The Grants & Contracts Manager is a management role responsible for the comprehensive financial and administrative oversight of all donor-funded grants and contracts, from award notification through project closeout.

Reporting directly to the Director: Financial & Management Accounting, the incumbent will ensure stringent compliance with donor and state regulations and university policies, while providing expert strategic guidance and operational support to budget owners, project staff, and senior university leadership. The successful candidate will possess a deep understanding of complex donor and state funder requirements (e.g., EU, Welcome Trust, Gates Foundation, NRF, DSI, MRC, WRC etc.), exceptional financial management and leadership skills, and a steadfast commitment to fostering a compliant, efficient, and high-performing research environment.

The candidate is responsible for the management of grants and contracts that include the following:

• Budgetary control and overview.
• Reporting, internal and external.
• Fostering relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Writing and implementation of policies.
• Alignment of business processes to support policies and procedures.
• Highlight areas of concentration of risk.
• Audit compliance.
• Management of the department.
• Management of finances and reporting.
• Facilitation and enabling of transactions and business processes.

The candidate will deal with all financial and management accounting, Grants and Contracts policy compliance, system support, staff training and development; and related matters of donor-funded grants and contracts.

•  BCom Accounting Honours degree or equivalent NQF Level 8
• Completed SAICA articles
• 5 years management experience

Skills and competencies :

• MS Word (including creating templates, using tables etc.); MS Excel (non-negotiable) including developing reports, using lookups and pivot tables; and an e-mail and scheduling application (preferably G-mail)
• Experience with Infor LAN or any other ERP system will be a distinct advantage
• Planning and work scheduling of multiple requirements in this sector
• Up-to-date knowledge of applicable Statutory and Legislative requirements
• Analytical, financial and operational thinking
• Building interpersonal relationships
• Communication
• Planning and organising
• Adaptability/ flexibility
• Managing and working in diverse teams
• Written communication