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Ascension is seeking an experienced Federal Grants Management Specialist to serve as a Program Specialist supporting a diverse portfolio of discretionary and demonstration grant programs administered by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Community Services.

This position is intended for an experienced Federal grants professional who understands that effective grant administration extends beyond processing documents. The successful candidate will help Federal program officials maintain visibility into grant recipient performance, identify emerging compliance or implementation risks, resolve reporting and program-administration issues, improve the quality of recipient data, and help ensure Federal resources are being administered consistently with program requirements and intended outcomes.

The ideal candidate brings substantial experience supporting the Federal grants lifecycle, particularly post-award administration, grant recipient monitoring, portfolio management, performance reporting, compliance review, risk identification, and recipient technical assistance.

This individual should be comfortable simultaneously managing a large portfolio of grant projects, working with Federal program staff and grant recipients, interpreting complex program requirements, reviewing performance information, tracking deadlines and corrective actions, and communicating clearly with stakeholders who may have varying levels of grants-management expertise.

Because this role may be proposed as Key Personnel, Ascension is particularly interested in candidates whose resumes demonstrate substantive and recent Federal grant experience rather than general project-management experience alone.

Position Summary

The Federal Grants Management Specialist will provide day-to-day program administration, oversight, monitoring, analytical, and technical assistance support for a portfolio of potentially up to 40 grant projects.

The Specialist will support DCDDP in maintaining an accurate and timely understanding of recipient performance, compliance, reporting status, emerging risks, technical assistance needs, and programmatic issues. The individual will review grant and performance information; assist with annual portfolio reviews; support risk-based monitoring; track recipient reporting; prepare follow-up inquiries; support grant-related correspondence; and help recipients effectively use Government-approved grants management and reporting processes and systems.

This position requires someone who is exceptionally organized and comfortable working in a deadline-driven Federal environment. The ideal candidate is self-directed, analytical, detail-oriented, service-minded, and capable of managing competing priorities with limited supervision.

The Specialist should be able to recognize potential issues before they become significant problems, determine what information is needed to understand an issue, organize relevant facts, recommend an appropriate path forward, document actions taken, and follow the matter through resolution.

The role will work closely with other Program Specialists, technical advisors, monitoring and evaluation personnel, data analysts, the Project Manager, Federal program staff, grant recipients, and Government system providers.

Primary Areas of Responsibility

The position primarily supports:

• Federal discretionary and demonstration grant administration
• Grant portfolio and caseload management
• Post-award grants administration
• Grant recipient performance monitoring
• Compliance monitoring
• Performance Progress Report review
• Portfolio risk assessment and prioritization
• High-risk recipient identification and follow-up
• Recipient technical assistance
• Reporting compliance and data quality
• GrantSolutions and OLDC coordination
• Grants administration correspondence
• Standard operating procedures and administrative guides
• Program data validation and reporting
• Process improvement
• Government grants-system user support
• Change-management and stakeholder coordination

Day-to-Day and Recurring Responsibilities

The Federal Grants Management Specialist will:

• MANAGE an assigned portfolio of potentially up to 40 Federal grant projects and maintain current knowledge of each recipient’s program status, performance, reporting obligations, risks, and outstanding actions.
• MONITOR grant recipient performance, compliance, milestones, deliverables, reporting requirements, and other programmatic obligations throughout the award lifecycle.
• REVIEW Performance Progress Reports, recipient submissions, supporting documentation, performance information, and other program data for completeness, consistency, accuracy, and potential compliance or performance concerns.
• IDENTIFY grant projects demonstrating potential performance, compliance, reporting, financial, implementation, or operational risks and elevate significant concerns through established project-management channels.
• SUPPORT annual grant portfolio reviews by compiling, organizing, analyzing, and synthesizing recipient performance and compliance information.
• ASSIST with risk-based prioritization of recipients for additional monitoring, technical assistance, or site visits.
• PREPARE concise grant-project summaries, recipient performance highlights, issue summaries, recommendations, follow-up questions, and supporting documentation for Federal program officials.
• TRACK required recipient reports and submissions, upcoming deadlines, outstanding actions, corrective activities, technical assistance requests, and unresolved programmatic issues.
• ISSUE or support the development of reminders, delinquency notifications, recipient correspondence, and other communications necessary to maintain timely reporting and program compliance.
• PROVIDE recipient-facing technical assistance regarding Federal reporting requirements, performance documentation, grants-management processes, and Government-approved reporting tools.
• SUPPORT recipients in effectively using reporting and grants-management tools including Performance Progress Reports, GrantSolutions, OLDC, and other Government-authorized systems.
• COORDINATE with ACF/HHS staff and Government system providers when recipients or program personnel encounter reporting-system, form, workflow, data, or functionality issues.
• VALIDATE grant and program data before it is used for portfolio reviews, Government reporting, system updates, performance analyses, or management decision-making.
• ANALYZE grant performance and compliance information to identify recurring problems, trends, anomalies, emerging risks, and opportunities for technical assistance.
• SUPPORT development and implementation of standardized processes for identifying grant recipients requiring additional assistance, documenting technical assistance needs, tracking interventions, and monitoring results.
• CONDUCT or support one-on-one capacity-building and technical assistance engagements with grant recipients when requested.
• DOCUMENT recipient interactions, decisions, issues, recommendations, follow-up activities, and other actions necessary to maintain an accurate administrative record.
• DRAFT grant-administration communications supporting pre- and post-award activities, including recipient notifications, amendments, supplemental actions, non-competing continuation activities, leadership memoranda, instructions, and supporting documentation.
• CONTRIBUTE to policy, procedural, and administrative materials including standard operating procedures, internal guides, templates, job aids, process documentation, and program-management resources.
• DEVELOP or contribute to training materials, job aids, webinars, guidance documents, and other resources that improve recipient understanding of grants-management and reporting requirements.
• RECOMMEND practical improvements to grants-administration, monitoring, reporting, and Government-system workflows.
• COORDINATE with technical advisors, analysts, communications staff, program leadership, and other contractor personnel to ensure grant recipients receive consistent and coordinated support.
• PARTICIPATE in project, portfolio, recipient, monitoring, technical-assistance, and Government meetings and provide substantive grants-management input when required.
• PREPARE meeting notes, action items, issue summaries, program updates, portfolio status information, and other documentation associated with assigned grant projects.
• SUPPORT preparation of semiannual, annual, Congressional, leadership, and other program reporting by providing accurate grant portfolio information and analyses.
• ASSIST with recipient monitoring or technical-assistance site visits when directed, including pre-visit preparation, documentation review, meeting participation, issue identification, and post-visit follow-up.
• MAINTAIN Government information, recipient records, and program documentation in accordance with applicable Federal information-security, privacy, records-management, and confidentiality requirements.
• PROTECT personally identifiable, sensitive, controlled, and other Government information and comply with HHS/ACF security requirements and Rules of Behavior.
• ESCALATE significant risks, unresolved recipient issues, reporting deficiencies, or emerging concerns to the Project Manager and appropriate Government stakeholders.