About Pursuit:

Our mission is to create economic transformation. By training low-income adults to launch and advance careers as software engineers, we help our Fellows go from earning $18,000 to over $90,000 starting salary on average, adding an estimated $2M in lifetime earnings. Pursuit partners with leading companies like Blackstone, USV, Citi, Peloton, and Uber to employ Fellows in career-defining engineering roles and supports them with on-the-job training to ensure potential translates to performance. Since 2013, Pursuit has created ~$1B in total lifetime wage gains, creating lasting economic mobility that spans generations. 

Pursuit’s proven solution is built on two interconnected components: training (which includes community development, Core pre-job training, and Commit on-the-job training) and a financial product (known as Bond). However, growing training alone will not meet the magnitude of need nor solve new societal challenges ahead. The typical expectation is to expand our training to other cities, but this will not come anywhere close to creating good jobs for millions of low-income Americans. Instead, our strategy for scaled impact is to evolve our financial product and create tools for other organizations, jobs, and places. We believe that this will not only create good jobs for millions of low-income Americans but will also generate a new trillion-dollar market directly tied to results in the long term.

About the role:

The Strategic Proposal Manager will be responsible for creating high-quality proposals, impact reports, and additional partner-facing materials focused on direct revenue solicitation. Critical to the proposal process, this role will develop positioning and framing of products, programs, projects, budgets, and outcomes to fit each partner and opportunity. In collaboration with relationship managers—who are primarily responsible for stewarding and communicating with partners—this role will help identify connections for them to make and build coalitions of supporters for cross-sector partnerships. This role sits on the Partnerships and Business Development team, working alongside the External Affairs, Employer Services, and Impact Investment teams to advance existing partnerships and qualify, strategize, and propose new ones. All efforts will be designed to enable Pursuit to meet its revenue goals for 2025 and beyond. This role will be responsible for securing at least $2M in annual revenue, primarily through strategic grants and philanthropic funding.

 

About you:

You are an expert writer, first and foremost, ideally with experience crafting audience-specific proposals that have won funding, closed sales, or secured partnerships. Your writing is accurate, precise, cohesive, coherent, and persuasive. You work well navigating ambiguity. You ask well-posed questions to clarify concepts and get to the root of a problem. You can organize and structure details so nothing gets lost, every piece fits neatly together, and the overarching purpose or point of a project or argument is well-supported. You appreciate best practices and design processes while remaining adaptable. You are empathetic, diplomatic, and approachable to others. You take the initiative and are eager to support our One Big Team, making an impact across the organization. You have a growth mindset. You are passionate about solving socio-economic problems. You value diversity and make every effort to be inclusive—with teammates, external partners, and our community of Fellows.

Responsibilities:

  • Meet or exceed an individual revenue target of $2M annually by identifying, qualifying, and soliciting a variety of funders and opportunities
  • Draft, revise, and submit strategic proposals, pitch decks, and other materials
  • Develop concepts and strategies to pitch philanthropic campaigns, Pursuit’s employer model, social impact job bond, and Fellowship offerings to current strategic partners and prospects
  • Help evaluate funding opportunities by creating or expanding on qualifying notes, working collaboratively to assess our fit and what it would take to win
  • Identify key stakeholders and support coalition-building efforts to support proposals
  • Work with the CEO, VP of Development and other relationship managers to understand partner objectives and fit key messages to specific audiences
  • Collaborate with PBD, Business Operations, External Relations, and other teams to align cross-functional efforts, especially when acting as the lead proposal writer and/or project manager
  • Support CEO, VP of Development, and other relationship managers in external partner meetings and contribute to those meetings as needed
  • Support efforts to become the social impact organization of choice in NYC

Requirements:

  • Excellent writing skills
    • Draft, revise, edit, and proof language for a variety of formats and word counts
    • Succinctly summarize and comprehensively explain complex issues or ideas
    • Adapt your writing tone and style to match Pursuit’s voice and different audiences
    • Quickly iterate on various concept notes, outlines, drafts, and revisions
    • Seek feedback and quickly adjust to incorporate it
  • Critical thinking
    • Grasp, explain, and connect the various pieces of our integrated model—e.g. community development, job training, sustainable program financing, and hiring partnerships
    • Evaluate and address the needs and interests of the various stakeholders in our many-sided marketplace—e.g. Fellows, community partners/nonprofits, government officials, employer partners, philanthropic funders, impact investors, etc.
  • Research, analysis, and strategy
    • Identify opportunities and qualify them with research and network analysis
    • Map relationships to determine how best to inform and cultivate support for opportunities
    • Brief team and work collaboratively to strategize
  • Project management
    • Help update and maintain pipelines of projects and prioritize against multiple deadlines
    • Collaborate cross-functionally and create project plans
    • Adapt as needed to shifting priorities

Nice to have:

  • 3+ years work experience with writing-intensive roles in fundraising, partnerships, client-facing strategy, or business development
  • Experience building proposal budgets
  • Understanding of nonprofits, social impact missions, or social entrepreneurship
  • Experience using Salesforce or other CRMs to manage accounts and opportunities

Where you’ll work: 

  • On-site, 3-4 days per week in our Long Island City Office. Remote Fridays!
  • We are working on updating our office policy, and some roles may require 4+ days on site per week. 

Writing Sample Required in All Applications, please 

Ideally, this sample demonstrates a successful proposal or pitch to an external partner or funder. However, we are open to reviewing what you believe is your best work.

Salary & Benefits:

The salary range for this role is $85,000-100,000 base, plus incentive compensation based on team and organizational goals.

The compensation range above is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however, we are often open to a wide variety of profiles and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted.  If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated to you as a candidate.

Pursuit offers: 

  • Great culture where transparency, respect, teamwork, and kindness are valued
  • Competitive compensation in base, plus bonus and a full benefits package
  • 401k Match
  • Unlimited PTO and an all-Pursuit summer break the last week of August and a week-long holiday the last week of December
  • Flexible, hybrid work schedule with catered lunches once a week and delicious snacks
  • An opportunity to work at the intersection of tech and social impact, and make a direct impact on the communities of those we serve.

 

Pursuit values diversity: 

Our team has a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and we value the richness that diversity brings to our organization. We welcome new perspectives and affirm that all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, age, familial or marital status, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuit is an equal opportunity employer.

We encourage applicants who meet many (but not all) of the job requirements to apply. While we strive to be clear about what this role entails and our criteria for evaluating candidates, we see beyond resumes and traditional credentials. As with our Fellows, we aim to provide growth opportunities for those with potential.

Apply for this Job

* Required
resume chosen  
(File types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf)
cover_letter chosen  
(File types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf)


Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Pursuit’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.


Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.


Enter the verification code sent to to confirm you are not a robot, then submit your application.

This application was flagged as potential bot traffic. To resubmit your application, turn off any VPNs, clear the browser's cache and cookies, or try another browser. If you still can't submit it, contact our support team through the help center.