Director, Grants and Proposal Development

· Drives growth in the sponsor sector by targeting large-scale programs at the provincial, federal and international levels (e.g., NSERC CREATEs, SSHRC Partnership Grants, NFRF-Transformation Grants, Horizon Europe and various prestigious research awards), to demonstrate growing institutional strength and impact in a given area, with an overall goal of fostering a supportive environment for successful applications and strategic direction.

· Cultivates and strengthens long-term relationships with key funding agencies, foundations, and not-for-profit sponsors to enhance institutional visibility, trust, and collaboration opportunities.

· Provides strategic and administrative support to the principal Canadian funding programs for investigator-initiated research, such as NSERC Discovery Grants, SSHRC Insight Grants, and CIHR Program grants, among others.

· Offers editorial support, budget planning, and strategic advice to enhance the competitiveness of research proposals.

· Oversees the non-financial administration of awarded funds, ensuring that proposal budgets are accurately planned and funds are appropriately allocated.

· Ensures all progress reports meet the precise requirements set by funding agencies.

· Oversees and refines internal workflows and systems to meet faculty, university, and sponsor requirements across pre- and non-financial post-award management phases.

· Oversees the development and ongoing revision of Standard Operating Procedures relating to the portfolio, ensuring efficiency, consistency, and compliance with university policies and sponsor regulations, as needed.

· Responds to sponsor-driven changes or new requirements by collaborating with cross-campus teams, such as the Secretariat, Advancement, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, Provost Office, and Faculty-based Research Offices, to implement new institutional policies and practices.

· Provides outreach, training, and communication to faculty and staff regarding new sponsor policies and institutional procedures.

· Provides regular training sessions to streamline operations for optimal performance and continuous growth of staff within the team.

· Conducts proactive outreach to faculty and external parties, through workshops, training sessions, and targeted communications, to promote research funding and increase awareness of sponsor programs.

· Participates in various internal and external committees, boards, and advisory groups, such as the Research Operation Council, Research centres/institute advisory committees, VPRI Directors’ Working group, U15 Research directors’ group, Tri-Agency External Change Agent Network.

· Builds and maintains relationships with researchers, senior administrators, external research administrative colleagues and sponsor personnel, enabling collaboration in such activities as the development of best practices, creating tools to enhance grant quality and sponsor compliance, and shaping research policy.

· Provides strategic and operational support to the Associate Vice President, Grants and Infrastructure and Vice-President, University Research & International in achieving the research goals and objectives of the university's strategic plan.

· Monitors and analyzes the university’s research funding performance relative to other U15 and comprehensive universities.

· Provides data, analysis, and insight on funding trends to inform institutional strategy and reporting.

· Acts as the bridge between the institution and granting agencies, in collaboration with the Director, Research Agreements and Contracts.

· Supports development of project-specific budgets and anticipates financial needs in collaboration with the Associate Vice-President, Research Grants and Infrastructure.

· Ensures that assignment and coordination of tasks within the GPD team is balanced and maximizes available expertise, via cross-training, to support faculty applications and grants and awards management.

· Mediates and resolves issues when conflict escalates between parties, within and external to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.

· Explores strategies for managing the transformation of research processes, including staff training in new technologies and the adoption of agile administrative practices.

· Manages strategic grant-writing support and development, eligibility advice and compliance, coordination of electronic submissions, budgeting, and sponsor-specific expertise.

· Leverages extensive knowledge of sponsor protocols, university policies, financial management, human resources, indirect cost recovery, legal provisions (e.g., liability, payment terms, licensing, IP, student participation, cybersecurity protocols), procurement, and exchange rates, to minimize risk exposure and ensures compliance obligations are met.

· Ensures compliance with research regulations and manages active grants—key portfolio-level tasks for pre- and post-award research administrators.

· Engages agencies and not-for-profit sponsors through liaison activities and supports faculty via outreach events to provide guidance and facilitate effective grant administration.

· Master’s degree in a relevant field preferred. Consideration may be given to candidates with a Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 7–10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in research administration within a research-intensive environment.

· Minimum of 10 years of experience in pre-award and post-award research administration, grant proposal review, and funding agency relations, with a strong understanding of Tri-Agency (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR) and Institutional grant programs and policies, as well as foundation, NGO, public sector and international funding mechanisms.

· Demonstrated leadership experience developing and coaching high-performing teams, and fostering professional growth.