Grants Manager - Cancer Grand Challenges

Salary: £35,000 - £42,000 plus benefits
Reports to: Senior Grants Manager – Cancer Grand Challenges
Department: Research & Innovation
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time 35 hours per week
Location: Stratford, London with high flexibility (we would expect you to be in the office 2 days per week)
Closing date: Sunday 25th October 23:55pm

This vacancy may close earlier if a high number of applications are received or once a suitable candidate is found, so please do not delay submitting your application to avoid any disappointment.

Interview process: Screening call followed by competency based interview
Interview dates: Approximately w/c 9th November

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Grants Manager to join Cancer Grand Challenges (CGC) and deliver operational activities across the Research Team including through open funding calls and review / stewardship of research teams supporting Cancer Grand Challenges’ mission.

About the team

Cancer Grand Challenges is a global funding initiative founded in 2020 by the two largest funders of cancer research in the world: Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the US (www.cancergrandchallenges.org).

Cancer Grand Challenges builds on the success of CRUK’s Grand Challenge that launched in 2015 – to date we have committed in excess of c$400m to fund 21 interdisciplinary teams, and our portfolio now includes over 1200 researchers and collaborators across 16 countries. We recently announced our fifth call of teams, and we are thinking about what the next decade for the initiative will look like. So, this is an exciting time to join the team.

When you work at Cancer Grand Challenges, you’ll be employed by Cancer Research UK.

What will you be doing?

• Lead, maintain and deliver work plans, dashboards and documents for relevant research operations activities within Cancer Grand Challenges.
• Lead and coordinate relevant activities of the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee and associated meetings, alongside other Grant Managers, working closely with scientific colleagues and with the committee chair and membership.
• Deliver the application and review processes for Cancer Grand Challenges, working with colleagues to identify and implement improvements within and between funding calls.
• Deliver excellent support to Cancer Grand Challenges applicants to required standards, governance, policies and timeframes by:
  • Responding to, resolving and redirecting (where necessary) queries from prospective applicants to colleagues in Cancer Grand Challenges, CRUK and NCI
  • Advising on eligibility and applicant processes, including review of budgets and application compliance, liaising with internal finance colleagues and funded institutions as required.
  • Preparing papers and reports for meetings of the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee and associated meetings;
  • Working with the CRUK Research Funding Product team to deliver application and review processes via the grants management system.
  • Retrieving and interpreting application data, metrics and reporting;
  • Maintaining accurate files and records of Cancer Grand Challenges applications and awards, ensuring information may be easily retrieved and is compliant with data protection policies.
• Interface with Cancer Grand Challenges reviewers, applicants and funded teams, providing excellent operational support throughout the application and award lifecycle, including management of post-award queries, reporting requirements and award close-out activities;
• Support the Grants Finance and Contracts Manager with the implementation of award agreements, ensuring accurate documentation and record keeping;
• Support the full lifecycle management of Cancer Grand Challenges awards, working closely with Team Leads, Programme Managers and funded teams to help coordinate annual reviews, post-award administration, respond to operational queries, manage award amendments and extensions, and ensure changes are implemented accurately and in accordance with funding agreements, governance requirements and internal processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve grants management processes, systems and guidance, contributing to the development of efficient and user-focused funding operations.
• Assist in activities that will ensure Cancer Grand Challenges scientific activities and programmes are leveraged to advance fundraising by the Cancer Grand Challenges philanthropy team.
• Support the successful planning and delivery of Cancer Grand Challenges meetings and events across the full breadth of team activity.
• Support the Cancer Grand Challenges communications agenda including researcher-facing and public-facing marketing and digital activity.