Grants Manager

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Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, biodiversity, and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries,
Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities to help people and nature thrive together.

This position is based in Arlington‑VA, Belgium, Cambodia, or Colombia. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) was founded in 2000 to empower civil society in developing countries and transitional economies to protect the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The Grants Manager will develop a business‑partner relationship with CEPF programs in HQ and the field, providing full‑cycle grants and contracts support and training to staff and sub‑recipients.

The role will play an integral role in ensuring that their portfolio of grants and contracts complies with the prime donor’s requirements with an emphasis on oversight of financial reporting, contractual compliance, and strengthening sub‑recipient grant management capacity. This position provides direct support to the Grants and Contracts team within the Finance Department and reports to the Senior Director, External Grants and Contracts.

• Support the full grant and contract award cycle, preparing agreements, amendments, and close‑out letters.
• Develop respectful, accountable, and open working relationships with grantees, convening meetings, calls, and site visits when necessary to address performance, compliance, or reporting needs.
• Interpret and explain CI/CEPF and donor policies to programs, colleagues and sub‑recipients.
• Conduct all due diligence prior to grant awards including financial risk assessments, security screenings, and validation of award data in systems of record.
• Review and analyze all pre‑award financial due diligence documentation to establish appropriate financial risk mitigation measures.
• Ensure donor policies are appropriately reflected in sub‑awards and grant proposals and budgets where necessary.
• Develop capacity‑building recommendations for sub‑recipients.
• Conduct pre‑award field visits, new grantee orientations, and kick‑off meetings.
• Review financial reports submitted by grantees for accuracy and allowability in accordance with CI and donor policies.
• Troubleshoot day‑to‑day compliance issues and resolve red‑flag compliance issues.
• Request disbursements on a timely basis, and ensure accuracy of disbursement information in grant systems.
• Use all available sources of information to troubleshoot reporting problems and solve financial management and contractual compliance issues.
• Manage reporting and award compliance targets; track progress and communicate expectations to internal team members.
• Develop compliance action plans and recommend tracking and communication systems for non‑compliance issues.
• Participate in continuous improvement efforts to streamline systems and processes.
• Define business requirements for grant management processes and workflows.
• Process Business World Contract Master Files and Vendor Master File approvals, ensuring data accuracy and reconciling with grant management system:
  Conservation Grants.
• Ensure timely and accurate data entry into grant systems including Business World and Conservation Grants following procedures defined by CI and, as appropriate, the program.
• Run reports from the grant system(s) to ensure compliance of active grants.
• Report software troubleshooting issues with IT for grant‑making systems, track resolution of submitted tickets, and liaise with operations and program staff to identify common problems for discussion with IT.
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor.

• Hybrid work structure: some days from the office and some remotely (guidance will be shared during the interview process).
• This role is a fixed‑term assignment.

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in a finance‑related field.
• 4 to 6 years of…