Grants Support Officer

The University of New Mexico-Los Alamos (UNM-LA) Grants Support Officer (GSO) works as a member of the UNM-LA Academic Affairs Office to provide comprehensive pre-award support for externally funded grants and contracts that advance the institution’s academic, workforce, community, and operational priorities. Reporting to the Dean of Instruction, the Grants Support Officer collaborates closely with faculty, staff, administrators, campus leadership, and external partners across a diverse range of programs and initiatives.

The position supports the identification of funding opportunities, development of competitive proposals, and coordination of the planning, organization, and submission of grant applications to federal, state, foundation, corporate, and other funding sponsors. The GSO serves as UNM-LA’s primary pre-award grants professional, supporting investigators through the various stages of proposal development, submission, and use of funds.

Responsibilities include

assisting with project planning, facilitating cross-departmental and interdisciplinary collaboration, developing proposal timelines, interpreting sponsor guidelines, preparing and reviewing proposal narratives and supporting documentation, coordinating budget development, and ensuring proposals comply with sponsor requirements and University policies.

The GSO will also provide post-award support, coordination, and guidance to the Dean of Instruction and Business Operations Director, working collaboratively to support grant reporting, compliance, and the appropriate distribution and use of awarded funds. The position provides guidance to the general campus regarding funding agency regulations, proposal preparation, cost-sharing requirements, institutional approvals, and submission procedures.

The position also serves as a key liaison among project leads, campus departments, external partners, sponsoring agencies, and the University of New Mexico Office of Sponsored Projects throughout the proposal development and submission process.

Duties and Responsibilities

Identify and communicate grant funding opportunities from federal, state, regional, local, private, corporate, foundation, and other funding sources to faculty, staff, administrators, and other campus stakeholders. Provide guidance to campus stakeholders regarding sponsor requirements, including funding priorities, deadlines, regulations, application requirements, allowable costs, and required proposal components.

Collaborate with the Dean of Instruction and Business Operations Director regarding post-award reporting and distribution/use of funds. Collaborate with faculty, staff, administrators, and other project stakeholders in the development of grant proposals, including project planning, proposal narratives, supporting documentation, graphics, statistical summaries, and collecting other required materials.

Develop grant proposals and other required proposal components in addition to the main project narratives Develop complex budgets and budget narratives (justifications) in collaboration with the investigator(s) Oversee the grant preparation process, timeline management, proposal and material development and coordination with other individuals working on the grant proposal Monitor changes in federal and state regulations and funding agency policies, guidelines, and requirements; evaluate their impact on proposal development and submission processes and communicate relevant updates to faculty, investigators, and campus administrators Work with various departments and offices to compile and update UNM-LA data and information and create narratives, develop graphics, and other “ready-to-go” information to be used in grant proposals, reports, and presentations Develop and maintain a library of reference documentation, including funding agency requirements and forms, abstracts and reference literature, and other pertinent material ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Develop and maintain an updated database of all grant proposals and awards and related documents (statistics, institutional information, student data, etc.)

Develop up-to-date institutional information and data in multiple formats that can be easily adapted to fit into specific sponsor requests and requirements Perform miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned