Grants Manager (Pre-Award) – Remote

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization

Office of Sponsored Programs

Job Summary

A Grants Manager (GM) is part of the Office of Sponsored Programs-Pre-Award Shared Resource Service delivery team (OSP‑SRS) whose mission is to provide the best possible customer service to the VUMC research community for frontline proposal and selected award management activities. Working in a high‑volume, deadline‑driven, fast‑paced, and dynamic team environment, the OSP‑SRS is a group of professionals comprised of three teams, each structured with expertise focused in achieving departmental goals by providing services and support to an assigned portfolio with duties of a complex and confidential nature. Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 5:00pm CST.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience in research administration, including pre‑award grants management within an academic or research setting
• 3+ years of experience preparing, coordinating, and submitting grant proposals to external sponsors
• Strong written communication skills, with the ability to draft and edit proposal materials, budget justifications, and reports
• Experience developing grant budgets and monitoring sponsored project spending for compliance and accuracy
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to ensure completeness, accuracy, and adherence to sponsor and institutional requirements
• Strong work ethic with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and priorities in a high‑volume environment
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills; ability to work effectively as part of a team
• Proven ability to serve as a knowledgeable and responsive resource for faculty, providing high‑touch support throughout the grant lifecycle
• Comfort working in a multifaceted central office environment, interfacing with departments, faculty, and institutional stakeholders across the organization

Key Responsibilities

• Monitor and understand funding mechanisms to assist PIs in determining requirements, deadlines, and time management for responses to PAs/RFAs or general application submissions in a proactive manner
• Coordinate multiple applications under absolute deadlines
• Prepare proposals within parameters of sponsored research guidelines. Oversee and communicate submission process; resolve issues relating to proposal preparation and submittal of grant and contract activity
• In collaboration with PI, develop, prepare, revise, and finalize project budgets, and assist with budget justifications
• Serve as a collaborative, professional liaison and active partner between PI, research groups, and other departmental staff related to grant or contract submissions
• Assemble documents in required electronic formats within application tools prior to submission
• Assist PI with electronic submission process
• Prepare other support and various ancillary data/documentation as required throughout the grant life cycle
• Responsible for processing annual progress reports (RPPR’s) for review through the necessary channels for central office review and submission (NIH Commons, Coeus, PEER)
• In collaboration with PI, following the terms and conditions, monitor and identify the need and take immediate action to process any required prior approval documentation through the appropriate teams/channels for review and submission to the sponsoring agency
• Keep abreast of new/updated internal/external policies, procedures, deadlines, and timeframes by working closely with central administrative offices. Communicates such updates to faculty and research staff
• Attend educational training offered by the Office of Sponsored Programs, Learning and Development, as well as reading online/published materials (i.e.: NCURA newsletter, NIH online updates)
• Advise on issues requiring specific grant administration expertise
• Serve as a frontline resource on subject area to principal investigator and research staff

Experience Level

3 years

Education

Bachelor's

Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled.