Director of Grants & Contracts

Food For The Hungry Inc•Phoenix, AZ

About The Position

The Director of Grants & Contracts provides global leadership and oversight for the full lifecycle of grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, subawards, and procurement operations. The Director ensures compliance with U.S. Government and other public and private donor regulations while strengthening internal systems, mitigating risk, and enhancing operational excellence. This role also leads global procurement strategy and internal controls to safeguard organizational assets and promote transparent, ethical sourcing practices. Serves as a principal advisor to the Program Delivery (PD) Team, Country Office (CO) staff, other FH stakeholders, US Global Service Center (GSC) functions, and FH leadership regarding a portfolio of awards and related rules and regulations. This role will develop and execute team goals that are fully aligned with strategic objectives. The Director also leads and develops a high-performing, multicultural global team responsible for grants, contracts, and procurement functions, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and service excellence aligned with FH’s mission and values.

Requirements

Strong intercultural communication skills, able to acclimate the various national environments in which FH operates.
Advanced knowledge of U.S. Government regulations (2 CFR 200) and other major donor frameworks (EU, UN, Global Fund, foundations).
Strong understanding of procurement regulations, internal controls, and risk management practices.
Ability to interpret complex regulatory frameworks and provide strategic guidance.
Excellent leadership, negotiation, and cross-cultural communication skills.
High integrity and strong professional ethics.
Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop high-performing, multicultural teams in a global, matrixed environment.
Strong performance management, talent development, and succession planning capabilities.
Skilled at fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and solutions-oriented team culture.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office.
Ability to travel up to 20% per year in the US and internationally, including insecure locations.
High integrity and a strong sense of professional ethics.
Minimum of 10 years of experience in regulatory compliance, awards, contracts and grants management within an INGO, humanitarian or similar organization.
Solid working awareness and knowledge of compliance programs, processes, and standards, including but not limited to risk management, internal controls, ethical guidelines, project auditing procedures, reporting mechanisms, data protection laws, and anti-corruption measures.
Solid knowledge of US Government regulations such as the 2 CFR 200, as well as other multinational and private donor regulations, including donors such as the European Union (EU), the UN, Global Fund, USAID, and US foundations.
Significant depth and breadth of experience managing USG-funded projects, especially in complex partnering, as well as other multinational and private awards.
Significant supervisory experience of multicultural teams managing awards, contracts and grants management within an INGO, humanitarian or similar organization.
Demonstrated experience leading and developing diverse, geographically dispersed teams in a global organization.
Proven ability to manage managers and senior technical specialists in a complex, compliance-driven environment.
Proficiency in spoken and written English.
A bachelor’s degree in accounting, business, compliance, law, or procurement is required.

Nice To Haves

Spanish, Portuguese and/or French is a plus.
A master’s degree in business or JD is preferred.
Certification in compliance, audit, or related certifications is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead global strategy for grants, contracts, and procurement management.
Develop and implement policies, procedures, and systems to ensure regulatory compliance and operational efficiency.
Strengthen internal controls and risk mitigation frameworks across award and procurement functions.
Align departmental goals with FH’s strategic priorities.
Advise Executive Leadership on regulatory developments, compliance risk, and policy changes.
Lead, mentor, and develop a global team responsible for grants, contracts, and procurement functions, ensuring high performance and continuous professional growth.
Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations aligned with organizational strategy and compliance requirements.
Provide regular coaching, feedback, and performance evaluations to build technical expertise and leadership capacity within the team.
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and accountable team culture that promotes knowledge sharing and cross-functional partnership.
Oversee workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, and succession planning to ensure adequate capacity and capability across the function.
Strengthen team capabilities through targeted training, mentoring, and exposure to complex awards and procurement initiatives.
Lead change management efforts related to new systems, policies, and regulatory requirements affecting the team’s work.
Oversee the full lifecycle management of grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, subgrants, subcontracts, and MOUs.
Lead negotiations, modifications, and compliance reviews prior to award execution.
Ensure compliance with applicable U.S. Government regulations (including 2 CFR 200), as well as EU, UN, Global Fund, and private donor requirements.
Conduct high-level review of proposals, budgets, and award documentation to identify regulatory and contractual risk.
Oversee subrecipient pre-award risk assessments and monitoring frameworks, in coordination with COs, PD and Compliance Teams
Maintain strong donor relationships and serve as FH’s representative on compliance and regulatory matters.
Provide executive reporting and portfolio analysis on award compliance and performance trends.
Oversee agreement management roles, responsibilities, and procedures are accurately reflected in PD procedures, e.g., RACI, which includes structuring the team, reviewing and refining internal processes and standards, educating staff and partnering departments, and keeping track of compliance and performance metrics.
Lead the drafting of appropriate legal agreements for FH awards to sub-recipients and other partners.
Coordinate with FH Compliance and Legal departments to ensure FH adheres to all U.S. Government compliance and regulatory matters and as other donor regulations.
Develop and maintain effective working relationships with various funding agency personnel, including agency agreement, contract, and policy officers for regions under management in order to be as effective as possible in contract negotiations and to keep apprised of policy and regulatory changes.
Lead and coordinate the input to FH comment letters to funding agencies regarding the proposed revision and implementation of their policies and regulations, in collaboration with Compliance and the Legal Department.
Conduct thorough research into legal and regulatory issues affecting the acquisition and implementation of awards.
Provide strategic oversight of global procurement policies and systems.
Ensure procurement policies, procedures and standards are unified and enforced with efficiency across the organization and that procurement practices align with regulations and FH internal standards.
Strengthen transparency, competition, and ethical procurement processes.
Oversee procurement risk management, commodity compliance, and audit readiness.
Support capacity building of field procurement teams and promote best practices globally.
Ensure that the procurement and supply chain processes are efficient and effective to support FH’s mission.
Update one to two complex in-house donor compliance-training workbooks in coordination with DCSI.
Design and conduct compliance training workshops within Ecosystem members, both domestically and internationally.
Lead ongoing coaching, mentoring, and technical development of team members to strengthen compliance expertise, decision-making, and leadership capability across the function. Work collaboratively with team members in the Ecosystem when assigned to work as a member of a team.
Maintain awareness of corporate goals, objectives, organizational announcements, and activities via reading of the FH Hub and other corporate communications tools to disseminate to the Grants and Contracts Team. Reference and follow organizational policies and procedures, seeking clarity as needed.
Other duties as assigned.