Principal Proposal Leader

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

Arcadis is seeking a Principal Proposal Leader to lead proposal development for some of the firm’s most significant and complex pursuits, including alternative delivery procurements, public-private partnerships (P3), joint ventures, and other multi-partner infrastructure opportunities. The role will manage a portfolio of high-value pursuits at various stages of development, focusing on opportunities where pursuit leadership, strategy development, and collaboration across teams can have the greatest impact on winning outcomes.

The successful candidate will play a leading role in some of Arcadis' most strategic pursuits, helping shape winning strategies and client-focused proposals for transformational infrastructure programs and other enterprise-critical opportunities. These opportunities often involve multiple partner organizations, integrated pursuit teams, complex technical and commercial requirements, and significant executive engagement throughout the pursuit lifecycle.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative and results-oriented leader with experience managing large, complex proposal efforts. They combine proposal leadership, commercial awareness, stakeholder management, and communication skills to guide teams through demanding pursuit cycles while maintaining a focus on quality, strategy, and client value.

Role accountabilities:

This role will provide leadership from early pursuit planning through proposal submission, interviews, and handover to project delivery teams. In this role, you will serve as the proposal leader for assigned pursuits, partnering with Pursuit Leaders and SME’s to align proposal strategy, messaging, and client-focused solutions. You will help translate technical, commercial, and delivery strengths into compelling proposals that strengthen Arcadis' right to win.

You will own proposal planning and execution for assigned pursuits, including the proposal plan, content development, response structure, review process, document quality, and submission readiness, while ensuring alignment with client requirements, evaluation criteria, win strategies, and Arcadis governance processes.

Working closely with Pursuit Leaders, technical teams, graphic designers, external partners, contractors, commercial, finance, legal and risk teams, and Global Excellence Center resources, you will coordinate multidisciplinary teams to develop high-quality proposal deliverables that are compelling, compliant, and aligned with client needs. 

You will also lead and facilitate interview preparation activities, including the development of high-quality presentation materials, key message refinement, coaching sessions, and panel rehearsals to ensure pursuit teams deliver a clear, compelling, and client-focused story. 

You will support pursuit governance activities, maintain required documentation, and ensure key decisions, actions, and strategies are effectively communicated throughout the pursuit lifecycle.

You will promote proposal best practices, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement while helping strengthen proposal and pursuit capabilities across the organization. This includes mentoring and supporting the development of pursuit and proposal professionals. 

Finally, you will support the successful transition of won pursuits to project delivery teams, ensuring key commitments, decisions, and strategic insights are carried forward into project execution.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Experience leading major, high-value, and strategically significant pursuits within the infrastructure, transportation, water, environmental, buildings, energy, or related sectors
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, multidisciplinary pursuits involving multiple business units, sectors, partners, contractors, and consultants
• Experience serving as a Proposal Lead, Proposal Manager, Bid Manager, or similar leadership role on large and complex pursuits
• Strong understanding of alternative delivery and collaborative delivery models, including Design-Build, Progressive Design-Build, CM/GC, P3, DBFOM, or similar procurement approaches
• Strong knowledge of proposal strategy, answer planning, review management, compliance, proposal storytelling, and bid production best practices
• Proven success developing pursuit strategies, win themes, proposals, interviews, and client presentations
• Excellent communication, facilitation, writing, editing, and stakeholder management skills
• Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate effectively with senior leaders, technical specialists, and client-facing teams
• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, complexity, tight deadlines, and diverse stakeholder expectations in demanding pursuit environments
• Experience mentoring pursuit professionals and contributing to team capability development
• Proficiency in proposal development, collaboration, and pursuit management tools, including Adobe Creative Cloud (particularly InDesign), Microsoft Office, and related platforms
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent, with relevant professional certification and/or chartered status preferred
• APMP Practitioner certification preferred

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.