JOB TITLE: Director of Grants

POSITION NUMBER: DR1001

HIRING SUPERVISOR: Chief of Staff      

DEPARTMENT: Sponsored Research

TYPE:  Full-Time

SUMMARY: Reporting to the Executive Director of Sponsored Research and Strategic Programs, the Director of Grants leads the development, writing, coordination, and submission of competitive grant proposals that advance the University’s research and strategic priorities. The Director works closely with faculty, grant administrators, and academic and administrative colleagues involved in funded research or research and development activities to identify opportunities, build strong proposals, coordinate institutional approvals, and support the growth of LTU’s sponsored funding portfolio. While reporting directly to the Executive Director, the Director maintains practical working relationships with faculty, grant administrators, and other colleagues supporting research and development across the University.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned as deemed necessary.

• Lead the identification, development, writing, editing, coordination, and timely submission of grant proposals to government agencies, foundations, corporations, and other sponsors.
• Partner with faculty, academic leaders, grant administrators, and other University colleagues involved in funded research or research and development to shape fundable concepts, assemble proposal teams, and align submissions with institutional priorities.
• Manage the proposal-development process, including funding research, proposal strategy, narratives, work plans, budgets, supporting materials, internal reviews, approvals, and sponsor submission requirements.
• Provide guidance, templates, training, and hands-on support that strengthen proposal quality, competitiveness, consistency, and compliance with sponsor and University requirements.
• Coordinate with sponsored research administration, Finance, Legal, Academic Affairs, Advancement, Human Resources, Information Technology, and other relevant units to address institutional commitments and ensure complete and accurate submissions.
• Develop and maintain relationships with sponsors, external partners, collaborating institutions, and consultants to expand funding opportunities and support collaborative research and development initiatives.
• Track proposal activity, outcomes, and funding trends; report results and recommendations to the Executive Director; and contribute to continuous improvement of the University’s sponsored research enterprise.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is required; a master’s degree is preferred.
• Progressively responsible experience in grant development, proposal writing, sponsored research, research administration, higher education, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated success developing and writing competitive proposals for government, foundation, corporate, or other external funding sources.
• Strong knowledge of proposal-development practices, sponsor requirements, budgets, institutional approvals, and collaborative research environments.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience in higher education, a research organization, or an applied research and development environment.
• Experience supporting interdisciplinary, multi-investigator, institutional, or partnership-based proposals.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Quality, competitiveness, timeliness, and compliance of submitted proposals.
• Growth in proposal activity, external funding submissions, and successful awards.
• Effective collaboration with faculty, grant administrators, and other University stakeholders.
• Strong proposal-development systems, sponsor relationships, data tracking, and continuous improvement.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

A bachelor’s degree in business, public administration, higher education administration, communications, finance, research administration, a research-related discipline, or a related field is required. A master’s degree is preferred.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical and programmatic concepts into clear, persuasive proposals for varied sponsor audiences.

MATHEMATICAL/COMPUTATIONAL SKILLS: Ability to work effectively with proposal budgets, data, spreadsheets, databases, sponsor portals, grants-management systems, and standard business applications.

REASONING ABILITY: Ability to evaluate funding opportunities, organize complex information, develop persuasive proposal strategies, manage competing deadlines, and resolve issues independently and collaboratively.

OTHER SKILLS, ABILITIES and QUALIFICATIONS: The Director must exercise sound judgment, maintain accuracy and confidentiality, build productive relationships across academic and administrative units, and provide responsive support to faculty, grant administrators, and project teams.