Budget Proposal Specialist

Lantana Consulting Group provides services and software for standards-based health-information exchange. We have established ourselves as a trusted leader in the industry with two decades of expertise in developing and deploying technical specifications and interoperability solutions. As a rapidly growing distributed, employee-owned company, we hire exceptional talent nationwide and offer flexible remote work arrangements. We take pride in our mission to improve public health and quality of care.

Primary purpose:  

Develops detailed proposal budgets and collaborates with cross-functional teams to accurately estimate project costs. Works closely with technical leads, subject matter experts, project managers, finance, proposal staff, and external partners to deliver competitive, compliant cost proposals.

A successful candidate will do the following:

• Develop accurate, compliant proposal budgets based on technical and business requirements
• Draft clear, defensible assumptions; budget narratives; and the staffing and management section for proposal submissions
• Review budgets for completeness and alignment with technical, staffing, management, and business volumes; perform final quality checks before leadership approval
• With Finance and Capture teams, work with managers to evaluate resource needs and shape staffing recommendations; own the process and drive toward final recommendations 
• Develop proposal payment schedules with support from Finance 
• Support capture and proposal teams during key reviews to align budget with the technical solutions and win strategies
• Maintain and enhance Lantana’s estimator tools and recommend improvements or new methodologies
• Prioritize, plan, and deliver work on time for multiple people while maintaining flexibility and adapting to changing situations
• Track spending for bids and proposals and prepare reports for leadership
• Coordinate the handoff of the budget proposal to the project-execution team
• Establish and maintain a structured process to analyze LOE-to-actual variance, identify trends, develop standardized forecasting tools, and recommend adjustments to improve accuracy of estimates 

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, business, accounting, economics, or related field
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience developing proposal budgets, cost estimates, or financial projections in federal contracting, preferably in the health informatics or health IT space
• Strong understanding of proposal-development processes and compliance requirements
• Strong understanding of staffing and management requirements for federal proposals, including how they inform decisions regarding level of effort and budgeting 
• Proficiency in Excel and budget-development tools (such as formulas, pivot tables, and data validation)
• Ability to elicit requirements and translate technical input into accurate budgets
• Ability to handle confidential financial information with discretion

Preferred qualifications:

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
• Experience in the health informatics or health IT space
• Experience contributing to proposal solutioning or approach development
• Experience analyzing key cost drivers, staffing sensitivities, and pricing risks for competitive positioning and informed price-to-win decisions
• Experience with estimator or cost-modeling tools for government contracting
• Experience with government pricing and proposal software that automates cost-proposal development 
• Understanding of procurement methods (RFPs, RFIs, RFQs) and their budget implications
• Working knowledge of FAR Part 15 cost-proposal requirements and cost-realism principles
• Understanding of treatment of allowable/unallowable cost and application of indirect rate in federal contracting

Additional information: 

• We are a remote organization, but we prioritize in-person collaboration during key events such as our annual company meeting. 
• We are an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.
• For this position, the candidate must reside in the United States.