Grants & Programs Lead, Strategic Philanthropy

Milken Institute; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Life Insurance

Paid Time Off

Family Leave

Fertility Support

Disability Insurance

FSAs

Pet Insurance

Training & Development

LinkedIn Learning

Job summary

The Milken Institute invites an Associate Director, Program & Grants Management to lead centralized award tracking, funding cycles, and external communications within the Strategic Philanthropy pillar. This role blends grant design with cross-team collaboration in a hybrid Washington, DC setting.

Ideal candidates bring 5–7 years in grants management, strong project leadership, and experience with CRM tools like SurveyMonkey, Docusign, Asana, and Airtable.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in public health, life sciences, public policy, business administration, or a related field.
• 5–7 years of experience in grants management, philanthropy, program management, or a related field.
• Experience managing grant or prize funding cycles from design to closeout.
• Familiarity with the philanthropic, scientific and health funding ecosystem, including knowledge of key funders, research institutions, and philanthropic organizations operating in the space.
• Familiarity with funding mechanisms and nonprofit structures.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple funding cycles and partner relationships simultaneously.
• Experience partnering with Finance or Accounts Payable on fund disbursement or compliance processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop executive-level materials for diverse audiences.
• Proficiency in grants and program management platforms or CRM systems, such as SurveyMonkey, Docusign, Asana and Airtable or comparable program-management platforms.
• Experience designing or contributing to program evaluation frameworks/success metrics.
• Analytical data skills with experience tracking and reporting on program or portfolio performance.
• Collaborative, detail-oriented, and able to work across internal teams and external partners.
• Desire and aptitude to develop thought leadership pertaining to philanthropic funding, including measures and stories of impact that further the mission of funding partners and the Milken Institute.
• Comfort representing the Milken Institute and the strategic philanthropy team at external events and within professional networks.
• Mission-driven with an interest in philanthropy, science, health, and/or social impact.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a centralized system to consolidate and track all aspects relating to award cycles — across the full Strategic Philanthropy pillar.
• Build and maintain the funding application, solicitation, and review process in close collaboration with project leads.
• Manage external communications, proposals, and materials for applicants, awardees, and stakeholders throughout each funding cycle;
• Lead and manage external contracting and award process with funding recipients by engaging with academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and individuals, through close collaboration with internal program teams, Milken Institute leadership and legal counsel, as appropriate.
• Lead internal grant and prize disbursement processes, partnering with Finance and Accounts Payable to ensure seamless fund distribution.
• Lead awardee/recipient engagement, serving as point of contact to support compliance, reporting, and relationship management throughout the award lifecycle of the funding relationship.
• Partner with project leads and funding partners to translate philanthropic goals into program design and architecture (award topic, funding mechanism, eligibility requirements, grant terms, timelines, scope) across grants, prizes, and co-funding opportunities.
• Maintain program documentation (playbooks, standard operating procedures) to support institutional knowledge across cycles.
• Support project leads on partner management across the pillar, including leading engagement with advisory boards, review panels and other partner stakeholders to support meeting facilitation, materials development, funding recommendations and follow-up actions as needed.
• In coordination with project teams, design success metrics, evaluation frameworks and track portfolio performance across grants and prize funding mechanisms, providing analysis to inform strategic decision-making across the pillar.
• Develop executive-level communications and literature in partnership with the communications team to convey program findings, funding opportunities, and strategic updates, building awareness of Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy and expanding engagement across advisory boards, philanthropists, researchers, and the broader nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystem.
• Duties as assigned.

Skills

Grant management

Project management

Stakeholder communications

CRM systems

Data analysis

Budgeting & finance

Education

Graduate degree in public health or related field

Tools

SurveyMonkey

Docusign

Asana

Airtable

Job description

The Milken Institute invites an Associate Director, Program & Grants Management to lead centralized award tracking, funding cycles, and external communications within the Strategic Philanthropy pillar. This role blends grant design with cross-team collaboration in a hybrid Washington, DC setting.

Ideal candidates bring 5–7 years in grants management, strong project leadership, and experience with CRM tools like SurveyMonkey, Docusign, Asana, and Airtable.