Large-Scale Collaboration Grant Project Manager Santa Clara University

Ajcunet; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 106,909,000 - 128,341,000; Full time

Job summary

Santa Clara University seeks a Large-Scale Collaboration Grant Project Manager to lead the administration, operations, and compliance of a $10M Lilly Endowment grant over five years. You will coordinate internal units and external partners, ensure timely deliverables, and manage the budget within policy guidelines.

The role requires strong project management skills, meticulous reporting, and the ability to drive cross-functional collaboration across JST, GPPM, and religious studies partnerships.

Qualifications

• Thorough understanding of formal project management methodologies, lifecycle frameworks, and grant administration tools.
• Familiarity with private foundation grant administration (experience with Lilly Endowment grants or higher education sponsored programs highly preferred).
• Understanding of university organizational structures, academic administration, and multi-institutional collaborative networks.
• Knowledge of Catholic ecclesiology, ministerial formation, and the pastoral realities in the United States preferred.
• Strong understanding of the values, ideals, and mission of Jesuit higher education and the Jesuit School of Theology preferred.
• Knowledge of ATS-accredited graduate theological education preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the central point of tactical execution, project tracking, and workflow management for all initiatives funded under the $10M Lilly LSC Grant.
• Develop and maintain master project plans, timelines, work breakdown structures, and milestone tracking frameworks across all grant components.
• Monitor day-to-day progress across project working groups, internal SCU departments (JST, GPPM, Religious Studies), and external collaborating partners.
• Manage the operational roadmap for Year 1 (“Year of Co-Design”), coordinating inter-departmental task forces, curriculum alignment teams, and committee deliverables.
• Identify operational bottlenecks, risks, or schedule deviations, implementing corrective action plans to maintain project momentum.

Skills

Project management

Budget management

Written communication

Organizational skills

Stakeholder management

Asana

Smartsheet

MS Project

Google Workspace

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree preferred

PMP certification preferred

Tools

Asana

Smartsheet

MS Project

Google Workspace

Job description

Large-Scale Collaboration Grant Project Manager

Position Title:
Large-Scale Collaboration Grant Project Manager

Position Type:
Regular

Hiring Range:

$37.31 – $44.79 per hour’ Compensation will be based on education, experience, skills relevant to the role, and internal equity.

Pay Frequency:
Hourly

A. POSITION PURPOSE

Under the supervision of the Sr. Assistant Dean / Chief Operating Officer and in close coordination with project co-leads, the Project Manager provides administrative, operational, and tactical leadership for the implementation of the $10 Million Lilly Endowment Large-Scale Collaboration Grant. This 5-year grant project supports the launch and integration of the Pope Francis Institute for Pastoral Flourishing (PFI), the relocation and integration of JST-SCU into Santa Clara University’s main campus, and the expansion of regional and national network partnerships.

The Project Manager serves as the primary operational engine driving daily grant activities. This position is responsible for ensuring all strategic deliverables, sub-project timelines, inter-departmental workflows, budget tracking, and official compliance reporting to the Lilly Endowment are executed seamlessly, accurately, and on schedule.

B. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Grant Project Management & Operational Execution

• Serve as the central point of tactical execution, project tracking, and workflow management for all initiatives funded under the $10M Lilly LSC Grant.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive master project plans, timelines, work breakdown structures, and milestone tracking frameworks across all grant components.
• Monitor day-to-day progress across project working groups, internal SCU departments (JST, GPPM, Religious Studies), and external collaborating partners.
• Manage the operational roadmap for Year 1 (“Year of Co-Design”), coordinating inter-departmental task forces, curriculum alignment teams, and committee deliverables.
• Identify operational bottlenecks, risks, or schedule deviations, implementing corrective action plans to maintain project momentum.

2. Centralized Compliance, Financial Tracking & Grant Reporting

• Manage overall compliance with Lilly Endowment Grant Agreement terms, conditions, and reporting requirements.
• Partner closely with SCU Office of Sponsored Projects (SPO), JST Finance, and University Development to monitor the $10M budget, track expenditure allocations, approve line-item disbursements, and manage sub-award contracts.
• Coordinate, write, and submit all annual narrative program reports and collaborate with the SPO to submit financial reports to the Lilly Endowment by established deadlines.
• Collect, aggregate, and verify project data, revenue match metrics, and qualitative/quantitative outcomes from constituent units (such as CLTM, PFI, and external partner networks) for centralized reporting.
• Oversee budget revision requests and line-item reallocations in accordance with Lilly Endowment policy guidelines.

3. Stakeholder Coordination & Governance Support

• Facilitate regular communication, meeting schedules, documentation, and reporting streams for the Grant Steering Committee, Advisory Boards, and Working Groups.
• Serve as the primary liaison between internal academic units and external partner organizations (e.g., ACHTUS, RECOSS, Iskali, regional dioceses, Discerning Deacons), managing partner contracts, stipends, and joint project deliverables.
• Maintain central project repositories, shared documentation, communications archives, and collaborative platforms (e.g., Google Workspace/Drive) to ensure transparent governance.

4. Communications, Dissemination & Logistics

• Coordinate the execution of project events, national symposia, planning retreats, workshops, and advisory council meetings in collaboration with project staff.
• Implement the grant’s strategic communication and dissemination plan, sharing project insights, best practices, and research outputs with national theological networks and peer institutions.
• Maintain systematic evaluation data and performance indicators to measure long-term institutional impact and pastoral reach.

5. Other duties as assigned in support of JST’s mission and operational needs

C. PROVIDES WORK DIRECTION

May at times, directly supervise grant-funded project personnel, logistics coordinators, and graduate student assistants. Provides cross-functional project direction and milestone tracking for grant task force leads across partner departments.

D. GENERAL GUIDELINES

Establishes robust project tracking systems and monitors task completion across multiple independent workstreams.

Identifies operational risks early and formulates actionable recommendations for project leads and committee chairs.

Maintains continuous communication with internal SCU administrators, external partners, and grant officers.

Ensures strict adherence to institutional accounting policies, grant agreement terms, and federal/foundation compliance regulations.

Prepares comprehensive progress dashboards and status briefs for executive leadership.

E. QUALIFICATIONS

1. Knowledge

• Thorough understanding of formal project management methodologies, lifecycle frameworks, and grant administration tools.
• Familiarity with private foundation grant administration (experience with Lilly Endowment grants or higher education sponsored programs highly preferred).
• Understanding of university organizational structures, academic administration, and multi-institutional collaborative networks.
• Knowledge of Catholic ecclesiology, ministerial formation, and the pastoral realities in the United States preferred.
• Strong understanding of the values, ideals, and mission of Jesuit higher education and the Jesuit School of Theology preferred.
• Knowledge of ATS-accredited graduate theological education preferred.

2. Skills

• Demonstrated mastery of project management tools (e.g., Asana, Smartsheet, MS Project, Google Workspace) and budget management software.
• Strong written communication skills, with proven ability to synthesize complex project data into formal narrative grant reports.
• Excellent organizational skills, sharp attention to detail, and ability to manage multi-million-dollar project budgets.

3. Abilities

• Exceptional task-management ability: capable of driving execution across complex, concurrent timelines with high autonomy.
• Proven ability to build collaborative relationships and gain alignment among diverse stakeholders (faculty, university administrators, external nonprofit leaders, and foundation officers).
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive, solution-oriented approach to execution.

4. Education

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Public Administration (MPA), Educational Leadership, Higher Education Administration, or a related field preferred. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a strong plus.

5. Years of Experience

• Two to four years of progressively responsible project management experience managing complex, multi-year, multi-stakeholder grants or strategic institutional initiatives.

F. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Extensive keyboarding and desk work utilizing computer systems.
• Occasional travel to partner organizations, national conferences, or university events.
• Ability to facilitate long-format project planning meetings and workshops.

G. WORK ENVIRONMENT

JST-SCU allows employees to submit requests for Flexible and Remote work schedules as described in Policy 307 of the SCU employee handbook. If a remote schedule is approved, the school’s standard is that all permanent employees work in person at least 60% of the time. Currently, this position is based at the JST-SCU campus in Berkeley, California. Beginning in Fall 2027, the position will be based at the school’s location on Santa Clara University’s main campus in Santa Clara, California.

• Typical office environment.
• Mostly indoor office environment with windows.
• Offices with equipment noise and frequent interruptions.

This is an initial 3-year fixed-term position, with potential for extension dependent on project milestones, performance, and funding allocation.

Telecommute

Santa Clara University is registered to do business in the following states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Illinois. Employees approved to telecommute are required to perform their work within one of these states.

EEO Statement

Equal Opportunity/Notice of Nondiscrimination

Santa Clara University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, marital status, parental status, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical conditions, pregnancy or related conditions, reproductive health decision making, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. For a complete copy of Santa Clara University’s equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies, please visit the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX website at https://www.scu.edu/title-ix/.

Clery Notice of Availability

Santa Clara University annually collects information about campus crimes and other reportable incidents in accordance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. To view the Santa Clara University report, please visit the Campus Safety Services website. To request a paper copy please call Campus Safety at [phone]. The report includes the type of crime, venue, and number of occurrences.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Consistent with its obligations under the law, Santa Clara University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants who wish to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact the Department of Human Resources ADA Team at [e-mail] or by phone at [phone]. Please note: This contact information is intended for accommodation requests only. Resumes or inquiries about application status sent to this inbox will not be reviewed or forwarded. For resumes or questions regarding application status, please contact [e-mail].