Director of Grants Management

General Overview

Reporting to the Managing Deputy Budget Director – Grants & Capital, the Director of Grants Management oversees the planning and coordinating of grant development opportunities for County departments. Responsibilities include developing, recommending, and implementing policies and procedures related to grants management, as well as providing leadership for interdepartmental activities regarding the acquisition and administration of Federal, State and Other grant funds.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

• Works in the centralized finance office ensuring adherence to grant management workflow processes and that programmatic, fiscal, and regulatory requirements are consistently met by County grant departments.
• Develops, recommends, and implements policies and procedures related to grants management, including providing primary leadership on maintaining and updating the County’s Grants Manual.
• Develops the budget office’s annual grants project plan; and assigns and monitors the work of staff engaged in grants management activities, including grant application review and approval, grant award acceptance and set up, budgetary transfers and hiring, budget-to-actual performance, and compliance reviews.
• Oversees the development of the County’s Cost Allocation Plan and departmental indirect cost rate proposals; and assists in interpreting the methodology behind the development of indirect cost rates to County departments.
• Prepares periodic grants reports for public distribution, including the development and distribution of grants activity reports to the Board of Commissioners.
• Coordinates with the Managing Deputy Budget Director – Grants & Capital on the development of the County’s annual grants budget and the annual loading of departmental grant budgets.
• Serves as lead on the research and identification of eligible grants for Countywide operations, and spearheads the coordination with applicable departments on the submission of such applications for consideration.
• Analyzes and interprets guidelines and funding requirements for Countywide grants for departmental staff and County departments.
• Performs highly complex analysis, evaluation, and review of grant revenues and expenditures of Cook County funds.
• Provides technical assistance to County departments in application procedures, post-award approvals, and use of grants management database.
• Assists Managing Deputy Budget Director – Grants & Capital to develop and implement training for County grants staff on grant best practices.
• Acts as a liaison to federal and state granting offices on behalf of the County.
• Coordinates delivery of documentation to the Comptroller’s Office and serve as a point of contact to auditors for the County’s annual single audit.
• Other duties as periodically assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Thorough knowledge of the structure of Cook County Government including organization, administration, policies and functions of the various departments, boards, commissioners, and committees.
• Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of program performance budgeting, governmental accounting, general public administration, with special emphasis on grant administration and reporting requirements.
• Thorough knowledge of applicable federal, state, and local rules, regulations and guidelines related to grants administration.
• Considerable knowledge of grant writing and application process.
• Knowledge of grants management software.
• Ability to analyze financial and other statistical data.
• Ability to determine compliance with federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations, as well as departmental grant policies.
• Ability to make sound judgments and effectively communicate with others in written and oral form.
• Ability to evaluate and prioritize multiple assignments in an efficient and timely manner.
• Ability to work in a highly confidential environment.
• Ability to use of Microsoft Office software, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Skilled in public presentation and presentation development using Microsoft PowerPoint and/or other presentation software.
• Skilled in the management of other professionals engaged in computer-based financial and budgetary analysis.

Minimum Qualifications

• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor’s degree PLUS a minimum of three (3) years’ experience in the administration, analysis, and review of budgetary, revenue, grant or other finance-related resources, PLUS one (1) year of prior supervisory, managerial or project management experience, OR an equivalent combination of professional work experience, training, and education.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Public Policy, Political Science, Finance or Economics.
• Five (5) years grant development experience, including hands-on corporate and/or foundation grant writing responsibility. Must be able to demonstrate pattern of successful grant proposals.
• Three (3) years’ prior experience in grant administration policies and procedures.
• Three (3) years of prior supervisory, managerial or project management work experience.

Physical Requirements

Sedentary Work involves exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally or a negligible amount of force frequently to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time.

The duties listed are not set forth for purposes of limiting the assignment of work. They are not to be construed as a complete list of the many duties normally to be performed under a job title or those to be performed temporarily outside an employee’s normal line of work.

How do you apply?

All applications are being accepted electronically. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please do not mail in application materials.

Please email a cover letter and resume to ShakmanExemptApplications@cookcountyil.gov.