Strategic Senior Advisor, Government Contracts

About this role

About the Workforce Intelligence Lab (WIL)

WIL provides workforce and execution intelligence for construction, infrastructure, energy, power, data centers, and other capital-intensive markets, and is expanding work with federal, state, and local government agencies where data, research, workforce intelligence, and subject-matter expertise can address public-sector problems.

Learn more: Open wilinstitute.org

We engage experienced practitioners for both full-time employment and project-based contract roles, as applicable to the award and staffing model. Engagements are remote-first with travel as required for partner and field sites. We build ready teams for live grant and sponsored-research pursuits.

This opportunity is contingent upon grant or sponsored-project award and final staffing approval. Permission will be requested before including a candidate's name or resume in a proposal or funding package.

WIL is seeking a Strategic Senior Advisor with significant government contracting experience: someone who has operated inside the government contracting ecosystem and can help WIL avoid the mistakes organizations make when entering or scaling in that market.

This named relationship is a Strategic Senior Advisor role rather than an immediate full-time operating seat. The expected commitment is limited: periodic strategic conversations, review of selected opportunities or decisions, and introductions where you independently believe they make sense. Where WIL needs substantial execution, such as capture support, proposal development, contract strategy, or partner work, that can be scoped separately as full-time employment or a project-based contract.

The experience we are looking for includes several of the following: federal, state, or large municipal government contracting; capture strategy and opportunity qualification; RFP, RFQ, and RFI evaluation and bid or no-bid decisions; proposal strategy and competitive positioning; FAR, DFARS, and government procurement processes; IDIQs, BPAs, GWACs, GSA schedules, or similar vehicles; prime and subcontractor teaming; agency relationship development; contract compliance and post-award execution; professional services, research, analytics, workforce, infrastructure, technology, or consulting contracts; building or scaling a government contracting function.

Experience as a government contracting executive, former contracting or procurement leader, capture executive, government practice leader, or senior operator at an established federal contractor is particularly relevant.

What you'll help WIL decide

Which opportunities to pursue and which to walk away from

Where the government buying process is likely to be underestimated

What capabilities are needed before pursuing larger contracts

When to prime versus partner

What makes an agency take a newer entrant seriously

What mistakes create problems after an award

How to build this capability without unnecessary overhead

Requirements

• Required
• Substantial government-contracting execution experience, not title alone
• Judgment that will challenge assumptions rather than confirm them
• Ability to join periodic remote strategic conversations
• Open to full-time employment or project-based contract engagement; remote-first with travel as partner and field work requires

Nice to have

• FAR or DFARS, IDIQ, BPA, GWAC, or GSA schedule experience
• Capture, proposal, or post-award compliance leadership
• Professional-services, research, analytics, workforce, infrastructure, or technology contracts