Grants Specialist I

Harris County Sheriff's Office•Houston, TX

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Grants Specialist I performs entry-level professional grant administration for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, working under the general guidance of the Grants Manager and senior Grants Specialists. The position's primary purpose is to provide professional support by administering lower-complexity grants or defined components of larger grant awards and is accountable for the accuracy, timeliness, and compliance of that work. The position also performs administrative functions that support grant operations, document preparation, purchase and payment tracking, records maintenance, and data entry. The Grants Specialist I exercises professional judgment in organizing assigned work, monitoring deadlines, reviewing documentation, identifying discrepancies, and escalating compliance or financial concerns when appropriate, and may independently administer lower-complexity grant awards after demonstrating sufficient knowledge of applicable requirements and procedures.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Public Administration, Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Criminal Justice, Political Science, Public Policy, or a closely related field; OR four (4) years of relevant experience in grants administration, budgeting, finance, accounting, contracts, or program administration in lieu of a bachelor's degree.
A minimum of one (1) year of experience in an office environment, preferably in budgeting, finance, accounting, contracts, or program administration.
Qualifying experience must involve grants, budgeting, finance, accounting, contracts, purchasing, or program administration; general administrative or clerical experience without that content does not meet this requirement.
Working knowledge of, or demonstrated ability to quickly learn, basic principles of grant administration, governmental accounting, budgeting, and purchasing.
Ability to interpret and follow grant guidelines, award conditions, policies, and administrative requirements.
Ability to organize multiple assignments, deadlines, and deliverables, and to review documents and data for completeness, accuracy, and consistency.
Ability to work independently within established guidelines while seeking appropriate direction on complex matters.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Effective written and verbal communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in a governmental, public-safety, nonprofit, or grant-funded environment.
Experience with grant administration, budgeting, accounting, purchasing, contracts, financial tracking, or program administration.
Experience preparing reports, tracking expenditures, maintaining compliance documentation, or coordinating projects with multiple stakeholders.
Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Excel.
Knowledge of federal, state, or local grant requirements (e.g., 2 CFR Part 200).

Responsibilities

Administers assigned lower-complexity grants, grant-funded projects, or defined components of larger grant awards under the guidance of senior grants personnel.
Monitors assigned grant requirements, award conditions, deadlines, performance measures, reporting schedules, expenditures, and required deliverables.
Maintains grant files and supporting documentation to ensure records are complete, accurate, organized, and available for monitoring, audit, reporting, and closeout purposes.
Assists with the preparation and submission of grant applications, renewals, continuation requests, amendments, extensions, budget modifications, and closeout documentation.
Reviews grant-related expenditures and supporting documentation for consistency with approved grant budgets, funding requirements, and established procedures, and refers discrepancies or potential compliance issues to senior staff.
Tracks grant expenditures, purchase orders, invoices, payment requests, reimbursements, and other financial transactions associated with assigned grants.
Coordinates with HCSO divisions, Finance, Purchasing, Budget, Human Resources, and other internal stakeholders to obtain information and documentation necessary for grant administration and reporting.
Communicates with grant-funded program personnel to obtain required performance information, expenditure documentation, statistical data, and supporting materials.
Assists with preparation of financial, programmatic, performance, and other grant reports required by funding agencies or County administration.
Develops and maintains spreadsheets, trackers, or dashboards used to monitor grant deadlines, expenditures, equipment, deliverables, and reporting requirements for assigned grants.
Monitors grant-funded equipment and inventory documentation and assists with maintaining records necessary to comply with applicable grant and County asset-management requirements.
Conducts basic research on grant requirements, funding opportunities, applicable regulations, and funding-agency guidance, and assists senior staff with reviewing funding opportunities.
Prepares correspondence, reports, summaries, and other materials related to grant administration, and coordinates routing of grant documents for internal review, approval, and submission.
Assists with responses to requests for documentation during financial reviews, grant monitoring visits, audits, and other compliance reviews.
Identifies missing documentation, approaching deadlines, expenditure concerns, or other issues involving assigned grant activities and promptly communicates those matters to appropriate grants personnel.
Performs other grant-administration and program-support duties as assigned.