Senior Government Technical Proposal Writer

Thermo Fisher Scientific · Remote

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Job Description

As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer.

DESCRIPTION:

Position Summary

This position is within the Fisher BioServices business unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific. The Senior Government Technical Proposal Writer serves as a senior writing and proposal-development resource supporting complex U.S. Government business opportunities. The position works closely with Contracts, Business Development, Finance, Operations, scientific and technical subject matter experts (SMEs), and business leadership to develop compliant, technically accurate, persuasive proposal content for federal solicitations and related government acquisition activities.

The Senior Government Technical Proposal Writer has demonstrated expertise developing technical proposals for U.S. Government agencies, with particular experience communicating complex scientific, operational, and technical information to federal evaluators. The individual understands that proposal content must address the requirements, evaluation criteria, mission priorities, and technical perspective of the reviewing agency and can adapt proposal narratives for different government audiences, including scientific and technical reviewers supporting the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Defense/Department of War (DoD/DoW), and other federal agencies.

The position requires the ability to translate complex scientific and operational concepts into clear proposal narratives; independently research and draft technical content from Statements of Work (SOWs), Performance Work Statements (PWSs), specifications, and other solicitation documents; interview SMEs and convert technical discussions into proposal-ready content; identify competitive differentiators; and develop narratives that demonstrate understanding, approach, capability, risk mitigation, and value to the Government.

The Senior Government Technical Proposal Writer also supports competitive intelligence and federal market research within the biorepository, pharmaceutical manufacturing, biopharma, biospecimen management, clinical trial logistics, and related life-sciences markets. The position applies approved artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and other digital tools to improve proposal research, analysis, drafting, editing, compliance, and knowledge management while maintaining appropriate controls for confidential, proprietary, export-controlled, and Government information.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Government Proposal Development and Writing

• Leads development and writing of technical narratives for complex U.S. Government proposals, responses to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Information (RFIs), Sources Sought Notices, white papers, capability statements, technical presentations, and other federal acquisition documents.
• Reviews solicitations, amendments, SOWs/PWSs, technical requirements, instructions to offerors, and evaluation criteria and translates requirements into structured proposal content.
• Develops proposal narratives that provide evaluators with clear evidence of the company's understanding, technical approach, management approach, capabilities, experience, risk controls, and discriminators.
• Tailors technical content to the mission, acquisition environment, evaluation methodology, and technical perspective of the Government customer.
• Develops scientific and technical narratives appropriate for NIH and HHS reviewers, including content that communicates scientific rationale, technical methodology, operational controls, research support capabilities, biospecimen integrity, quality systems, and public-health or research mission impact.
• Develops technical and operational narratives appropriate for DoD/DoW and other mission-oriented federal reviewers, emphasizing mission requirements, execution methodology, readiness, scalability, security, risk management, schedule performance, quality, and measurable outcomes.
• Integrates technical, operational, management, quality, transition, staffing, risk, and past-performance information into a consistent proposal narrative.
• Ensures proposal narratives answer the Government's requirements and evaluation criteria rather than providing generic descriptions of corporate capabilities.

SME Engagement and Technical Content Development

• Leads structured interviews and working sessions with scientists, operations personnel, quality professionals, program managers, technical leaders, and other SMEs to obtain information required for proposal development.
• Independently researches assigned technical areas and develops initial proposal narratives for SME review rather than relying on SMEs to produce finished written content.
• Translates SME discussions, technical documentation, processes, procedures, data, and scientific concepts into concise proposal narratives while preserving technical accuracy.
• Identifies information gaps, inconsistencies, unsupported claims, and areas requiring additional SME input.
• Develops targeted questions that allow SMEs to validate technical approaches and refine proposal content.
• Coordinates SME reviews and incorporates technical corrections while maintaining consistency in voice, terminology, messaging, and proposal strategy.

Proposal Strategy and Competitive Positioning

• Works with proposal leadership, Contracts, Business Development, and technical leadership to develop proposal messaging, win themes, discriminators, proof points, and technical positioning.
• Identifies competitive differentiators and converts capabilities into customer-focused benefits supported by evidence.
• Evaluates draft narratives from the perspective of a Government evaluator and identifies weaknesses that could reduce evaluation scores or create uncertainty regarding the proposed approach.
• Supports proposal color-team and structured review processes, including Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team, and final compliance reviews, as applicable.
• Provides actionable recommendations to strengthen technical content, evaluator readability, compliance, and competitive positioning.

Competitive Intelligence and Government Market Analysis

• Conducts research and analysis of federal customers, incumbent contractors, competitors, acquisition strategies, contract vehicles, procurement trends, agency priorities, and emerging requirements.
• Maintains awareness of federal market developments affecting biorepository services, biospecimen management, pharmaceutical manufacturing, biopharma services, clinical trial support, cell and gene therapy, logistics, and related life-sciences markets.
• Analyzes competitor capabilities, contract history, positioning, partnerships, and potential strengths and weaknesses relevant to specific opportunities.
• Develops competitor profiles, customer intelligence summaries, market analyses, and opportunity-specific research for proposal and capture teams.
• Identifies market trends and potential changes in Government requirements that could affect future opportunities or proposal positioning.

AI-Enabled Proposal Development

• Demonstrates proficiency using approved generative AI and other AI-enabled technologies to support proposal development activities.
• Uses AI tools, when permitted, to accelerate solicitation analysis, requirements decomposition, research synthesis, content organization, first-draft development, editing, consistency reviews, compliance analysis, and knowledge retrieval.
• Develops effective prompts and structured workflows for technical and proposal-writing applications.
• Critically evaluates AI-generated content for factual accuracy, technical validity, solicitation compliance, unsupported assertions, bias, source reliability, and appropriate use.
• Maintains human accountability for all proposal content and does not rely on AI-generated information without appropriate validation.
• Complies with company policies and Government requirements concerning confidential, proprietary, controlled, export-controlled, source-selection-sensitive, or other protected information when using AI technologies.
• Identifies opportunities to improve proposal-development processes through responsible use of AI, automation, and knowledge-management tools.

Proposal Compliance, Formatting, and Production

• Develops and maintains proposal compliance matrices and supports traceability between solicitation requirements, evaluation criteria, and proposal responses.
• Applies solicitation-specific formatting requirements, including page limitations, fonts, margins, headers and footers, section numbering, cross-references, tables, figures, attachments, and file specifications.
• Performs detailed document quality-control reviews before submission.
• Performs or coordinates Section 508 accessibility reviews and remediation of proposal documents, including headings, reading order, tables, figures, alternative text, document properties, hyperlinks, and PDF accessibility requirements, as applicable to the solicitation.
• Maintains document version control and supports controlled integration of content from multiple contributors.
• Coordinates with proposal team members to produce submission-ready Microsoft Word and PDF documents.
• Supports maintenance of proposal templates, reusable content, technical libraries, past-performance information, proposal databases, lessons learned, and other knowledge-management resources.

Senior-Level Responsibilities

• Operates independently on complex proposal assignments with limited direction.
• Provides technical-writing leadership during proposal development and establishes writing standards, terminology, narrative structure, and document consistency.
• Coaches SMEs and proposal contributors on effective Government proposal writing and evaluator-focused communication.
• Reviews and edits content prepared by other writers and contributors and provides guidance to improve technical accuracy, clarity, compliance, and persuasive value.
• Supports development and continuous improvement of proposal-writing processes, templates, tools, style guides, AI-enabled workflows, and quality-control procedures.
• Manages multiple assignments and shifting priorities during active proposal periods while maintaining submission deadlines and document quality.
• Exercises judgment regarding when additional technical, contractual, operational, or management input is required to support proposal assertions.
• Serves as a senior resource for translating complex scientific and operational information into Government-facing technical communications.

Basic Minimum Qualifications

To perform this position successfully, the individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Requirements include:

• Advanced technical writing, proposal writing, editing, analytical, and information-synthesis skills.
• Demonstrated experience developing complex technical proposals for U.S. Government customers.
• Demonstrated understanding of federal solicitation structures, proposal instructions, evaluation criteria, SOWs/PWSs, compliance requirements, and competitive proposal-development processes.
• Ability to write technical narratives that communicate effectively to scientific, technical, operational, acquisition, and program-management evaluators.
• Ability to understand complex scientific or technical subject matter and develop accurate initial written content for SME review.
• Demonstrated ability to interview SMEs, obtain technical information, identify content gaps, and convert technical discussions into proposal-ready narratives.
• Ability to analyze solicitation requirements and maintain traceability between requirements, evaluation criteria, and proposal content.
• Experience conducting competitor, customer, and federal market research.
• Knowledge of federal acquisition and Government contracting environments.
• Knowledge of life-sciences services relevant to Government programs, such as biorepository operations, biospecimen management, pharmaceutical manufacturing, biopharma services, clinical trial support, laboratory services, logistics, or related scientific operations.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, Adobe Acrobat, and related proposal-development technologies.
• Experience formatting complex technical documents and producing submission-ready proposal files.
• Knowledge of Section 508 document accessibility requirements and experience performing accessibility reviews and remediation.
• Proficiency using generative AI and AI-enabled tools for research, analysis, drafting, editing, compliance review, and knowledge management, with demonstrated ability to validate AI outputs and protect controlled or proprietary information.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet fixed Government submission deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively across Contracts, Business Development, Operations, Quality, Finance, scientific, technical, and executive teams.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in science, life sciences, engineering, technical communications, English, journalism, communications, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 7+ years of technical writing, proposal writing, federal business development, or related experience, with significant experience developing proposals for U.S. Government customers.
• Demonstrated experience developing complex federal technical proposals as a primary writer or senior proposal contributor.
• Experience supporting NIH, HHS, DoD/DoW, BARDA, CDC, FDA, VA, or other federal health, science, defense, or research agencies preferred.
• Experience writing proposals involving life sciences, biopharma, pharmaceutical manufacturing, biorepository operations, biospecimen management, clinical trials, laboratory services, or related scientific programs preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with scientific and technical SMEs.
• Experience with competitive analysis, federal market research, and capture or proposal strategy preferred.

Key Competencies

The successful candidate demonstrates:

• Government evaluator-focused writing: Writes from the evaluator's perspective and connects proposal content to requirements and evaluation criteria.
• Scientific and technical translation: Converts complex concepts into clear narratives without compromising technical accuracy.
• Independent content development: Researches unfamiliar technical areas and produces substantive first drafts for SME validation.
• Critical analysis: Identifies weaknesses, gaps, inconsistencies, unsupported assertions, and compliance risks.
• Competitive thinking: Distinguishes company capabilities from competitor offerings and connects differentiators to Government priorities.
• SME facilitation: Obtains the information required to develop strong proposal content without requiring SMEs to serve as proposal writers.
• Proposal discipline: Works within structured schedules, compliance requirements, review cycles, version controls, and fixed submission deadlines.
• AI fluency: Uses approved AI capabilities to increase efficiency and quality while applying judgment, verification, information-security requirements, and human oversight.
• Adaptability: Responds to changing Government requirements, amendments, review comments, and proposal priorities during compressed procurement schedules.
• Language:  Fluet written and spoken English required.

Supervisory Responsibility

No direct supervisory responsibility is required.

The position may provide functional leadership, writing direction, peer review, mentoring, and guidance to proposal contributors, technical writers, and SMEs during proposal development.

Work Schedule

The position operates within established core business hours but requires flexibility based on U.S. Government solicitation and proposal deadlines.

The individual must be able to adjust work hours during active proposal periods to support solicitation releases, amendments, SME availability, review cycles, document production, and fixed Government submission deadlines. Proposal requirements may require work outside standard business hours at critical points in the response schedule.

Work Station

Remote, subject to applicable company requirements.

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