Government Opportunity Specialist

JOB DESCRIPTION

POSITION: Government Opportunity Specialist

REPORTS TO: Director of Sales

STATUS: Full Time, Exempt

JOB CLASSIFICATION: Specialist II

WORK ARRANGEMENT: Remote

LOCATION: Washington DC area

SALARY RANGE: $80,000

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Open Until Filled

*Blind/visually impaired strongly encouraged to apply.

Founded in San Francisco in 1902, the LightHouse's vision is a world where blind and low vision people flourish, and its mission is to promote independence, community, and equity created by and with blind and low vision people.

• Blindness Positivity: We take pride in our ability to navigate our lives as blind and low vision people.
• Disability Justice: We recognize the inherent worth of every person and commit to advancing equity and interdependency.
• Inclusion: We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to belong and live to their full potential, encompassing their identities, backgrounds, and abilities.
• Excellence: We provide the highest-quality services and products, and we continuously learn, improve, and innovate.
• Empowerment: We encourage self-determination, independence, and autonomy.
• Compassion: We make efforts to understand one another, and we treat every person with dignity and respect.

The LightHouse Government Opportunity Specialist will drive large, complex opportunities with our Government customers, ensuring they are possible, profitable, and align with our mission and strategic plan. Main duties will include finding federal and local government opportunities, responding to and shepherding timely replies, per sales targets, and routinely reporting progress to Director of Sales and social enterprise leaders.

• Associates degree or equivalent in business administration, nonprofit management, public policy, political economy, or similar, plus 3-5 years grant writing, public policy, or consulting experience.
• Bachelor's degree in the above academic fields preferred but not required, plus 2-3 years prior grant writing, public policy, or consulting experience.
• System experience includes: one or more CRM systems, Microsoft suite,
• Preferred system or platform experience includes: System for Award Management (SAM.gov), AbilityOne.gov, EDI software, [Greg??], [Spencer ??]
• Preferred experience includes Federal and California State laws applicable to contracts and procurement; Federal Acquisition Regulations; purchasing principles such as the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC); public contracting principles, including proposal preparation, contract negotiation, contract law, and finance.

• Review RFPs to assess feasibility and alignment with strategic objectives and LightHouse mission
• Track the entire RFP process from initial review to final submission, ensuring all requirements and deadlines are met
• Accurately log all opportunity-related updates, activities, and communications into the company CRM to maintain comprehensive and up-to-date records
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to draft compelling and compliant proposals tailored to government requirements
• Work closely with social enterprise leaders, namely leaders within LHE, AUX, MAD Lab, and Enchanted Hills Napa, to understand industry trends, products, and services.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the technical aspects of LightHouse products and services to communicate their value to government clients effectively.
• Conduct research to gain insights into potential clients, competitors, and industry trends to inform opportunity strategy. Routinely search for product and service pipeline opportunities from government agencies.
• Stay informed about changes in government procurement policies, regulations, and funding priorities to adapt sales strategies accordingly.
• Ensure all sales activities comply with relevant government regulations and procurement policies
• Identify and mitigate risks associated with government contracts, ensuring compliance, and minimizing financial exposure
• Collaborate with Director of Sales and Finance to develop pricing models for government sales, ensuring alignment with financial goals and compliance with governmental budget constraints.
• Prepares the pricing estimates for inclusion in proposals
• Respond to internal and external queries on drafted and submitted proposals. Always submitting proposals to key stakeholders (COO, Director or Sales, and SE leader) for approval.
• Serve as key liaison to NIB for new product and service opportunities, namely Business Development and Sales, Program Manager for Service Projects
• Identify leads (lead generation) with government contacts and agencies.
• Maintain strong relationships with government agencies, procurement officers, business development project managers, and other key stakeholders to facilitate deal acquisition and execution.
• Working with Director of Data Analytics and Director of Sales, develop meaningful measurement and reporting processes to track compliance, sales targets
• Develop, expand, and maintain opportunities that deliver revenue growth while working toward social enterprise goals of smart sustainability.
• Represent the company at government-focused events, conferences, and trade shows to build brand awareness and generate leads
• Participate in staff meetings, training sessions, and ongoing professional development opportunities to maximize effectiveness as a leader.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

An ideal Government Product & Services Specialist will drive the entire proposal process, nurture leads, coordinate RFPs, and ensure the smooth progression of opportunities through our sales pipeline.

• Demonstrated experience interpreting policies, regulations, and laws.
• Good problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, and good written and oral communication skills.
• Proven experience in sales, opportunity management or similar role, with a focus on government sales
• Ability to exercise a high degree of initiative and flexibility.
• Demonstrated ability to engage leads through consistent follow-up and relationship-building to maximize conversion potential
• Drive to approach all work in a thorough and conscientious manner, making a point to understand scope and key success metrics with the goal of providing high-quality work outputs that help to advance business objectives
• Strong team player who can manage input from and work cohesively with multiple stakeholders to foster alignment, identify, and deliver the most effective and impactful solutions for the collective.
• Experience selling consultative services, recommending solutions to potential customers versus selling specific products.
• Demonstrates a comfort in bridging technical and non-technical conversations to sell beneficial solutions to government agencies.
• Solid experience working with diverse range of services
• Effectively communicates with peers, senior leadership, and executive team.
• Excellent research skills with the ability to clearly communicate, especially in proposals, research, program/project design.
• Nonprofit experience in providing products or services to the federal government
• Solid experience either fulfilling or seeking sub-contract opportunities
• Excels when working on a team with a collaboration-first approach
• Works effectively with pending deadlines and remains calm in stressful situations.
• Enjoys working in a fast-paced, highly diversified environment.
• Able to communicate effectively in English, verbal and written, in person and by phone, (other languages highly desirable).
• Talent for efficiently and effectively expressing information to individuals and groups using multiple communication pathways
• Able to consider the audience and nature of the information (technical, sensitive, controversial) and adjust communication accordingly
• Willingness to perform other related duties as assigned.

• Ability to sit/stand at a desk and perform computer-intensive work for extended periods daily.
• Ability to operate standard office equipment.
• Ability to independently travel to all LightHouse campuses and throughout the community as needed.

LightHouse is an equal opportunity employer. LightHouse policy and the law prohibit discrimination and harassment based on an individual's race, ancestry, religion or religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), color, age (40 and over), sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national origin (including language use restrictions), marital status, medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), physical or mental disability (including HIV and AIDS), military or veteran status, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions, denial of Family and Medical Care leave, height and weight, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local laws, regulations, or ordinances. Our policy and the law prohibit co-workers, third parties, supervisors, and managers from engaging in such conduct.

LightHouse personnel are employed on an at-will basis. Employment at-will means that the employment relationship may be terminated, with or without cause and with or without advance notice at any time by the employee or the Agency.

We strive to maintain a scent-free environment and a drug-free workplace. Employees are expected to behave in accordance with these objectives.

All employees at LightHouse are hired for an indefinite and unspecified duration and consequently, no employee is guaranteed employment for a specified length of time. Employment is at the mutual consent of the employee and LightHouse. Accordingly, either the employee or LightHouse can terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause ("employment at will").

Please submit a resume as a Word attachment (no. PDFs please), along with the completed employment application (downloads in a Word document), to HR@lighthouse-sf.org, including the job title in the subject line.

To fill out the application, please enable editing in the document. We will not consider videos or hyperlinks to online profiles. Due to time constraints, we will only respond to complete submissions in which there is serious interest, thanks for your understanding.