Director, Grants Management - Institute Faith, Leadership, and Service Azusa, CA

APU seeks employees who desire to contribute to our thriving culture by cultivating community through professional interactions, demonstrating a posture of lifelong learning, and modeling Christ-like character. Working together, employees at APU commit to establishing a university atmosphere that is edifying to God and one another.

This position is fully grant-funded under APU’s Cornerstones Project. Through the Cornerstones Project, APU will empower a new generation of young leaders to live out their faith in service to others, inspired by a theological framework that integrates spirituality, reflection, and action. Young adults will engage in meaningful service opportunities that will help them discover their potential and envision the impact they can have as they grow spiritually.

The Cornerstones Project recently launched APU’s Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service, which unites students, faculty, and staff to explore the deeper theological dimensions of serving others and enhancing the university’s ability to provide training in theological reflection and Christian leadership. The Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service will establish APU as a center of collaboration to support innovative service initiatives among the university and external partners, including churches, Christian K-12 schools, and parachurch organizations.

This initiative will serve hundreds of APU students with a further reach of thousands of middle school, high school, and college students, with APU serving as a hub over the five-year grant period, fostering a deeper connection between academic learning and spiritual formation.

The Director, Grants Management, works full-time (40 hours/week) and is responsible for pre‑award and post‑award monitoring to ensure proper stewardship of external funds received by the university from private and public funding sources for sponsored research and academic initiatives. This position supports grants received by the Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service and the Center for Vocational Ministry. This position directly reports to the Executive Director of the Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service.

• Master's degree or equivalent experience.

• Seven to ten years of professional experience in a related field.
• Proven ability to manage private and/or foundation grants, preferably within academic or faith‑based institutions.
• Demonstrated experience in grants administration, including compliance monitoring, reporting, and post‑award financial management.
• Record of extensive experience in grant budgeting, fund allocation, and expenditure tracking in alignment with donor requirements.
• Experience in developing and modifying budgets, and preparing both programmatic and fiscal reports.
• Knowledge of grant regulations, policies, and procedures related to financial management, recordkeeping, purchasing, and other post‑award activities.
• Strong project management skills with experience overseeing multiple grants or programs simultaneously.
• Experience working with Christian organizations such as churches, Christian schools, or faith‑based nonprofits.

Pre‑Award:

• Encourage and support institute personnel in the pursuit of external funding.
• Collaborate on the development of strong grant proposals.
• Review sponsor guidelines and requirements; review requests for proposals (RFPs); and analyze proposals to ensure they are competitive.
• Oversee subrecipient pre‑award process for the Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service and the Center for Vocational Ministry.
• Identify new opportunities and assist in the preparation of applications for external grant support; provide institute PIs with information on agency guidelines, government regulations, and application procedures; assist in the preparation of budgets with external grant applications. Prepare proposals and budgets for internal routing.
• Collaborate with the Office of Research and Grants to prepare proposals and budgets for internal routing. Also collaborate with various departments on campus on pre‑award discussions requiring institutional collaboration (e.g., MOUs,…