Vice President, Grants & Contracts

Vital Strategies is a global public health organization. Our programs strengthen public health systems and address the world’s leading causes of illness, injury, and death. We currently work in more than 80 countries, supporting data-driven decision-making in government, advancing evidence-based public health policies, and mounting strategic communication campaigns. Vital Strategies’ priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. They include noncommunicable disease prevention, tobacco control, road safety, food policy, environmental health, and data for health. Our programs are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries and cities in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. Please visit our website at to find out more about our work.

Vital Strategies is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive (DEI) organization. We believe our programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences, whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.

Job Purpose:

The Vice President, Grants and Contracts (“VP, G&C”) will lead the formation of a unified Department of Grants and Contracts for Vital Strategies. This newly created role is responsible for bringing together currently disaggregated grants functions into a cohesive, standardized and highperforming unit that strengthens organizational effectiveness, compliance and risk management.

Reporting to the Chief Financial and Administration Officer (CFAO), this position provides leadership, oversight, and operational management of the organization’s entire portfolio of grants and contracts which is currently funded predominantly by non-governmental sources. This role ensures robust compliance with donor regulations, effective sub-award and sub-contract management, efficient procurement processes and strong systems and practices to assess, mitigate, and manage award-related risk across the organization.

The VP, G&C will work closely with programs, finance, operations, partnerships and development, and legal teams to ensure the complete and accurate recording, monitoring, analysis, and reporting of award activity for the organization. The VP, G&C will design, centralize, and continuously strengthen grants and contracts functions, including policies, procedures, systems, training, and implementation frameworks to support compliant and efficient award management, while overseeing sub-awards, sub-contracting and procurement-related activities and building staff capacity through clear guidance and technical resources.

The VP, G&C will supervise a team of grants and contracts staff situated in offices across the globe. This position will coordinate with the Senior Vice President of Finance on the negotiation and communication of rates, including federal indirect cost rates and other direct and allocated rates, as well as on external audits, including potential 2 CFR 200 Single Audits of funded awards.

Overall, this role serves as a key organizational leader responsible for strengthening governance, standardization, and accountability in grants and contracts management while enabling programmatic teams to effectively implement donor-funded work worldwide.

This is a full-time position with our U.S. office headquartered in New York City. We welcome candidates from across the United States with preference in the NY metro and DC metro areas. Employees based in the New York tri-state area follow a hybrid, 2-day-per-week office schedule. Candidates located outside the region will be expected to travel regularly to the New York headquarters—particularly during onboarding and the initial months in the role, potentially on a weekly basis. The annual salary range for this position is $190,000 - $215,000 USD. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Lead the global award management function including oversight of the department’s staffing, policies, procedures, tools, templates, and systems, across the functional areas of award compliance, award financial management (pricing, billing, financial reporting, audit), sub-granting, sub-contracting, and procurement.
• In coordination with the CFAO and the Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Development, play a key role in the proposal development process, including analysis of funder requirements, identification of risk to program development teams and leadership, development of cost proposals and related pricing strategies, and negotiation of funded awards.
• On an ongoing basis, evaluate, refine and strengthen Vital’s global policies and procedures for administering sub-grants and sub-contracts throughout the life cycle of the award, including due diligence, programmatic and financial monitoring, close-outs, and sub-award performance evaluation.
• Maintain a comprehensive understanding of the specific regulations related to restrictive donors, including private, bilateral and multi-lateral donors, and ensure procedures, templates, and sub-award agreements are consistent with those requirements.
• Lead a team of grants administrators to effectively administer grants including pre-award management, reviewing or producing relevant reports, monitoring, and post-award management.
• Analyze contractual terms and conditions to ensure compliance with appropriate laws, regulations, and organization policies and procedures. In coordination with Legal and programs, negotiate the terms of awards (grants, cooperative agreements, contracts) for Vital with private funders as well as governments (U.S. federal, state, multi-lateral, bilateral donors).
• Lead the development of COSO-compliant internal controls for Vital’s funded awards, inclusive of risk assessment, control activities, training and communications, and monitoring.
• Advise and provide training to implementation teams on best practices, compliance, and risk mitigation and management strategies and tools.
• Standardize, document, and operationalize grant management procedures across the organization. Ensure staff are trained and informed when updates are made.
• Promote industry best practices, a service delivery mindset, and a team approach. Lead grants and contracts staff in liaising with project teams globally to ensure required funder compliance, concurrences and approvals.

Qualifications:

Education & Degree -

• A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business, or other relevant field (an advanced degree or Contracts and Grants Certification is highly desirable)

Skills & Abilities -

• Demonstrated expertise in grants and contracts management, specifically in the global health and development sector.
• Deep familiarity with financial awards management, sub-granting and procurement under U.S. and international contract, grants or other applicable laws, including expert-level knowledge of FAR, AIDAR, 2 CFR 200 and other funder rules and regulations.
• Ability to design, implement and direct projects, set deadlines and ensure program accountability.
• Cultivate the creative ideas of others, projecting potential outcomes. Experiment to find creative solutions.
• Make strategic decisions based on analysis, experience and judgment.
• Demonstrated accountability for meeting departmental strategic goals and objectives.
• Professional and effective oral and written communication skills; good interpersonal skills with the ability to work and communicate with diverse individuals.
• Strong organizational skills, including the ability to prioritize, manage time effectively, and follow through with attention to detail.
• Deep knowledge of financial and customer relationship management systems (e.g., NetSuite, Salesforce) and business intelligence tools (PowerBI, Tableau, monday.com).
• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint).
• Ability to work effectively with others from a variety of disciplines, cultures and backgrounds.

Experience:

• Fifteen (15) years of grants and contracts management experience, preferably in the global health and development sector.
• Senior leader experience at a minimum of two NGOs of similar size and scope as Vital Strategies, introducing best practices and building a cohesive department.
• Minimum five years of experience managing a global team including hiring, supervising and developing staff.
• Familiarity with ERPs; experience with Oracle/NetSuite a plus.
• Experience working in a sponsored domestic and international assistance and acquisition environment, primarily with foundations, multi-laterals, and non-U.S. government funding, as well as U.S. government funding.
• Experience designing or curating curriculum and delivering trainings for adult learners.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:

• Travel is anticipated for this role at approximately 10% - 15%.