Grant Specialist

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Job Category:

Academic Staff

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Profile:

Multi-functional Research Administration Manager

Job Summary:

The Grant Specialist serves as a strategic research development professional responsible for managing existing sponsored funding while identifying, developing, coordinating, and submitting competitive grant proposals that advance the mission of the Wisconsin Health Data Hub (WHDH). WHDH is a federally funded initiative developing a secure, cloud-native data platform that supports biomedical research, real-world data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven discovery.

This position translates WHDH's scientific, technical, and strategic priorities into competitive funding strategies and high-quality grant proposals that align with sponsor priorities and institutional objectives. Working closely with faculty, researchers, institutional leadership, and external partners, the Grant  Specialist ensures the effective stewardship of current sponsored funding while securing new funding opportunities that support the continued growth of WHDH's research infrastructure, data platform, and collaborative initiatives.

The role emphasizes sponsored project management, strategic funding development, proposal leadership, cross-functional collaboration, sponsor engagement, and continuous process improvement to maximize WHDH's success in obtaining external funding from federal agencies, state agencies, foundations, industry partners, and other sponsors.

Key Responsibilities

Sponsored Project Management

• Monitor existing grant funding to ensure adequate financial support for current and projected program activities.
• Oversee sponsor reporting requirements and coordinate the timely submission of all required programmatic and administrative reports.
• Serve as the primary liaison between WHDH, University research administration offices, and other campus stakeholders on grant administration and sponsored project activities.
• Ensure compliance with sponsor regulations and University of Wisconsin–Madison policies governing sponsored awards.
• Collaborate with project leadership to monitor grant performance, identify funding risks, and support long-term financial sustainability.

Funding Strategy & Opportunity Development

• Identify, evaluate, and communicate funding opportunities from federal, state, foundation, industry, and other sponsors that align with WHDH's strategic priorities.
• Develop funding strategies that expand WHDH's research portfolio, technical infrastructure, and collaborative initiatives.
• Partner with WHDH leadership to prioritize funding opportunities based on organizational priorities, sponsor alignment, competitiveness, and available resources.
• Maintain a comprehensive funding pipeline, proposal calendar, and submission schedule.
• Develop multi-year funding strategies that support the long-term sustainability and growth of WHDH.

Proposal Development & Submission

• Lead the planning, coordination, writing, editing, and submission of complex, multidisciplinary grant proposals.
• Develop compelling proposal narratives and coordinate supporting documentation while ensuring compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements.
• Manage proposal timelines, milestones, internal reviews, approvals, and submission activities to ensure timely, high-quality applications.
• Coordinate closely with principal investigators, research administrators, finance, compliance, legal, and technical teams throughout the proposal development lifecycle.
• Ensure proposals align with sponsor priorities, institutional objectives, and WHDH's strategic vision.

Stakeholder & Sponsor Engagement

• Build and maintain productive relationships with faculty, researchers, institutional leadership, funding agencies, industry partners, philanthropic organizations, and external collaborators.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary proposal teams and facilitate communication among internal and external stakeholders.
• Represent WHDH during sponsor meetings, strategic planning discussions, and collaborative funding initiatives.
• Strengthen partnerships that expand collaborative research opportunities and increase external funding potential.

Research Development & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor funding trends, emerging sponsor priorities, and national research initiatives relevant to biomedical informatics, artificial intelligence, health data science, cloud computing, and precision medicine.
• Evaluate proposal outcomes and funding metrics to identify opportunities for improving proposal competitiveness and funding success.
• Recommend and implement best practices that improve proposal development processes, operational efficiency, and organizational research development capacity.
• Contribute to the continuous growth and long-term sustainability of WHDH through strategic planning, funding diversification, and process improvement initiatives.

It is anticipated that this position will be remote and requires work be performed at an offsite, non-campus work location. The selected candidate must reside within the State of Wisconsin or move to the State within a reasonable time frame from the start date.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Ensures institutional compliance related, but not limited to: audit coordination, conflict of interest, intellectual property, and institutional review boards, export controls, effort, or other policies

• Assists principal investigators, researchers, administrative staff, leadership, and others to ensure institutional compliance with applicable regulations

• Develops, implements, and evaluates policies and procedures related to compliance with federal, state, local, and/or university regulations

• Serves as a key resource to campus regarding research administration compliance areas and may supervise staff

Department:

School of Medicine and Public Health, Office of Informatics, Wisconsin Health Data Hub.

The Wisconsin Health Data Hub (WHDH) is a grant-funded initiative within the Office of Informatics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.  WHDH brings together a multidisciplinary team of technologists responsible for designing, implementing, and operating a secure data enclave that supports the responsible use of real-world health data for biomedical research.

The WHDH team develops and manages a scalable data platform that enables researchers to efficiently access, integrate, and analyze large-scale health datasets from participating health systems. By providing advanced data services, governance frameworks, and analytical capabilities, WHDH accelerates the research lifecycle—from project conception and data acquisition to analysis and discovery—while ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory, privacy, and security requirements.

Compensation:

The starting salary for the position is $95,000 annually, but is negotiable based on experience and qualifications. 

Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. For more information, refer to the campus benefits webpage.

SMPH Faculty /Academic Staff Benefits Flyer 2026

Required Qualifications:

·       Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in Grant , research development, proposal management, research administration, or a related field.

·       Demonstrated experience in managing, coordinating and developing competitive grant proposals for federal, state, foundation, or industry sponsors.

·       Experience managing multiple complex projects simultaneously while meeting strict deadlines and sponsor requirements.

·       Strong written, editing, and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex scientific and technical concepts into compelling funding proposals.

·       Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams, including faculty, researchers, technical staff, administrators, and external partners.

·      Strong organizational, project management, and stakeholder engagement skills with exceptional attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications:

·       Experience supporting large, multidisciplinary grant funded initiatives within an academic medical center, research institution, or healthcare organization.

·       Demonstrated success developing proposals for federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DoD), Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), or other federal sponsors.

·       Knowledge of biomedical research, health informatics, data science, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, or precision medicine.

·       Experience with proposal development tools, electronic research administration systems, and sponsor submission portals (e.g., Grants.gov, eRA Commons, Research.gov).

·       Familiarity with federal grant regulations, Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200), sponsor policies, and institutional research administration processes.

·       Experience facilitating strategic research collaborations involving academic, healthcare, government, and industry partners.

Education:

Bachelor's degree preferred

How to Apply:

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 • Cover letter required
 • Resume required
 

Your cover letter should address [how your training and experience aligns with the required and preferred qualifications listed above]. Application reviewers will rely on these written materials to determine which applicants move forward in the process. References will be requested from final candidates. All applicants will be notified once the search concludes and a candidate is selected

University sponsorship is not available for this position, including transfers of sponsorship and TN visas. The selected applicant will be responsible for ensuring their continuous eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of an employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment. This position is an ongoing position that will require continuous work eligibility. If you are selected for this position you must provide proof of work authorization and eligibility to work. 

The department will not be able to support a request for a J-1 waiver. If you choose to pursue a waiver and apply for our position, neither the UW nor UWMF will reimburse you for your legal or waiver fees.

Contact Information:

Cody Roekle, [email protected] , 608-263-7676

Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information. 

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment. 
 
The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7). 
 
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