Senior Grant Administrator

Broad Institute•Cambridge, MA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Grant Administrator is a strategic role in the Office of Sponsored Research and serves as an area resource and expert partner for Broad faculty and investigators. The role manages a complex funding portfolio with significant autonomy, applies expert judgment to solve complex problems, and adapts existing approaches to the global funding landscape. It engages with internal and external stakeholders, including Principal Investigators, lab leadership, administrative offices, sponsors, and collaborating institutions, to guide proposal development, communicate complex concepts, and safeguard institutional resources while supporting scientific research. The position leads proposal development and contract review, develops complex budgets and justifications, and oversees sponsored awards throughout their lifecycle. It provides advanced financial analysis, forecasting, reconciliation, and compliance oversight, and supports PIs and lab teams through funding decisions, reporting, and closeout. The Senior Grant Administrator also serves as a resource and mentor for developing employees and peers. The position is hybrid, with two days per week onsite, and involves frequent communication through video conferencing, email, and in-person collaboration. Work takes place in a standard office environment and includes computer use and data analysis, with occasional light lifting. The Broad Institute will not offer visa sponsorship for this opportunity.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a related professional discipline and at least 5 years of related experience, or an associate's degree and at least 7 years of related experience.
Experience in grant administration across federal and non-federal grant lifecycles, including NIH, NSF, and DOD grants.
Demonstrated proficiency in financial analysis, budgeting, and forecasting in complex environments.
Experience with Excel, G-Suite, and grants management software such as ASSIST, Grants.gov, or S2S systems.
Ability to take ownership of complex work with minimal instruction and use judgment to adapt approaches under moderate supervision.
Ability to communicate moderately complex concepts to varied stakeholders and direct subsequent action.
Ability to solve moderately complex problems using knowledge and judgment.
Subject matter fluency in sponsored research concepts and principles across complex environments, and a deep understanding of organizational mission, standards, and processes.
Discretion when handling privileged financial and personnel data, and sound judgment and integrity in financial stewardship and compliance.

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior liaison for complex sponsor requests and manage high-level relationships with PIs, lab members, and administrative offices, providing sophisticated financial research support.
Engage with sponsors and collaborating institutions as a senior representative, facilitate complex agreement reviews, and drive subaward execution with minimal leadership guidance.
Improve cross-functional alignment in the Office of Sponsored Research and implement process improvements to meet regulatory and institutional compliance standards.
Direct regular financial check-ins with PIs, including agenda development, formal documentation, and actionable insights into funding health and compliance.
Facilitate end-to-end proposal development for moderately complex projects, interpreting sponsor requirements and guiding proposals through submission.
Lead contract reviews, interpret sponsor guidelines and award terms, determine appropriate action, and occasionally escalate matters for negotiation.
Extract and summarize relevant award-documentation data for the award setup team.
Develop complex budgets and justifications, ensuring administrative documents and subrecipient packages are competitive and aligned with Broad's strategic objectives.
Manage internal systems of record to maintain data integrity and drive Just-in-Time submissions with limited oversight.
Lead advanced reconciliation and financial forecasting, identify potential funding cliffs with PIs and lab delegates, and recommend strategic reallocations.
Manage the award lifecycle, including award setup, subaward creation and monitoring, procurement, travel, specialized service facility approvals, and account closeout.
Independently review work at critical points to ensure deliverables are met.
Prepare and compile sponsor progress and financial reports in collaboration with the Closeouts team.
Oversee personnel effort and salary allocations, budget creation, and approvals for hiring requisitions, SSF quotes, travel reports, equipment purchases, and affiliate billing agreement invoices.
Maintain adherence to sponsor mandates and the bi-annual certification process.
Determine whether expenses are allowable, allocable, and reasonable under specific grant terms.
Maintain documentation for PI and institutional budget projections in alignment with federal guidance, including Biosketch and Other Support forms.
Monitor subrecipient activity and internal cost transfers for audit readiness and policy compliance.
Lead documentation for annual institutional audits and ad hoc sponsor audits, and resolve compliance bottlenecks.
Act as a resource for developing employees and peers on the immediate team.