Clinical Research Grants Program Lead (Pre & Post-Award)

Vitalief; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

20 PTO days

9 paid holidays

Company-paid life insurance

Short- and long-term disability

401(k) retirement plan

Comprehensive healthcare benefits

Job summary

Vitalief is seeking an experienced Pre & Post-Award Clinical Research Grants Project Manager to support a major statewide clinical research initiative for a leading academic medical center in New Jersey. The Project Manager will coordinate cross-functional teams and ensure timely, accurate completion of grant-related work.

This leadership role focuses on project planning, stakeholder liaison, risk mitigation, and post-award activities, with remote work largely in EST hours and modest travel to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, public health, healthcare administration, business, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in clinical research, grants administration, sponsored research, research administration, or project management.
• Experience managing complex pre- and post-award grants, preferably within an academic medical center, university, healthcare system, or research consortium.
• Strong understanding of the full state and federal grant lifecycle, including proposal development, submission, award setup, financial management, compliance, reporting, subawards, and closeout.
• Experience working closely with Principal Investigators and multidisciplinary research teams.
• Strong knowledge of grant budgeting, forecasting, financial monitoring, and sponsored research compliance.
• Experience coordinating multiple stakeholders, workstreams, deadlines, and deliverables in a matrixed environment.
• Knowledge of NIH funding mechanisms, including P and U awards and Center grants (P30/P50), preferred.
• Experience with multi-institutional research, subrecipients, or external collaborators preferred.
• Excellent communication, organization, problem-solving, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to drive accountability and influence outcomes without direct authority over project team members.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage the overall grant project plan, timelines, milestones, deliverables, and dependencies.
• Coordinate pre-award proposal development and submission activities across multiple internal departments and external organizations.
• Track deliverables, deadlines, sponsor requirements, and project dependencies.
• Identify and proactively address project risks, gaps, issues, and potential delays.
• Coordinate meetings, action items, decisions, communications, and follow-up across project teams.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the PI/project team, institutional research administration, Finance, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, and external collaborators / subrecipients.
• Support post-award implementation, including award setup, budget management, financial monitoring, reporting, subawards, and closeout.
• Monitor budgets and expenditures and assist with forecasting, financial issue resolution, and compliance with sponsor requirements.
• Coordinate IRB and other regulatory activities and ensure required approvals, training, and reporting are completed.
• Maintain comprehensive project documentation and provide regular status updates to leadership.
• Help ensure the overall statewide initiative remains on schedule and aligned with grant objectives and institutional requirements.

Skills

Grant lifecycle knowledge

Project management

Communication

Budget forecasting

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in life sciences, public health, healthcare administration, business, or related field

Job description

Vitalief is seeking an experienced Pre & Post-Award Clinical Research Grants Project Manager to support a major statewide clinical research initiative for a leading academic medical center in New Jersey. The Project Manager will coordinate cross-functional teams and ensure timely, accurate completion of grant-related work.

This leadership role focuses on project planning, stakeholder liaison, risk mitigation, and post-award activities, with remote work largely in EST hours and modest travel to