KPIs for Your Next Revenue Operations or Proposal Hire
Three KPIs for each of five roles with RFP responsibilities: what to hold each hire to, what went into each measure, and what to settle before you post the job.
In the 50 postings I analyzed, 84% name on-time delivery. None says how it will be measured.
Free 14-page PDF. No sign-up. By Rob Steeves, CF APMP. Founder, R. Steeves Consulting Inc.
84%
of 50 postings name on-time delivery. None says how it is measured.
3 of 50
postings ask the hire to define metrics.
1 of 50
postings grants the hire the bid decision.
$42K–$70K
Senior band over Specialist band, mid-cost states, for the same proposal scope.
Fifteen KPIs, Each With a Formula and a Target
Decide what you will hold the hire to before you post the job. The KPIs you need decide the role, and the role decides the salary band.
What's in the PDF
- Five roles on one page, with the salary band and the three KPIs each one can be held to.
- Fifteen KPIs, each broken into measures with how they are calculated and a recommended target.
- What went into each KPI: what the role controls, what the measure depends on, and the figure from the postings behind it.
- A “Before you hire” list for each role: what you have to provide before the KPIs can be measured.
- Three things to settle before you post, whichever role you hire.
KPIs for Your Next Revenue Operations or Proposal Hire
What to hold each RFP hire to, what went into each measure, and what to settle before you post the job.
Download the GuideFree to download. No sign-up.
Five Roles. Three KPIs Each.
In the postings, proposal scope is flat from Specialist to Senior. What changes is the scope outside the proposal, and the salary. Read the table and mark the KPIs you need someone to own in the first year.
Proposal Specialist17 of 50 postings
$68K–$80KMid-cost states
- 01On-time and compliant submissions
- 02First pass approval
- 03Library freshness
Proposal Manager12 of 50 postings
$85K–$110KMid-cost states
- 04Cycle time and SME turnaround
- 05Bid decision coverage
- 06Knowledge management
Senior Proposal Manager / Director10 of 50 postings
$110K–$150KMid-cost states
- 07Cost per bid and capacity
- 08Go/no-go process effectiveness
- 09KPI and reporting infrastructure
Deal Desk7 of 50 postings
$90K–$120KMid-cost states
- 10Deal ticket turnaround
- 11Price and terms protection
- 12Quoting and contract systems accuracy
RevOps / Sales Ops4 of 50 postings
$70K–$100KMid-cost states
- 13Pursuit data integrity
- 14Reporting and forecast cadence
- 15Sales support and tool adoption
If your marks sit under one role
That is your posting
The band beside it is the one to budget.
If they spread across two or three roles
The posting describes the Senior band
Whatever the title says. If your posting has been open for a while, check whether it asks for that scope at a Specialist or Manager salary.
If some sit under Deal Desk or RevOps
Check who already owns them
Do that before you add them to a proposal posting.
What Each KPI Looks Like
Every KPI has the same parts: a definition, its measures, how each one is calculated, a target, and what went into it. This is the first of the fifteen.
KPI 1 · Proposal Specialist
On-Time & Compliant Submission Rate
Every RFP the Specialist owns is submitted before the deadline with no mandatory requirement missed.
Submission rate
How it is calculatedOn-time, compliant submissions ÷ RFPs owned
Target100%. Any miss triggers a root-cause review in the same week.
Internal milestone adherence
How it is calculatedInternal deadlines met ÷ internal deadlines set at kickoff
Target≥ 90%
Buffer
How it is calculatedDays between the package being ready and the external deadline
TargetAt least 2 business days
What went into it
On-time delivery is the outcome named most often in the 50 postings (84%), and none of them says how it will be measured. This KPI puts a number on it and adds two measures the Specialist can influence directly: internal milestones and the buffer before the deadline. It assumes the schedule and the SME dates are set at kickoff, and that a missed SME date is escalated and not absorbed, so the rate reflects the Specialist’s work and not a contributor’s delay. Large or multi-product bids are tagged and given a senior resource, so the rate is read against comparable work.
Fourteen more KPIs are in the PDF, with a “Before you hire” list for each role. Download the guide
Three Things to Settle Before You Post
Whichever role you hire, settle these before the posting goes live.
Most of these KPIs can’t be measured until something exists: an intake queue, a CRM field, a review step. That part is the employer’s job.
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Which KPIs you need owned
That gives you the role, and the role gives you the band. If you need KPIs from more than one role, budget for the Senior band or split the work.
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Who holds the decisions the role doesn’t
Price, contract terms and the go/no-go. Name the person in the posting or in the hire’s 90-day plan.
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What has to exist before the KPIs can be measured
One intake for requests, pursuit fields in the CRM, a tool that records where answers come from, and a sign-off step for commitments. If any are missing, building them is part of the job, and the posting should say so.
Where the Figures Come From
Figures from the postings come from The 50-Posting Study, my analysis of 50 job postings for RFP and proposal roles at mid-market technology companies. Deal Desk (7 postings) and RevOps (4) are small groups and are given as counts. Targets are recommendations to adjust after a baseline.
About the Author
Rob Steeves, CF APMP, is the founder of R. Steeves Consulting Inc., a fractional bid desk practice based in Toronto. He works with SaaS companies that sell into government, healthcare and public safety.
Have an Open RFP Role?
Book a 30-minute strategy call and bring the posting. I'll give you a second read on it: which KPIs it implies, which band that scope sits in, and who holds price, contract terms and the bid decision.
30 minutes. No pitch. Just an honest look at your bid operation.