Proposal Specialist

ABOUT GOWLING WLG

At Gowling WLG, our commitment to excellence begins with our people. As an international law firm with offices in Canada, the U.K., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, we’re proud to recruit and retain top talent who bring energy, insight, and a singular focus on delivering exceptional experiences – for our clients and each other.

We’re intentional about building a workplace that’s both high-performing and supportive, ensuring that everyone is empowered to do their best work and reach their full potential. Our culture is grounded in our shared values: Raise the Bar, Embrace Differences, and Thrive Together. These values shape how we collaborate, lead, and succeed – across teams, time zones, and career paths.

Whether you’re pursuing a role in law or business services, explore what’s possible and make your mark with Gowling WLG.

PROFILE

Reporting to the National Proposal Manager, the Proposal Specialist will work within a national shared services team environment, developing strategic proposals in response to formal legal service procurements, including, Requests for Proposals (RFPs), as well as informal requests for credentials documents, in alignment with the firm’s business strategies and revenue growth goals.

Working within the Proposals and Pursuits Team, as well as collaborating with other functional teams, including the Experience, Business Development and Pricing Teams, the Proposal Specialist will provide lawyers with strategic guidance, highlighting what sets Gowling WLG apart and leveraging the firm’s strengths to win new work, and meet and exceed the needs of clients and prospective clients.

The successful candidate will have a growth mindset with a focus on understanding our various practice and sector groups, while being an exceptional communicator and storyteller, both written and oral, with strong attention to detail and a proven ability to prioritize and work within tight deadlines.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct a thorough review and analysis of incoming requests for proposals to understand the business requirements and strategically plan how to execute the creation of the response, with a focus on differentiation, precision, and effectiveness to continuously increase our win-rates.
• Lead and support pursuits, and respond to deadline-driven RFPs across many services and jurisdictions, often acting as a team liaison and project manager for the end-to-end proposal development process, including any international requests and multi-party opportunities.
• Develop proposals into cohesive and compelling formats, or an online response, ensuring that the proposal incorporates pre-approved and convincing content, is client- and business-needs focused, remains in alignment with firm brand standards and brand voice, and is in compliance with all requirements of the RFP or client request.
• Lead all proposal production activities, including any hard-copy printing, distribution and physical delivery of the document, or online submissions.
• Update the proposal content library with completed responses to improve access to a data bank of content, improving the efficiency and the performance of subsequent requests for proposal and credentials responses.
• Collaborate closely with firm partners and stakeholders to build top-quality proposals and pursuits, while working with the Experience Team to preserve any relevant work examples collected during the proposal development process to support future proposals, awards submissions or other requirements.
• Continually seek to develop improved proposal writing processes, including but not limited to proactively leveraging AI to drive efficiency and scale, while ensuring high quality control of final submissions.
• Actively monitor and track the success rates of each proposal completed, seeking feedback and final versions from stakeholders to continually enhance the overall quality of proposals.
• Act as a subject matter expert for Gowling WLG’s proposal processes and tools and provide formal and ad-hoc assistance to internal clients requesting proposal and pursuit support.
• Participate in research initiatives related to proposals.
• Create originally drafted content if needed for unique requests.
• Other duties as required that contribute to the firm, its clients and our team.

QUALIFICATIONS

• A post secondary education with a focus on Business, Communications, Project Management, or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• A minimum of 5-7 years experience in a similar role with a preference for experience in a law firm or parallel professional services environment, or another relevant industry sector.
• Fully bilingual, English & French
• Ability to thrive in a role that requires efficiency and focus, excellent decision-making and conceptual skills, attention to detail, as well as applying big-picture strategic perspectives.
• Proven success working in a global hybrid work environment demanding strong interpersonal and organizational abilities with excellent leadership and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with other firm members, including partners, with the aptitude to be highly responsive to internal clients’ needs in a professional and service-driven manner.
• Results-focus with an innate desire to continuously drive improvements and innovation, deliver high quality work and proven success measuring results and impact.
• Capacity to work independently, as well as within a team environment.
• Natural problem-solving, curiosity and critical thinking skills.
• Ability to excel in a deadline-driven environment and the flexibility to work outside of regular business hours on short notice as needed in order to meet deadlines.
• Comfortable with new and evolving technology and tools such as AI and CRMs, in addition to strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Word, as well as database platforms and familiarity with procurement processes including online procurement platforms (e.g. Merx, Biddingo, Ariba and others).
• Excellent knowledge of the Canadian legal landscape and business environment.

BENEFITS/PERKS

Gowling WLG’s total rewards program is designed to foster a culture where high performance and personal well-being go hand-in-hand. We support your career and life with:

• 100% employer-paid health, dental, and mental health coverage, plus an annual lifestyle spending allowance
• Benefits coverage for Firm members and their dependents from day one!
• 15+ vacation days and hybrid work flexibility
• Parental leave top-up for 26 weeks (after 12 months of full-time employment)
• Group Retirement Savings Plan with employer match
• Financial protection through short & long-term disability, life, accident & critical illness insurance
• Employee & Family Assistance Program, guided CBT, and an internal network of 120+ trained Mental Health First Aid responders
• Recognition awards, appreciation events, and a supportive, collaborative work culture
• Perks and preferred pricing programs, referral bonuses and more

The starting range for this role is $67,200 to $100,800. Starting salary will be determined based on an applicant’s individual skills, competencies and unique qualifications. Gowling WLG employees have the potential to exceed this range based on tenure and performance.

This position is currently vacant and is open to both internal and external candidates. Gowling WLG is recruiting for this role to support ongoing firm needs and team operations.

This employer may use tools within our applicant tracking system that include artificial intelligence–supported features, such as automated candidate matching. These tools do not make hiring decisions; all screening, assessments, and selections are reviewed and completed by human recruiters and hiring managers.

Gowling WLG is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you are in need of accommodation or support at any time during the recruitment process, please let us know.