related experience.
- Demonstrated ability to write Statements of Work, technical specifications, or similar structured technical documents and compelling, customer-focused proposals under tight deadlines while managing multiple efforts simultaneously.
- Comfortable working directly with Business Development teams.
- Technical fluency to translate complex concepts from delivery, engineering, and product teams.
- Bias toward action and a self-starting mentality.
- Rigorous attention to detail and compliance.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Government contracting fluency, including familiarity with RFP structures, evaluation criteria, FAR/DFARS, and Department of Defense procurement processes.
- Proposal or technical documentation experience in defense, aerospace, or similarly regulated industries.
- Background spanning traditional defense primes and startup or scale-up environments.
- U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain a Secret or Top Secret security clearance.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Base salary range: **$100,000–$150,000 USD annually**.
- Compensation may also include equity, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, 401(k) benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off.
- Benefits may vary by jurisdiction and are subject to change.

## Similar roles

- [Technical Content Engineer](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a235c1cc-310d-49bf-88b5-6c0c59c85c6d) - Nango - Remote - $100k – $170k/yr
- [Technical Trainer and Adoption Specialist](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/79d7a613-ea27-4216-ad42-3625869ea135) - Crusoe - San Francisco, CA - $105k – $130k/yr
- [Manager, Technical Training and Enablement](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/70437e76-38ed-415f-91e2-25083e87ba45) - Bevi - Boston, MA - $112k – $138k/yr
- [Instructional Designer](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/19b77660-244d-452d-9a36-156be319b6d0) - EliseAI - New York, NY - $120k – $145k/yr
- [Technical Storyteller](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a919a61c-df6f-4cb8-9379-48c3114ab604) - Rippling - New York, NY - $126k – $210k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a7578701-c9bb-49f2-8c88-75adc88326b0
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a7578701-c9bb-49f2-8c88-75adc88326b0