Philanthropy Operations and Grants Manager

What You'll Do

The Philanthropy Operations and Grants Manager serves as the operational foundation of the philanthropy platform, ensuring every commitment is executed with accuracy and care. This role owns the end-to-end grantmaking lifecycle, the systems and infrastructure that keep the team running, and the data and reporting that allow internal stakeholders to make informed decisions and communicate impact. They also bring a strategic perspective to shape how operations can drive greater impact, efficiency, and learning over time. This role is well suited for a detail-oriented, analytical, and process-driven professional who takes ownership of their work. They can toggle between owning day-to-day execution while serving as a strategic partner on how systems, processes, and data can strengthen our work. The successful candidate is comfortable with technology, eager to build and improve systems, and capable of translating data into insights. They will operate with a high degree of independence, exercise sound judgement, and maintain the discretion and professionalism required in a family office environment.

Key Responsibilities

Grants & Payments Management

• Own end-to-end execution of philanthropic commitments, from approval through payment and close-out, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and strong internal controls.
• Manage a grants pipeline to ensure visibility and updated tracking of all active investments, including grants, gifts, sponsorships, and amendments.
• Generate grant agreements, gift letters, sponsorship agreements, and amendments; engage proactively with internal stakeholders and grantees to finalize agreement details, including deliverables, payment schedules, and reporting requirements.
• Track payments over the course of grants to ensure partners have sufficient funds to complete grant deliverables.
• Serve as a point of contact for grantees on operational and administrative matters.
• Lead periodic reviews of the grantmaking lifecycle to identify areas of improvement, balancing compliance and risk-management with effort required by staff & grantees.

Systems Administration and Technology

• Serve as the primary administrator of the grants management system – owning configuration, data integrity, user access, and ongoing improvement.
• Play an active role in the evaluation and selection of the grants management platform, bringing a perspective on operational requirements and user experience.
• Proactively solicit feedback from internal and external users to ensure the system continues to meet evolving needs; manage relationships with external vendors to support updates and enhancement; research and recommend new tools that could improve workflow, visibility, and/or learning.
• Develop internal documentation, training, and onboarding for philanthropy staff.
• Provide troubleshooting and guidance for staff navigating the platform.
• Bring curiosity around technology and have a willingness to learn new systems quickly.

Data Analysis and Reporting

• Partner with program staff to scope reporting that is insightful and actionable.
• Define, extract, and analyze grants data to assess portfolio performance, surface trends, and support decision makers in making informed decisions.
• Produce clear, accurate, and well-organized reporting for internal reviews and family-facing communications, including written summaries,
• Use portfolio data to draw insights and make recommendations that can strengthen decision making and grantmaking practices over time.

Compliance, Risk, and Documentation

• Develop and maintain operational policies and procedures.
• Review grant and contract records prior to payment to ensure legal, tax, and programmatic requirements are met.
• Coordinate with counsel and advisors as needed on agreement or compliance questions.
• Maintain organized records to support tax filings and internal governance.
• Identify and proactively surface operational risks, documentation gaps, and process vulnerabilities.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serving as a thought partner to senior leadership on operational strategy including how to scale, streamline, or evolve grantmaking operations as the platform grows.
• Collaborate with other family office functions (e.g., accounting/finance, legal) on operational and compliance matters.
• Support due diligence processes by gathering, organizing, and summarizing information in support of recommendations and decision making.

Who You'll Work With

You will report to: Director of Philanthropy

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 7+ years of experience in grants management, philanthropy operations, program administration, or a closely related operational field.
• Strong systems orientation: demonstrated experience at building, administering, and improving operational platforms and processes.
• Fluent with technology and able to learn new tools quickly. Experience with grants management systems or CRM platforms required.
• Exceptional attention to detail and comfort with both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Project management skills and able to prioritize and effectively track and manage multiple workstreams and follow through on projects to completion.
• Sound judgment, discretion and integrity.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills; able to work effectively with grantees, vendors, and internal stakeholders.
• Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to bring structure to open-ended situations.
• Prior experience in a family office, private foundation, or private philanthropy setting is a plus.

Compensation

Salary will be competitive and commensurate with experience.

Our client is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or veteran status.