Head of Growth

Truss is a software development consultancy that builds government technology people actually want to use. Our systems regularly show up in the New York Times, and when we ask our team what they love most about working here, the answer is consistently the same: the people. We’re collaborative, we hold ourselves to high standards, and we care deeply about the craft of making government services work better.
We have been a remote-first organization since our inception and are passionate about work-life balance, building impactful teams, and committed to creating environments that encourage collaboration, different points of view, and creative solutioning.

The Opportunity:

Truss is seeking a Head of Growth to expand its presence in the federal digital services market and eventually, at the state level as well. The Head of Growth at Truss will set strategy, build pipeline, lead capture and proposals, develop and maintain key agency relationships, and drive outcomes. This person will also lead and develop a highly collaborative team of Business Development Managers and Account Managers, and work effectively with Finance and Delivery teams, and technical SMEs to determine pricing, support winning proposals, and land new work. This is a high-impact position with the opportunity to grow.

The Head of Growth will connect Truss to the work we’re best at by forging new government and vendor relationships and strengthening existing ones. This will also require a deep understanding of our value proposition and an ability to develop compelling ways to differentiate ourselves and align our growth strategies to ensure our pursuits play to our strengths and our proposals accurately reflect how we work. 

The ideal candidate understands the federal acquisition lifecycle, preferably from direct experience, knows how digital modernization work gets generated, funded, shaped, evaluated, and can leverage that insight into winning outcomes. This person has demonstrated fluency of the principles of user-centered design and agile development, is comfortable working in the open, sharing learned lessons, and establishing clear expectations and methods of communication within a fully-distributed environment.

We are looking for someone that has a proven track-record building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders based on empathy and experience and is excited to lead successful business development processes at Truss through shared ownership, mentorship, and trust. 

This is a fully remote opportunity with potential quarterly travel for customer meetings, industry events, and team gatherings. This position reports to the CEO. The base salary range for this role is $185,000 - $240,000. This role is also eligible for a performance-based bonus.

The Head of Growth will be responsible for 
delivering successful outcomes in three key areas:

1. Truss secures new work through trust, partnership, and genuine understanding of client needs.

• Achieve target contract value dollars sought on new deals by understanding our customers and their needs.
• Effective deal strategies, prioritization, and growth recommendations are determined in partnership with the leadership team.
• Develop deep customer intimacy — understanding actual needs, what evaluators will respond to and why, and the characteristics they are looking for in a winning team.
• Stay abreast of procurement initiatives such as GSA’s OneGov, and pursue innovative procurement strategies; large IDIQs and BPAs are monitored and responded to.
• Relationships with agency stakeholders, primes, and strategic partners are maintained and developed both in person and virtually.
• Knowledge sharing and continuity best practices are established so capture strategy, customer context, and solution commitment are communicated to delivery teams when new work is awarded.

2. Establish and pursue strategic and achievable growth initiatives based on Truss’s value proposition and market research

• Quarterly and annual goals are established, communicated, and met in partnership with the Growth Team and the CEO. 
• The growth team is actively mentored and supported via clear priorities, expectations, processes, constructive feedback, and accountability across business development, capture, proposals, and account management.
• A qualified and robust pipeline aligned to growth targets is actively maintained.
• The current state and future direction of the federal and state digital services modernization markets are monitored to proactively identify trends, anticipate shifts in priorities, funding, and procurement approaches and adapt our strategy accordingly.
• Tools for monitoring and tracking opportunities are kept current and updated weekly 
• Movement of individuals working on modernization efforts within government is monitored and leveraged to refine and inform Truss’s business development approach.

3. Continuously develop capture and proposal processes through leadership and collaboration.

• Business development and capture phases of the Shipley framework (including account planning, customer and competitor mapping, call plans, teaming, and gate reviews) are proactively determined to position Truss advantageously before an RFP drops
• All Truss proposals follow a repeatable process able to scale with the business 
• Effective narratives and win themes that address our clients’ true pain points based on research, relationship development, and context are added to template library
• All proposals have a distinct voice, narrate why Truss is the optimal choice for a specific problem, and clearly illustrate how we will deliver a solution. 
• Anticipate how AI is reshaping digital services procurement and solutioning, and proactively employ AI automation to make the team more efficient 
• Technical knowledge of SMEs and senior practitioners is leveraged to define response outlines, surface pain points and desired outcomes, and develop win themes.
• Collaboration expectations are communicated to Delivery and Growth team members to ensure high-quality and timely proposals are submitted.
• Processes for developing proposals, including staffing and pricing strategies are documented and repeatable.
• Insights and learnings are shared internally to foster growth and continuous improvement. 
•  Strategic partnerships and workshare/teaming agreements that increase win probability and align with Truss’s objectives are developed and managed.

Skillset:

• 8+ years leading end to end business development and capture efforts in the federal and/or state government digital services market selling custom software solutions, alongside a track record of building pipeline and winning competitive work
• Able to establish and grow new relationships, both in person and virtually, fostering strong connections and customer intimacy beyond mere networking
• Demonstrated fluency of user research, human-centered design, and agile delivery within a government context
• High familiarity with the latest procurement approaches emerging from GSA and across the federal and state markets
• Has prior track-record of successfully creating and managing a longer-term pipeline that leads to wins
• Comfortable setting business development and capture strategy, defining metrics, OKRs, and creating accountability for a team 
• Prior experience building, coaching, and supporting high-performing business development and account managers
• Exceptional relationship and partnership management skills, including proactive communication, building trust, setting context, negotiation, and empathy 
• Attention to detail including accountability, organization, and a project management mindset: comfortable tracking multiple opportunities, commitments, deadlines, and deliverables
• Strong collaboration and communication skills — you write clearly, present persuasively, and work fluidly across teams 
• Comfortable working and effectively managing teams within a fully remote environment 

Nice-to-have:

• 4+ years working closely with senior government (federal, state, or both) stakeholders on software modernization or digital services delivery teams, building long-term, high-trust relationships. 
• Experience evaluating vendor proposals and/or has participated in source selection committees
• Experience in both state and federal government, preferably HHS, Medicaid, or benefits administration
• Understanding of state government business development, capture, or proposal processes — or a strong desire to learn
• Prior employment with USDS, 18F, a state or federal digital services team, or in a comparable technical/product team within a government agency
• Active relationships with people currently working in state and federal government

Full-Time employees at Truss enjoy full benefits, generous PTO, a co-working budget, an employee effectiveness budget, and company-wide transparency around salaries and career leveling (view the Truss Leveling Guide). 

Eligibility: You must be eligible to work in the U.S. and may be required to pass a federal background check at the discretion of the client/project you are placed on. Truss employees must live and work within the contiguous U.S. Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor work visas at this time.