Senior Grants Specialist

at  ECMWF

ABOUT GRANTS AS FUNDING INSTRUMENT AT ECMWF

Upon its decision to explore grants as a mechanism to disburse funding and support specific initiatives, ECMWF has developed a structure to operate with grants. To be able to operate grants and prizes on behalf of the European Commission, ECMWF has gone through a Pillar Review, successfully completed. ECMWF’s first ambition is to use grant mechanism as part of its budget implementation responsibilities under Copernicus 2.0, running until the end of 2027. The aim is to provide financing from EU funds through grants and prizes by launching Calls for Actions for aspects which focus on stimulating user uptake at national level, fostering the development of innovative applications and partnerships with other stakeholders to create user-oriented solutions. Besides Copernicus, the use of grants will also be explored for Core funded activities, DestinE and eventual other programmes in the upcoming years. ECMWF projects a potential of 32 grants of different sizes and funding sources to be implemented in the next three years. We are currently establishing a new team to focus on the operation of grants. The Senior Grants Specialist will establish and lead this team and help ECMWF to further develop this activity and its integration within the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• University degree (EQF Level 7 or equivalent in a business, legal or engineering discipline or an equivalent qualification, with exposure to grants / commercial procurements .
• Comprehensive experience of carrying out / over-seeing European Union-compliant grants procedures, preferably from a grants issuing position.
• Significant experience of working with technical and scientific teams to develop grants actions from initial requirements gathering through to grant agreement signature, and subsequent management of the grant implementation, audits and reporting.
• Significant experience of drafting grants documentation such as calls for actions, evaluation reports and communications with candidates.
• Experience of managing Evaluation Boards would be an advantage.

Knowledge and Skills

• Good working knowledge of legal and financial issues associated with European Commission’s grants and procurement contracts under UK or European law
• Comprehensive knowledge of European Union-compliant grants procedures,. including differences and similarities with commercial procurements
• Experience, or good understanding, of contract and grants management tools, practices and reporting
• Familiarity with at least one electronic tendering system
• Excellent working knowledge of MS Office with considerable experience of Microsoft Word/Excel
• Candidates must be able to work effectively in English.
• Knowledge of one of ECMWF’s other working languages (French or German) would be an advantage

YOUR ROLE

We are seeking candidates to hire for a new, exciting role as Senior Grants Specialist (A3). In this role you will be responsible for the implementation of the grants activities at ECMWF. This includes managing the launch and closure of Calls for Actions (CfA) and the overarching grant processes at ECMWF through their full life cycle.
You will be part of the Grants Team, which consists of staff involved in the end-to-end implementation of a particular CfA or Prizes Competition. The Grant Team takes care of the quality assurance of the processes and coordinates and formulates input to the Evaluation Board. It comprises the Call Coordinator and Senior Grants Specialist as leads of the team, complemented by the Grants Management Officer, Technical Officers, Financial Officer and Legal Officer. The Call Coordinator and Technical Officers are technical or scientific staff based in other Departments and are responsible for content driven aspects.
As Senior Grants Specialist you will be pivotal in the successful rollout of the new grants procedures at ECMWF and, together with the Call Coordinator, you will play a central role in steering the successful implementation. The Senior Grants Specialist also supports the further development and integration of the grant funding scheme within ECMWF.
During the ramp-up phase, the you will have a strong hands-on role in all different aspects of our grants activities. As the roll-out of the funding scheme progresses, you will line-manage a Grants Management Officer (a new position also to be recruited), who will focus on the implementation aspects.
Besides ECMWF colleagues, the Senior Grants Specialist will interact with grant holders and the European Commission. Exchanging experiences and best practices with other international organisations that are implementing grants is going to be a likely part of the role as well.
Occasional travel to ECMWF offices in Reading and to locations within Europe may be required.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Reporting to the Head of Procurement you will be responsible for:

• Preparation, publication, evaluation, selection, and signature stages of the CfA with the support of the Grant team:
• Contributing to the strategic planning of CfAs
• Assessing the requirements and checking the level of spend provided by the Technical Officer.
• Reviewing all CfA documents and oversee the publication accordingly on the dedicated portal.
• Overseeing and manage the CfA process, e.g. eligibility checks, record management, rejection of and feedback to applicants.
• Managing communication with applicants.
• Overseeing the grant agreement preparation and negotiation process:
• Assessing, reviewing and coordinating negotiations, in consultation with the EB, Budget Holder and Grant team.
• Managing preparation of grant agreements in coordination with the Grant team.
• Acting as member of the Evaluation Board (EB) and as Joint secretary:
• Preparing EB reports.
• Coordinating EB meetings.
• Drafting EB minutes.
• Advising and proposing recommendations.
• Overseeing the agreement implementation phase and managing the administration of agreements.
• Supervising, as line manager, the Grant Management Officer.
• Ensuring the overall quality and compliance with the grant processes.
• Contributing to the continued development and improvement of the process, guidelines and approaches relating to the implementation of the calls with the support of Grant team.
• Contributing to other activities of the Procurement and Contract Management teams, as needed.