Description
Summary:
The purpose of the Executive Director of Federal & State Grants, Foundation Grants and Sponsored Programs position is the executive lead for Jackson College’s enterprise strategy to secure new and emerging federal, state and other grant opportunities that advance the College’s Strategic Agenda and strengthen institutional capacity. The Executive Director serves as the College’s central authority for grant intelligence, grant pipeline development, proposal leadership, grant development, proposal quality control, and disciplined handoff to post-award functions to protect compliance and results. This position provides strategic leadership, proposal development, and institutional oversight for grant pursuits and outcomes.
A critical function of this role is early detection and rapid mobilization around competitive public funding opportunities, including but not limited to U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Education (including FIPSE and other discretionary programs), U.S. Department of Agriculture, NSF, DOJ, HHS, and State of Michigan grant programs relevant to community colleges and workforce/transfer priorities, and other programs. This role also leads the development of Legislative Directed Spending (LDS) and Congressional Designated Spending (CDS) requests at the direction of the President.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
A. Federal and state grants intelligence and early-warning system
Build and maintain a disciplined, always-current federal and state grants pipeline that emphasizes new and emerging opportunities, including forecasting likely NOFO/FOA releases and preparing the College in advance.
Monitor Federal and State sources daily/weekly (agency sites, grants.gov, state portals, listservs, and funder communications) for new and revised opportunities and amendments; translate opportunities into clear internal “decision briefs.”
Maintain an enterprise grants calendar with anticipated release dates, technical-assistance events, deadlines, internal milestones, and required registrations.
Establish an internal grants-alert system that routes opportunities to the right leaders quickly and ensures executive awareness of “high-value” opportunities (e.g., major capacity-building and sector pathway grants).
Track major federal programs relevant to community colleges and workforce/transfer priorities (including DOL community college capacity programs such as Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants) and keep a running readiness checklist (partnerships, evidence base, program model, evaluation, budget framework).
Track and interpret state-level grant opportunities (Michigan and regional) with the same discipline, especially those tied to economic development, workforce training, public utilities, infrastructure, and post-secondary attainment.
B. Enterprise grant strategy and governance
Lead the College-wide strategy for pursuing Federal and State grant funding, as well as private foundation grants, aligned to Jackson College priorities and capacity.
Establish and manage a consistent go/no-go process that evaluates alignment, impact, staffing capacity, risk, match requirements, facilities/technology needs, procurement constraints, and sustainability after the grant ends.
Prepare regular pipeline dashboards for Executive Council summarizing: active opportunities, likely submissions, staffing requirements, match/indirect implications, competitive posture, and award outcomes.
Serve as the College clearinghouse for federal/state grant pursuits to avoid duplication, manage reputational risk, and ensure that what is pursued is what the College can deliver.
C. Proposal leadership and writing excellence
Serve as lead writer and content strategist for complex, high-value federal and state proposals. Provide direction and final quality control for all submissions. Convene and direct cross-functional proposal teams (academic leaders, workforce leaders, finance, institutional effectiveness, student services, IT, facilities, legal/procurement, marketing) to produce timely, complete, high-quality submissions.
Partner with finance to develop compliant budgets, match commitments, indirect costs, staffing plans, allowability checks, and sustainability plans.
Build and maintain shared proposal assets: boilerplate, institutional data/evidence sets, standard outcomes language, logic models, evaluation templates, partner MOU templates, bios/CVs, and a grant-ready library of “proof points.”
D. Legislative directed spending and congressional designated spending (lds/cds)
At the direction of the President and/or Chief Advancement Officer, develop LDS/CDS requests, including the narrative, problem statement, solution design, project scope, budget, local/regional benefit framing, and required forms/attachments.
Coordinate internal inputs for LDS/CDS (facilities, workforce, academic leadership, finance, procurement, partners), ensuring the request is feasible, timely, and consistent with the College’s strategic agenda and capital planning.
Draft letters of support, partner commitments, and impact narratives for LDS/CDS submissions and coordinate documentation that demonstrates readiness, community benefit, and sustainability.
Maintain a rolling pipeline of “grant- and appropriation-ready” projects so that Jackson College can move quickly when windows open (federal/state NOFOs, member deadlines, state appropriations cycles).
E. Relationship building and partner development
Strengthen relationships with federal/state program staff (as appropriate), regional workforce and economic development partners, employers, K-12, universities, and community organizations to improve competitiveness and implementation readiness.
Build consortium and partner strategies when needed (lead applicant, fiscal agent decisions, partner roles, data sharing, deliverables).
F. Post-award oversight and executive intervention
Establish institutional post-award expectations and handoff protocols, including kickoff standards, role clarity, and performance accountability. Operational tracking of reporting deadlines, documentation, and routine sponsor communications is managed by the Grants Coordinator and/or project staff. Provide executive-level oversight and intervention for high-risk issues, compliance concerns, scope changes, or performance challenges that could affect funding, audit outcomes, or institutional reputation.
Requirements
Minimum qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree required in a related field.
Five (5) or more years of increasingly responsible grant development experience, with significant federal and/or state proposal leadership experience.
Demonstrated success writing and leading competitive proposals, including budgets and compliance elements.
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex deadlines and cross-functional teams.
Ability to effectively use AI-assisted and emerging technology tools to support research and proposal development, while maintaining independent critical thinking, accuracy, and original authorship.
Availability to routinely work non-standard hours in excess of 40 hours per week
Strong writing, editing, and project management skills.
Preferred qualifications:
Master’s degree required (master’s preferred) in a related field.
Demonstrated success with major federal grants relevant to community colleges (workforce, capacity-building, pathways, equipment, student success, sector strategies).
Experience developing appropriations requests (LDS/CDS) or comparable government funding proposals.
Familiarity with post-award coordination, reporting calendars, and audit-ready documentation expectations.
BEHAVORIAL COMPETENCIES:
Commitment to high-level customer service, leadership, quality principles, integrity, a total commitment to student success, and service to others;
Demonstrate values of respect, justice, compassion, and excellence to students, employers and other key stakeholders;
Highly self- directed, motivated and goal oriented;
Provide quality service in the performance of work assignments and duties;
An attitude of appreciation and service in all interactions;
A professional and congenial presence;
Strong commitment to ethical conduct;
Must understand and practice the highest level of confidentiality;
Passion for a job well done.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to sit and use hands to finger, handle or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, and color vision.
WORK ENVIROMENT
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
Frequent travel, including overnight and multiple day/night travel is required as part of the position. This position is expected to plan, attend and host evening or weekend events.
“This description is intended to indicate the kinds of tasks and levels of work difficulty that will be required and shall not be construed as declaring the specific duties and responsibilities. It is not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct, and control the work of employees under his or her supervision. The use of a particular expression or illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties not mentioned that are of similar kind or level of difficulty.”