Project Manager, Bids & Contracts

Department: Professional Services

Reports To: VP, Professional Services

Zaner-Bloser is an educational solutions company specializing in delivering instruction focused on developing foundational skills for PreK-6 students in ELA & Math. Our programs include Superkids, Building Fact Fluency, Kickstart Number Sense, Spelling Connections, Zaner-Bloser Handwriting, and more. As a member of the Highlights Family of Companies, we strive to always do what's right for children and make a significant contribution to their education.

Position Summary:

The Project Manager of Bids and Contracts manages the Company's responses to bids, contracts, and requests for proposals (RFPs) received from local, state, and federal customers. This position is responsible for managing workflow within and across departments to ensure that timelines and deadlines are met, revenue-generating opportunities are responded to, participation and non-participation risks are mitigated, and contractual requirements are fulfilled. The Project Manager is a key contributor to the success of the Company's ability to generate revenue/sales from bids, contracts, and RFPs.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

RFPs

• Manage RFPs issued by states, school districts, and schools via bid listing services, directly from institutions and sales representatives.
• Manage the completion and submission of all RFP paperwork and compliance/governance forms.
• Coordinate vendor registrations in key states/districts to ensure notification of bid opportunities.
• Provide training and awareness sessions to other departments on RFP process, trends, and needs.

State Textbook Adoptions

• Communicate state textbook adoption deadlines, requirements, research, sales activity, product submissions, and results with key departments.
• Monitor textbook adoption states for applicable calls and deadlines.
• Prepare and submit samples, product and company descriptions, technology, labels, and other required documentation, as with RFPs, tracking responses and results.

Contracts

• Coordinate and communicate with Sales, including maintenance of Salesforce-hosted repository of Price Agreements and Contracts.
• Provide training and awareness sessions on contract compliance issues, including Most Favored Nations.

What you should show up ready to share with anyone on your first day:

• An RFP process, or parts thereof, that you've had success with
• An operational wish list of communications, data bases, projects, etc

Within your first month, you'll:

• Write or gather descriptions of programs to be submitted for review, in consultation with VP Professional Services, Product Managers and other content-related staff
• Develop familiarity with Salesforce software and its application for RFPs, Bids, and Contract
• Locate appropriate opportunities around vendor approval lists, and manage communication around those opportunities
• Proactively seek RFP opportunities to vet with larger team

Within your first year, you'll:

• Lead the process to evaluate all RFP opportunities and respond in collaboration with stakeholders across the organization. Considerations include win strategy, value proposition, solution development, content and presentation, and risk management.
• Provide training and awareness sessions to Customer Experience, Marketing, Product Development, and Sales departments on RFP process, trends, and needs.
• Manage the completion and submission of all RFP paperwork and compliance/governance forms.
• Examine data from "no bid" and "no award" situations and look for patterns that can inform future product development/updates and sales and marketing approaches.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelors' Degree or equivalent experience with managing and coordinating bids, contracts, and RFP activity

Qualifications:

• At least 3 years of Project Management experience and certification preferred.
• Ability to independently lead initiatives and tasks, including "go/no go" process for RFPs and state textbook adoptions.
• Ability to write and present with ease and clarity.
• Must be detailed-oriented.
• Ability to prioritize and schedule a variety of tasks.
• Ability to establish and collaborate with cross-functional partners
• Have a high level of reading, comprehension, and interpretation skills and the ability to understand contractual and legal language.

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift including up to 15 pounds at times.

Highlights for Children provides reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.