Capture Lead - Federal
Cognition · Washington
We are an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents.
We're the makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer.
Our team is extremely talent-dense. Among our founding team, we have world-class competitive programmers, former founders, and leaders from companies at the cutting edge of AI including Scale AI, Palantir, Cursor, Waymo, Tesla, Lunchclub, Modal, Google DeepMind, and Nuro.
Building Devin is just the first step—our hardest challenges still lie ahead. If you’re excited to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and build AI that can reason on real-world tasks, apply to join us.
About the Role
Cognition is building its federal business, and capture is the engine that drives it. We're hiring a Capture Lead to partner directly with Federal leadership and own that engine end to end—from identifying the right pursuits to standing up the systems that make winning repeatable. This is a builder's role: you'll create the capture function, not inherit one.
What you'll do
Capture strategy & planning
Partner with Federal sales leadership on quarterly and annual capture planning
Partner with GTM, Mission Success, and Engineering on deal structuring, pricing strategy, and negotiation across contract vehicles
Track and prioritize contract vehicle strategy (GSA, OTAs, IDIQs, SBIR pathways, prime/sub relationships)
Pursuit & proposal operations
Identify and track relevant federal solicitations, from initial RFI through final RFP
Build the operational backbone for proposal response: intake, qualification, bid/no-bid decisioning, color team review cadence, and compliance
Manage relationships with proposal and capture partners supporting RFI-to-RFP response on Cognition's behalf
Build and maintain proposal collateral, and maintain the past performance, capabilities, and pricing libraries that compound across pursuits
GTM systems & performance
Define the metrics that matter for a federal GTM motion and build dashboards that surface them
Own solicitation response tracking across active pursuits
Run the red-team/AAR process on wins and losses; turn lessons learned into repeatable best practices
Cross-functional execution
Identify operational bottlenecks and build the systems, processes, and tooling to remove them
What we're looking for
4+ years of experience in federal business operations, capture management, or revenue strategy at a defense tech, federal SaaS, or government services company
Deep fluency in federal procurement: contract vehicles, working knowledge of FAR/DFARS, capture lifecycle, and the rhythm of federal sales cycles
Strong analytical foundation—you can build the model, run the analysis, and tell the story
Track record of working in and building capture programs from scratch in a fast-moving environment
Comfort operating without a playbook, and a low ego about doing the work yourself
Based in Washington, DC, or willing to relocate
Security clearance preferred, or ability to obtain one
What success looks like in the first year
A functioning bid/no-bid and proposal process with clear ownership
Live pipeline visibility and win/loss reporting leadership actually uses
A measurable improvement in win rate or pursuit efficiency
Our Commitment
Equal Opportunity. Cognition is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process - please let us know if you need any. Cognition also considers applicants with criminal histories consistent with the SF Fair Chance Ordinance and similar local laws.
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