Ivoire
Senior Marketing Proposal Manager, 
USA

WHAT IS YOUR JOB?

I am the Senior Marketing Proposal Manager for SYSTRA USA and based out of New York City. I’ve been with SYSTRA since 2015.

WHAT DO YOU DO AT SYSTRA?

At SYSTRA USA, I am responsible for proposal oversight, management and production, and implementing and facilitating proposal guidelines and technical writing assignments for proposals ranging from $10K to $20M.  

I manage the day-to-day operations of the Proposal Production department and have since been responsible for winning proposal coordination and strategies.  

I am also a liaison between our subconsultants and the bridge that connects agency procurement and sector leads.

WHAT ARE THE 3 IMPORTANT QUALITIES OR SKILLS IN YOUR JOB?

Our department deals with multiple pursuits with overlapping due dates, sometimes with multiple subconsultants.

For this, you need to be highly organized.  From organizing emails as they come in, to setting up project folders to be strategic with storing the information.  Our industry is very unique and agency styles differ for each transportation and architecture client.

Putting together multiple proposals with various guidelines requires one to pay an extreme attention to detail. You comb through the RFPs with a fine tooth comb to make sure every requirement is fulfilled. With that said, working with different agencies, you need to be timely and communicate effectively and efficiently with your technical leads and procurement. 

Over the years, I have developed and maintained successful relationships with nearly 90% of our clients’ procurement departments and agency executives, as well as teaming partners for marketing initiatives.

While you may not get to see everyone in person, you develop a strong working relationship just by email and being welcoming.

With our technical leads, it’s communicating important deadlines and blending the proposal schedule with theirs. From scheduling PreProposal calls to outlining a proposal pursuit and dictating exactly what is needed for success, it takes the load off of their plate so they can simply focus on composing their best technical approach.

Why SYSTRA?

Having 17 years of marketing experience, I’ve had the opportunity to work in various marketing capacities such as legal marketing, Busines-to-Consumer marketing, benefits and compensation proposal writing, and transportation proposal writing.

Working in the transportation field allows me to work on proposals that can be a potential enhancement for a commuter like myself. The proposals may range from track work to signals to overseeing construction management for a train station that is on track (no pun intended) to become ADA compliant. 

There is a sense of accomplishment and joy knowing that your coordination efforts helped win a pursuit for a train station where thousands of people pass through daily.

An added bonus is that my colleagues are overall great people to work with.  I admire the family style environment that we’ve amassed over the years.