Pre & Post Award Clinical Research Grants Project Manager

Vitalief is seeking a Pre & Post-Award Clinical Research Grants Project Manager to support a major statewide clinical research initiative for a leading academic medical center in New Jersey. The role coordinates grant planning, pre- and post-award activities, budgets, compliance, and cross-functional teams to keep the initiative on schedule and aligned with grant objectives.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and manage the overall grant project plan, timelines, milestones, deliverables, and dependencies
• Coordinate pre-award proposal development and submission activities across multiple internal departments and external organizations
• Track deliverables, deadlines, sponsor requirements, and project dependencies
• Identify and proactively address project risks, gaps, issues, and potential delays
• Coordinate meetings, action items, decisions, communications, and follow-up across project teams
• Serve as the primary liaison between the PI/project team, institutional research administration, Finance, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, and external collaborators / subrecipients
• Support post-award implementation, including award setup, budget management, financial monitoring, reporting, subawards, and closeout
• Monitor budgets and expenditures and assist with forecasting, financial issue resolution, and compliance with sponsor requirements
• Coordinate IRB and other regulatory activities and ensure required approvals, training, and reporting are completed
• Maintain comprehensive project documentation and provide regular status updates to leadership
• Help ensure the overall statewide initiative remains on schedule and aligned with grant objectives and institutional requirements

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in life sciences, public health, healthcare administration, business, or related field
• 8+ years of experience in clinical research, grants administration, sponsored research, research administration, or project management
• Experience managing complex pre- and post-award grants, preferably within an academic medical center, university, healthcare system, or research consortium
• Strong understanding of the full state and federal grant lifecycle, including proposal development, submission, award setup, financial management, compliance, reporting, subawards, and closeout
• Experience working closely with Principal Investigators and multidisciplinary research teams
• Strong knowledge of grant budgeting, forecasting, financial monitoring, and sponsored research compliance
• Experience coordinating multiple stakeholders, workstreams, deadlines, and deliverables in a matrixed environment
• Excellent communication, organization, problem-solving, and relationship-management skills
• Ability to drive accountability and influence outcomes without direct authority over project team members
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Knowledge of NIH funding mechanisms, including P and U awards and Center grants (P30/P50), preferred
• Experience with multi-institutional research, subrecipients, or external collaborators preferred