Contract and Grants Specialist

University-of-Hawaii-System; Honolulu (HI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Hawai‘i, Kapi‘olani Community College, Office of the Chancellor invites applications for a Contract and Grants Specialist (Grants Office Coordinator) in Honolulu, HI. The role supports pre-award grant development, budgeting, and coordination of contracts and agreements across campus.

The incumbent will identify funding opportunities, prepare competitive proposals, coordinate internal reviews, and ensure timely submissions.

Qualifications

• Minimum qualifications include a bachelor's degree and grant-management experience.
• Experience coordinating pre-award activities and budgets.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to work with multiple stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead grant management development for Kapi‘olani Community College.
• Identify funding opportunities from federal, state, county, foundation, corporate, and other sources.
• Monitor grant databases, agency announcements, notices of funding opportunity, and requests for proposals.
• Disseminate relevant opportunities to administrators, faculty, staff, programs, and campus units.
• Coordinate internal processes when sponsor limits applications from an institution.
• Prepare, review, and submit complete and compliant proposals and budgets.

Skills

Grant management

Pre-award coordination

Budgets & financials

Proposal development

Job description

Description

University of Hawai‘i, Kapi‘olani Community College, Office of the Chancellor is seeking applications for an Contract and Grants Specialist (Grants Office Coordinator) position. Please see the information about the position, the duties and responsibilities, the minimum and desirable qualifications, and the job application attachments below.

Position Title: Contract and Grants Specialist (Grants Office Coordinator)

Position Number: 0097215

Hiring Unit: Office of the Chancellor

Location: Kapi‘olani Community College

Date Posted: September 30, 2026

Closing Date: October 14,2026, 11:59 PM HST

Band: B

Salary: Salary schedules and placement information

Temporary/Permanent: Permanent

Funding: General

Other Conditions: General funded position, to begin approximately December 2026, pending position clearance, availability of funds, satisfactory performance, and program needs.

Introduction:

Under the general direction of the Chancellor, the Contracts and Grants Development Specialist coordinates college-wide pre-award grant development and provides professional support for the development, review, routing, and administration of selected College agreements and contracts.

The position assists administrators, faculty, staff, and campus units with identifying funding opportunities; assessing institutional eligibility and fit; developing competitive proposals; preparing budgets and supporting materials; coordinating institutional reviews and approvals; and facilitating the timely submission of complete and compliant applications. The position also serves as a central campus resource for selected contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding, memoranda of agreement, affiliation agreements, partnership agreements, and related documents. The incumbent coordinates document development, internal consultation, administrative review, routing, tracking, renewal, and recordkeeping in collaboration with the responsible campus and University offices.

The position does not independently provide legal advice, approve expenditures, obligate University funds, accept sponsored awards, or execute contracts on behalf of the University unless expressly delegated such authority.

Duties & Responsibilities

(Note: **denotes essential functions)

• **Leads the development, planning, and administration of grant management for Kapi‘olani Community College.
• **Researches and identifies federal, state, county, foundation, corporate, and other public and private funding opportunities for which the College or its programs may be eligible.
• **Monitors grant databases, agency announcements, notices of funding opportunity, and requests for proposals.
• **Disseminates relevant opportunities to administrators, faculty, staff, programs, and campus units.
• **Works with all academic programs, student services, administrative and educational support units to promote successful grant identification and submission
• **Consults with prospective project leads to assess institutional fit, eligibility, readiness, resource requirements, potential commitments, and alignment with College priorities.
• **Develops and maintains systems for tracking funding opportunities, internal deadlines, institutional commitments, application status, and submission outcomes.
• **Coordinates internal processes when a sponsor limits the number of applications that may be submitted by an institution.
• **Interprets funding announcements and advises proposal teams regarding sponsor priorities, eligibility, evaluation criteria, allowable activities, required components, and submission requirements.
• **Assists proposal teams with developing project concepts, needs statements, goals, objectives, activities, timelines, performance measures, logic models, evaluation plans, management plans, and sustainability strategies.
• **Establishes proposal-development schedules, coordinates contributors, clarifies responsibilities, and monitors progress toward internal and sponsor deadlines.
• **Writes, reviews, and edits letters of intent, concept papers, proposal narratives, abstracts, project descriptions, and supporting materials.
• **Coordinates institutional, demographic, educational, workforce, and community data needed to support proposals.
• **Works with project leads and fiscal personnel to develop accurate proposal budgets and budget justifications.
• **Coordinates required assurances, certifications, representations, letters of commitment, subrecipient materials, and other application components.
• **Reviews application packages for completeness, responsiveness, accuracy, internal consistency, and compliance with sponsor and University requirements.
• Coordinates required College and University reviews and approvals.
• **Prepares, enters, uploads, and verifies application materials in sponsor and University electronic systems.
• **Facilitates authorized submission through the University of Hawai‘i Office of Research Services, the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i , the University of Hawai‘i Foundation, or another responsible office.
• **Assists applicants with sponsor requests for clarification, revised budgets, just-in-time information, and other pre-award follow-up.
• **Serves as a central point of coordination for selected College contracts and agreements assigned by the Chancellor.
• **Consults with campus units to identify the purpose, scope, responsibilities, deliverables, resources, timelines, and anticipated outcomes of proposed agreements.
• **Assists with drafting and reviewing scopes of work, deliverables, timelines, responsibilities, payment provisions, reporting expectations, renewal terms, and other administrative or programmatic components.
• **Coordinates memoranda of understanding, memoranda of agreement, affiliation agreements, articulation-related agreements, partnership agreements, facility- or service-related agreements, and other assigned instruments.
• Determines the appropriate University review and routing process in consultation with responsible offices.
• **Coordinates review by fiscal, procurement, risk management, legal, information-technology, data-governance, human-resources, academic, and other subject-matter offices as applicable.
• Reviews documents for completeness, internal consistency, required attachments, authorized signatories, and conformity with established University processes.
• Identifies provisions requiring specialized review, including insurance, indemnification, confidentiality, data security, intellectual property, use of facilities, payments, cost sharing, personnel commitments, student placements, and termination.
• **Communicates requested revisions and facilitates resolution among campus units, external parties, and reviewing University offices.
• **Routes final documents for approval and signature by authorized University officials.
• **Maintains a centralized tracking system for assigned agreements, including responsible parties, review status, execution dates, effective periods, renewal deadlines, reporting requirements, and expiration dates.
• **Provides advance notice to responsible campus units regarding upcoming renewals, amendments, required reports, or expirations.
• Maintains complete and organized records of drafts, reviews, approvals, executed documents, amendments, correspondence, and related materials.
• **Assists responsible campus units with interpreting administrative requirements and monitoring nonfinancial deliverables, milestones, or renewal conditions.
• Refers legal interpretations, procurement decisions, fiscal approvals, disputes, and matters involving institutional authority to the appropriate University official.
• Develops and maintains templates, checklists, calendars, guidance materials