Emergent Risk Solutions provides competitive benefits and training, and promotes diversity and inclusion. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Duties and Responsibilities
A Junior Grants Specialist supports internal team members and assigned customers including federal, state and local governments who will ultimately be grant recipients. The Specialist will support Grants Specialists in the research of grant and financial requirements and facilitation of translated customer desires and requirements into grants. The Junior Specialist will then use the team’s knowledge of grant management rules and regulations, financial budget management, technical expertise, soft skills and analytical skills to effectively support the management and closeout of the awarded grants.

This position may require working in a fully remote, fully on-site or a hybrid setting. All settings potentially require on-site customer meetings. A remote setting requires working from home and primarily using video-based communication and, secondarily, electronic mail and messaging platforms to coordinate with project stakeholders. An in-person setting requires working on-site at a customer or company location. A hybrid setting requires a combination of remote and on-site.

General

• Serves as a support member of the team and liaison to grant stakeholders and ERS team members.
• May interface directly with client representatives from time to time, but typically in a support role only to internal resources.
• Applies general knowledge of federal, state, and local government statutes, rules, and regulations.
• Handles and prioritizes multiple tasks to set and meet internal and external deadlines.
• Communicates daily with internal team members. Occasionally communicates with federal, state and local grant funding stakeholders.
• Prepares, collects, and files documents into designated systems, and maintains complete and accurate files in designated systems.
• Develops and fosters relationships with internal team members. Communicates professionally with other external stakeholders.
• Provides professional, appropriate and professional responses to inquiries.
• Provides status updates and reports using pre-determined formats and designated data systems.
• Supports maintenance of best practice list, lesson learned log and an issues log; and utilizes these to continuously improve project team execution.
• May support creation of training material for internal and external customers, support training courses, or assist in developing business requirements for systems to track project data, expenditures and other processes applicable to the project.
• Supports team coordination of a broad range of activities, reports, projects and other duties as assigned to support the project for internal or external stakeholders.
• Works with internal personnel to relay and review understanding of the grant programs to ensure website, social media and marketing materials support appropriate messaging.
• May be asked to occasionally attend public events to represent Emergent Risk Solutions or on behalf of the grant recipient organization.
• Makes recommendations for process and procedure improvements and works collaboratively to implement changes.
• May support other ERS team members in offering training or support to internal or external stakeholders.
• Raises concerns involving grant budgets, administration, compliance and other issues.
• Organizes and attends project coordination meetings at appropriate frequencies.

Grant Opportunity Research and Objectives

• Studies and learns the unique history, structure, objectives, programs and financial needs of each customer.
• Participates in customer kickoff meetings to discuss goals and request information regarding those projects.
• Works with customers to locate appropriate and available grant funding opportunities that advance their objectives.
• Attends appropriate online and in-person training to maintain a working knowledge of applicable grant procedures and applicable laws, regulations, and policies affecting grant administration and compliance, sharing knowledge with stakeholders.
• Tracks and monitors deadlines for grant opportunities, ensuring stakeholder visibility.
• Ensures stakeholder understanding of conditions applicable to grants, including application and performance deadlines, cost shares, and administrative fees, among others.
• Provides guidance to stakeholders regarding compliance requirements and activities related to federal, state and local grant administration, including compliance with internal policies and procedures, CFR, OMB and other government rules and regulations, and customer organization requirements.
• Supports project manager with programmatic oversight, training and technical assistance to ensure compliance with program guidelines, rules and regulations, financial reporting, and procurement requirements.
• May support establishment, review and maintenance of cooperative working agreements with other governmental and non-governmental organizations with the goal of achieving more coordinated and joint grant applications and administration.
• May develop or assist internal stakeholders with development of strategic plans and annual reports by working with external stakeholders and other pertinent personnel.
• Ensures confidentiality of documents and data to ensure access is only provided to authorized stakeholders with a demonstrated need to know.

Pre-Award Grant Application

• Responsible for supporting the ERS team in formulation of a compelling, competitive and compliant grant application on behalf of the customer, inclusive of all supporting artifacts.
• Supports team to ensure requirements matrix in drafted documents to ensure requirements are met.
• Understands themes and primary elements of proposed infrastructure projects and articulates them concisely.
• Helps team to ensure that all customer requirements and goals for the specific grant are logged and reviewed, incorporating as much as possible into the grant application and administration.
• Works with internal technical team to draft, review and edit grant applications and reports prior to external customer release.
• Responsible for coordination, requests for support and collaboration with internal resources such as subject matter experts in grants and planning, cost analysts, engineers and contractors to develop competitive grant applications.
• Spends dedicated time independently researching and drafting sections of project grant applications to support grant applications.
• Coordinates draft grant application review process.
• Uses industry standard word processing applications to layout and produce draft grant applications, requesting and receiving support from Graphic Design team as available.

Post-Award Grant Management and Administration

• Supports maintenance of a comprehensive list of grant requirements.
• Supports performance of a compliance review of all expenditures for adherence to requirements.
• Supports ERS team to obtain approval and implementation of easy-to-understand, written grant-specific processes and procedures to ensure compliance and success of the grant.
• Collaborates with primarily internal stakeholders to ensure compliance with grant program requirements.
• Works closely with stakeholders to understand and analyze expenditures to ensure costs are allowable and reasonable, and meet grant objectives.
• Supports continuous progress of each grant, taking appropriate action when issues, delays or cost overruns are identified.
• Reviews scope of work and other contract and grant requirements prior to execution, to ensure compliance.
• Performs data entry in designated systems and tools.
• Supports preparation of budget amendments as required or requested.
• Supports preparation of administrative claim documentation to support any force personnel charges.
• Supports maintenance and development of quarterly and annual performance measure reports.
• Supports preparation and maintenance of sub-award agreements, including execution, monitoring, invoice approvals and closeout.
• Works with stakeholders to provide support in negotiating contractual terms and conditions to ensure grant program compliance.
• Ensures required subrecipient agreements and extensions are in place as required.

Grant Closeout

• Supports team compilation of all final paperwork upon project completion to close the grant, providing all stakeholders with access to the closed grant files.
• Supports team management of timely and successful closeout of grants and provides reports for internal and external compliance requirements.

Experience and Education

• Required:
  • Associate’s degree from an accredited institution
  • Minimum of 2 years of professional administrative business experience required, including public speaking, word processing and technical writing.
  • Minimum of 2 years of administrative experience researching the availability of grants, analyzing grant requirements, writing and managing grants; OR 2 years of professional administrative experience working in a similar highly regulated financial, administrative or technical role with similar duties and responsibilities.
  • Demonstrated experience performing independently and as part of a team to research, analyze and solve complex problems.
  • Demonstrated experience performing effectively under deadlines, with frequent interruptions, and changing and competing priorities.

• Preferred:
  • Bachelor’s or Graduate degree from an accredited institution
  • Project Management Institute or National Grant Management Association certification
  • Proficiency in technical writing. Please be prepared to share ad hoc writing to demonstrate proficiency.
  • Experience at federal, state or local government organizations, or large non-profit organizations, or as a consultant to these types of organizations.
  • Experience supports teams who have applied for and obtained large grants, along with demonstrated grant administration experience.
  • Demonstrated experience with various electronic grant management systems and tools.
  • Knowledge of grant writing and grant management for federal, state, local or other grant programs.

This job description is not an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements, but a general description of the position. Nothing contained herein restricts the company’s rights to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this position at any time.