Grant Specialist

Current Employees:
If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.
Job Category:

Academic Staff

Regular

Multi-functional Research Administration Manager

The Grant Specialist serves as a strategic research development professional responsible for managing existing sponsored funding while identifying, developing, coordinating, and submitting competitive grant proposals that advance the mission of the Wisconsin Health Data Hub (WHDH). WHDH is a federally funded initiative developing a secure, cloud-native data platform that supports biomedical research, real-world data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven discovery.

This position translates WHDH's scientific, technical, and strategic priorities into competitive funding strategies and high-quality grant proposals that align with sponsor priorities and institutional objectives. Working closely with faculty, researchers, institutional leadership, and external partners, the Grant Specialist ensures the effective stewardship of current sponsored funding while securing new funding opportunities that support the continued growth of WHDH's research infrastructure, data platform, and collaborative initiatives.

The role emphasizes sponsored project management, strategic funding development, proposal leadership, cross-functional collaboration, sponsor engagement, and continuous process improvement to maximize WHDH's success in obtaining external funding from federal agencies, state agencies, foundations, industry partners, and other sponsors.

• Monitor existing grant funding to ensure adequate financial support for current and projected program activities.
• Oversee sponsor reporting requirements and coordinate the timely submission of all required programmatic and administrative reports.
• Serve as the primary liaison between WHDH, University research administration offices, and other campus stakeholders on grant administration and sponsored project activities.
• Ensure compliance with sponsor regulations and University of Wisconsin–Madison policies governing sponsored awards.
• Collaborate with project leadership to monitor grant performance, identify funding risks, and support long-term financial sustainability.

• Identify, evaluate, and communicate funding opportunities from federal, state, foundation, industry, and other sponsors that align with WHDH's strategic priorities.
• Develop funding strategies that expand WHDH's research portfolio, technical infrastructure, and collaborative initiatives.
• Partner with WHDH leadership to prioritize funding opportunities based on organizational priorities, sponsor alignment, competitiveness, and available resources.
• Maintain a comprehensive funding pipeline, proposal calendar, and submission schedule.
• Develop multi-year funding strategies that support the long-term sustainability and growth of WHDH.

• Lead the planning, coordination, writing, editing, and submission of complex, multidisciplinary grant proposals.
• Develop compelling proposal narratives and coordinate supporting documentation while ensuring compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements.
• Manage proposal timelines, milestones, internal reviews, approvals, and submission activities to ensure timely, high-quality applications.
• Coordinate closely with principal investigators, research administrators, finance, compliance, legal, and technical teams throughout the proposal development lifecycle.
• Ensure proposals align with sponsor priorities, institutional objectives, and WHDH's strategic vision.