Grants and Contracts Manager

Purpose of role
The Fund is recruiting a Grants and Contracts Manager, who will serve as the administrative and customer service focus point of the Bloomberg Ocean Fund and the Joint 30x30 Funding Initiative.

The Manager will oversee the full lifecycle, from agreement to close, of all grants and contracts for the Fund and JTTFI, as well as manage and maintain related systems.   Working closely with RPA and Fund colleagues, grantees, and vendors, the Manager will be responsible for executing these processes to provide effective, efficient, collaborative, and compliant oversight of all grants and contracts.

Primary responsibilities

The job holder will have the following key responsibilities:

Grants Management  

• Oversee grants administration in collaboration with RPA and Fund staff, including processing disbursements, tracking reporting deadlines and requirements, and ensuring compliance with fiscal sponsor guidelines and IRS requirements.
• Track grant agreement process from proposal to execution, ensuring grantee onboarding, system access, and application packages are complete inclusive of due diligence materials as applicable.
• Identify and implement opportunities for process improvement.
• Manage and maintain the internal grants and contracts management system and ensure records are regularly updated and maintained with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail (currently within Monday.com).
• Develop regular reports and analysis using available grant data, to support progress reporting, strategy development, and in response to ad hoc requests from Fund and/or JTFFI donors and staff. 
• Coordinate with RPA staff on processing grant agreements and amendments and throughout the life cycle of grants including acting as the liaison between RPA, program staff, and grantees, working to resolve issues as they arise and escalating as necessary.
• Liaise with grantees and program staff to support timely and complete reporting and documentation, and work with RPA to ensure grant payments are made in a timely manner.
• Maintain data accuracy for all outgoing grants and contracts in internal project management systems.
• Regularly reconcile internal project and contract data with data in RPA systems.

Contracts, Invoices, and Vendor Management

• Draft, review, and track non-grant agreements: contracts, memorandums of understanding, sponsorship expenses, gifts, and honorariums in compliance with fiscal sponsor requirements.
• Advise staff on the most appropriate tool for a given scope of work.
• Coordinate with RPA staff on processing agreements and amendments for signature, including providing a preliminary review of agreements to raise potential considerations and being the liaison for follow up questions for project staff and/or the vendor.
• Submit associated invoices and payments, maintain records of all contracts and invoices, including tracking the outstanding balance of contracts and changes of terms.
• Coordinate onboarding and administrative support for contractors and vendors and serve as the primary point of contact for vendor-related questions and troubleshooting and working to resolve issues as they arise.
• Support project staff by providing regular updates of recently expired or soon-to-expire contracts, invoices that exceed the contract balance, and amendments needed.

Profile
Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree in law, public affairs, public policy, or environmental science a plus.
• Minimum of 5 years of related professional experience managing large pipelines and databases of projects  across multiple different vendors or grantees.
• Proven project-management skills, including ability to handle several projects at different stages simultaneously and a strong capacity to prioritize across multiple deadlines.
• Strong writing, editing and proofreading skills.
• Proficiency in English. Working knowledge of another relevant language preferred.
• Self-starter with the ability to effectively navigate independent work and teamwork approaches.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including adept customer service skills with the ability to develop and manage productive relationships with colleagues, consultants, and coalition partners.
• Strong organizational skills, including attention to details. 
• Knowledge and demonstrated proficiency in use of software (Windows, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and proven ability to learn or use technology for reports, meetings, and grants management (Google Suite, Zoom, Fluxx, Monday.com, Trello).
• Willingness to travel 2-3 times a year, and take meetings outside of standard business hours when required to work across timezones.