Capture Manager – Federal Government Contracting (GovCon) | Washington, DC | Remote

Ares Enterprise, LLC is seeking an experienced and results-driven Capture Manager to lead the identification, qualification, pursuit, and capture of federal government contracting opportunities. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of developing winning capture strategies, building customer relationships, identifying teaming partners, and positioning organizations for successful contract awards.

The Capture Manager will play a critical role in expanding Ares Enterprise's federal market presence across the Department of Defense (DoD), federal civilian agencies, and the Intelligence Community (IC). This individual will work closely with executive leadership, business development, proposal teams, and technical subject matter experts to develop competitive solutions and execute successful capture strategies.

The ideal candidate understands the federal acquisition lifecycle, competitive positioning, contract vehicles, and the complexities of federal procurement. We are looking for a proactive, strategic professional who can independently manage multiple pursuits and drive measurable business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Capture Strategy & Opportunity Management

• Lead the full capture lifecycle, from opportunity qualification and pursuit planning through proposal submission and contract award.
• Develop and execute comprehensive capture plans, including customer engagement strategies, competitive assessments, teaming strategies, pricing approaches, and win themes.
• Identify and qualify federal opportunities aligned with Ares Enterprise's core capabilities, contract vehicles, and strategic growth objectives.
• Conduct opportunity assessments, including bid/no-bid recommendations, competitive analysis, and probability-of-win evaluations.
• Manage multiple simultaneous capture efforts, ensuring milestones, deliverables, and pursuit objectives are achieved.
• Develop and maintain actionable capture pipelines with accurate opportunity forecasts, timelines, and pursuit strategies.

Federal Customer Engagement & Business Development

• Build and maintain relationships with federal program managers, contracting officers, technical stakeholders, industry partners, and key decision-makers.
• Conduct customer discovery to understand mission requirements, acquisition strategies, procurement timelines, and emerging priorities.
• Identify opportunities to influence acquisition strategies through RFIs, Sources Sought notices, industry days, and other government market research activities.
• Develop customer call plans and engagement strategies to position Ares Enterprise ahead of formal solicitations.
• Represent Ares Enterprise at industry conferences, networking events, government meetings, and strategic partner engagements.

Competitive Intelligence & Market Research

• Conduct market research and competitive intelligence assessments to identify incumbents, potential competitors, contract histories, and customer requirements.
• Utilize federal business intelligence platforms, including SAM.gov, GovWin IQ, USAspending.gov, FPDS historical data, and other government procurement resources.
• Analyze incumbent contract performance, pricing structures, labor categories, acquisition strategies, and competitive landscapes.
• Identify strategic opportunities involving small-business set-asides, socioeconomic contracting programs, and governmentwide acquisition vehicles.

Teaming & Strategic Partnerships

• Identify, evaluate, and establish relationships with strategic teaming partners, subcontractors, and potential prime contractors.
• Develop teaming strategies that strengthen technical capabilities, past performance, geographic coverage, and competitive positioning.
• Support the negotiation and execution of teaming agreements, nondisclosure agreements, and subcontracting arrangements.
• Leverage Ares Enterprise's WOSB and SDB designations and federal contract vehicles to maximize competitive opportunities.

Proposal Development & Capture Execution

• Collaborate with proposal managers, technical leads, solution architects, pricing teams, and executive leadership to develop compelling and compliant proposals.
• Lead development of discriminators, win themes, value propositions, technical solution strategies, and competitive positioning.
• Coordinate proposal readiness activities, including solution development, staffing strategies, teaming commitments, and pricing inputs.
• Participate in proposal reviews, including Pink Team, Red Team, and executive reviews.
• Ensure effective transition from capture to proposal development and, following award, to contract execution.

Pipeline Management & Performance Reporting

• Maintain accurate opportunity data, capture milestones, and pipeline forecasts.
• Provide regular updates to executive leadership on capture progress, competitive positioning, risks, and upcoming acquisition milestones.
• Track capture performance through key metrics, including qualified pipeline value, bid conversion rates, win rates, and contract awards.
• Develop strategies to improve capture effectiveness and increase Ares Enterprise's federal market share.