NWL Architects | Salt Lake City, Utah
About NWL Architects
Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects (NWL) is an established architecture firm with a long history of designing meaningful spaces for education, commercial, industrial, government, religious, and community clients. We believe The Experience is Everything—and that philosophy extends to the way we work with our clients, our teams, and each other.
We are seeking a Proposal Specialist to join our marketing and business development team. This is a hands-on position for an organized, deadline-driven professional who enjoys bringing people, information, graphics, and ideas together to create compelling proposals and qualifications packages.
The Opportunity
The Proposal Specialist will manage the day-to-day production of proposals, statements of qualifications (SOQs), requests for qualifications (RFQs), requests for proposals (RFPs), and related marketing materials. This person will coordinate with business development, marketing, principals, architects, project managers, and technical staff to gather information, develop content, create layouts, manage deadlines, and deliver polished final submissions.
The ideal candidate is equal parts project manager, editor, designer, researcher, and communicator. You should be comfortable taking a proposal from a blank page to a finished submission while keeping numerous details, contributors, and deadlines moving in the right direction.
Essential Functions
Opportunity Tracking & Research
- Monitor RFP, RFQ, SOQ, and other procurement opportunities across various public and private procurement platforms, agency websites, and industry resources.
- Review solicitation documents to identify requirements, deadlines, submission instructions, evaluation criteria, forms, and other critical information.
- Maintain accurate opportunity and proposal information within internal databases and tracking systems.
- Assist with identifying upcoming opportunities and bringing relevant pursuits to the attention of the business development team.
Proposal Planning & Coordination
- Create proposal outlines, schedules, compliance checklists, and production plans based on solicitation requirements.
- Coordinate and schedule go/no-go meetings and prepare materials needed to support pursuit decisions.
- Develop proposal schedules and communicate deadlines and responsibilities to team members.
- Coordinate information and content requests with principals, project managers, architects, interior designers, and other technical staff.
- Follow up with contributors to ensure requested information is received on time.
- Identify missing information, potential compliance issues, and other proposal risks before submission.
Proposal Production & Design
- Lead the production of proposals and SOQs from initial outline through final submission.
- Develop professional proposal layouts using Adobe InDesign and the Adobe Creative Cloud suite.
- Create compelling, well-organized documents that communicate project experience, qualifications, team expertise, approach, and differentiators.
- Assemble resumes, project descriptions, graphics, photographs, charts, diagrams, and other supporting materials.
- Format and edit content for consistency, clarity, grammar, tone, and alignment with solicitation requirements.
- Produce internal drafts for review and coordinate revisions from multiple team members.
- Manage version control and ensure the correct documents and information are incorporated into each final submission.
- Export, package, review, and deliver final proposals in accordance with submission requirements and deadlines.
- Conduct final quality-control reviews for formatting, completeness, accuracy, page count, file size, naming conventions, bookmarks, hyperlinks, and other submission requirements.
Content Development & Collaboration
- Interview and work with technical staff to gather project information, qualifications, experience, and technical content.
- Turn technical information and conversations into clear, concise, client-focused proposal content.
- Collaborate with architects and other team members to develop project narratives, resumes, team descriptions, project approaches, and other content as needed.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen proposals through better storytelling, graphics, project selection, and presentation.
- Work with the marketing and business development team to continually improve proposal templates, processes, standards, and content libraries.
Data & Information Management
- Maintain accurate proposal, project, staff, resume, and firm information in internal databases and content libraries.
- Keep project descriptions, resumes, statistics, awards, certifications, and other frequently used proposal information current.
- Organize and maintain proposal templates, InDesign files, graphics, photography, and other marketing resources.
- Track proposal activity, deadlines, outcomes, and other business development information.
Qualifications
Required
- 2+ years of experience in proposal production, marketing, communications, graphic design, business development, or a related field.
- Strong proficiency with Adobe InDesign.
- Strong writing, editing, proofreading, and communication skills.
- Excellent organizational and time-management abilities.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to producing accurate, professional work.
- Ability to work effectively with people at all levels of an organization.
- Ability to take ownership of assignments and follow them through to completion.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Preferred
- Experience producing proposals or SOQs for an architecture, engineering, construction, or other professional services firm.
- Familiarity with public-sector procurement processes and RFP/RFQ requirements.
- Experience with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Experience working with CRM, proposal management, or other data-management systems.
- Familiarity with architecture, engineering, construction, or other technical professional services.
- Experience coordinating content from multiple contributors and managing review cycles.
What Makes Someone Successful in This Role
You will be successful in this position if you:
- Own the process. You don't wait for someone else to tell you what needs to happen next.
- Are highly organized. You can manage multiple proposals, contributors, deadlines, and details without losing track of the big picture.
- Communicate well. You can work with architects and technical staff, ask the right questions, and turn their knowledge into effective proposal content.
- Have a strong eye for design. You understand that a proposal needs to look as good as it reads.
- Are comfortable with deadlines. You can stay calm and productive when a proposal deadline is approaching and multiple pieces are still coming together.
- Think critically. You don't simply fill in templates—you look for ways to make each proposal more relevant, compelling, and competitive.
- Know when to push. You are comfortable following up with busy principals and technical staff to get the information you need.
- Take pride in the finished product. You understand that the proposal is often a client's first impression of NWL.
Why Join NWL?
At NWL, we believe The Experience is Everything. That means creating a great experience not only for the people who use the buildings we design, but also for the clients and teammates we work with every day.
As a member of our marketing and business development team, you will have the opportunity to work directly with architects, designers, principals, and leadership while helping shape how NWL presents its work and competes for new opportunities.
You will play a visible role in telling the story of one of Utah's established architecture firms and in helping our team pursue projects that make a meaningful difference in the communities we serve.
Position Details
Position: Proposal Specialist
Department: Marketing & Business Development
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Employment: Full-Time
Reports to: Marketing / Business Development Leadership
