Government Capture Associate/Manager

Solugen

14549 Minetta St., Houston TX 77035

Position

Government Capture Associate / Manager

About Solugen:

Mission

Solugen’s mission is to decarbonize chemical manufacturing while onshoring critical dual-use supply chains. These supply chains can leverage Solugen’s proprietary chemienzymatic manufacturing processes to rapidly enable CONUS supply chains at low cost. The mission of this role is to build relationships with government program managers who are concerned about OCONUS supply chains. By working with these program managers, this individual will identify supply chains where Solugen can leverage its commercial CONUS supply chain and technology to help government program managers secure their supply chains and win for America.

This role supports Solugen’s mission by helping to secure critical government/public funding, contracts, and partnership opportunities that advance domestic production of dual-use materials, technologies, and assets.

The Government Capture Associate / Manager will help strengthen our U.S.-based manufacturing, defense supply chain resilience, and technical innovation and will be situated within the External Affairs team with frequent and intensive collaboration with the MSAT and Engineering teams.

Key Outcomes

1. Respond to >$10M of proposal pipeline within 6 months with high quality, compliant, and winning federal proposals that are submitted on time and meet the exacting standards expected from government program managers.

2. Within 1 year, optimize Solugen proposal writing process to reduce cost and FTE-hours required to write proposals by 2x. Create your own measurement system and track and report against it.

3. Execute against a structured pipeline of solicitations, timelines, deliverables, and post-award obligations, and create a proposal CRM tracker. Measure win-loss rate and document learnings over time and aim to get feedback from program managers that rejected our proposals so we can continuously learn and improve as an organization so we can help as many program managers in government succeed with their CONUS supply chains as possible

4. Support technical proof-of-concept development for proposals in partnership with engineering and MSAT teams. Get in the lab and get out to the plant, work directly with engineers and scientists on proof-of-concept datasets and IRAD that could enhance likelihood of proposal winning. Become a master of the technical details for each proposal such that scientists and engineers’ time spent writing proposals drops 2x per proposal in the next year.

5. Demonstrate a proactive, solutions-oriented mindset that earns strong, unsolicited praise from DoD partners, industry primes, and internal teams. Actively seek feedback, learn quickly, and continuously raise the bar for excellence and collaboration.

This is a hybrid operator role combining proposal management discipline with technical DoD project engagement.

We see this role as a critical bridge between Solugen’s BD, Government/External Affairs, MSAT, and Engineering teams to win government contracts and deliver initial project work.

Key Responsibilities Include:

1. Manage proposal submissions across defense, energy, and infrastructure funding streams, ensuring strict compliance with all requirements.

2. Use AI tools (e.g., NotebookLM) and standard software to organize writing, review, and submission workflows.

3. Build and maintain internal proposal systems, reusable content libraries, scoring matrices, trackers, and review processes.

4. Attend Industry Days and external events to prepare for and shape upcoming solicitations and engage with technical points of contact.

5. Collaborate with MSAT and Engineering teams to develop or validate proof-of-concept datasets and designs for proposals.

6. Support early-stage deliverables on awarded contracts to ensure smooth transition to full execution teams.

7. Manage post-award compliance, reporting, and contract administration tasks.

8. Take ownership of identifying tasks, coordinating stakeholders, and executing work needed to help government program managers succeed and deliver results for Solugen.

Key Competencies

Job Specific

1. Exceptionally detail-oriented and deadline-driven.

2. Strong writing and editing skills with the ability to produce clear, compliant, compelling technical narratives.

3. Technically curious and capable of understanding complex engineering concepts to support proposal development.

4. Proactive problem-solving mindset, with comfort managing multiple simultaneous deadlines and deliverables.

5. Collaborative approach to working across internal teams and with external partners.

6. Willingness to “own” the operational process of public funding capture without needing to set strategic direction or pricing.

7. Ability to ramp up on DoD culture, language, and procurement process.

8. In collaboration with colleagues on External Affairs team, building and maintaining external relationships with program managers, PEOs, DoD technical points of contact, industry day coordinators, and other key funding stakeholders.

9. Comfortable using AI tools and digital work platforms to enhance efficiency.

Company Specific

- Ask a lot of questions, be curious, and have insights into your work

- Be nimble, embrace the speed and ambiguity of startup culture.

- A passion for green chemistry and fighting climate change.

- Ability to self-manage and set your own priorities and schedule.

- Be comfortable working in multiple roles.

- Emphasize safety above all else.

- Respect for others.

- Creative problem solving.

- Willingness to learn and research new engineering/science concepts.

Qualifications

1. Location: Houston, TX strongly preferred; Washington, D.C. is a secondary option. Exceptional remote candidates will be considered with the expectation of frequent on-site work in Houston with MSAT and Engineering teams and in Washington, D.C. with External Affairs teams. Regular travel is required for remote candidates, and occasional travel will be required for Houston- and DC-based candidates.

2. Experience: Early-career professional or recent graduate with approximately 1–5 years of experience (flexible for the right candidate).

3. Education: Bachelor’s degree required; engineering, chemistry, or other technical disciplines preferred. This role involves extensive work on technical proposals, grant writing, and engineering content. The successful candidate will have a strong background in these areas or demonstrate the ability to learn quickly.

4. Preferred Knowledge: Experience or coursework in government contracting, federal funding, compliance, or technical writing is desirable.

5. Defense Familiarity: Knowledge of DoD programs or defense technology is a plus.

6. Writing Experience: Prior grant or technical proposal writing experience is required.

7. Mission Commitment: Demonstrated passion for national security, domestic manufacturing, and supporting the U.S. defense industrial base.

Compensation

Salary: $80,000-135,000 USD Annually.

Bonus eligible based on individual and company performance.