Development Manager, Institutional Grants

POSITION SUMMARY The Vector Institute is building its resource development capacity to attract new funding and to establish a structured system for securing grants. Reporting to the Director, Strategic Partnerships, the Development Manager, Institutional Grants will manage a grant portfolio for the Vector Institute while developing necessary business systems, corporate processes, and supporting relationships that will help scale Vector's funding. Working closely with Vector's research community and the Research Services team, the Development Manager will identify open funding opportunities, prepare compelling proposals, and coordinate funding submissions across both technical and administrative teams. This role demands three core strengths: 1) an ability to find the right opportunities through prospect research with resource-based analysis, 2) skills to frame technical and research output into a compelling narrative of potential opportunity, and 3) a capacity to orchestrate multi‑stakeholder proposal processes efficiently.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Lead the development and submission of 8-10 high-value grant applications annually, driving the application process from opportunity identification to final proposal submission;
- Manage post‑award compliance and reporting for Vector’s active grant portfolio, ensuring all financial and narrative funder obligations are in compliance and met on schedule;
- Serve as the primary proposal writer and translator, extracting highly technical concepts from Vector’s AI researchers and engineering teams and framing them into compelling, impact‑driven narratives for non‑technical funders;
- Cultivate strategic relationships with program officers across priority funding agencies and foundations;
- Coordinate proposal development across research, engineering, finance, legal, and program work streams, including developing cross‑functional workflows;
- Provide proposal development and submission support for faculty‑led grants, leveraging these applications to build Vector’s external funding history and institutional credibility;
- Project manage Vector's current grant activities with Horizon Europe, including work package tracking, financial reporting, consortium partner coordination, and exploration of additional research collaboration opportunities;
- Monitor a cross‑jurisdictional view of funding opportunities across various philanthropic foundations, public agencies, corporate funders, and international programs;
- Conduct targeted prospect research using external grant databases to identify funding sources; evaluate opportunities by assessing alignment between Vector’s AI research and funder mandates to ensure strategic fit and high probability of success;
- Build and maintain a forward‑looking grants pipeline in Salesforce with stage management, forecasting, and tracking;
- Develop institutional knowledge assets including coordination protocols, content libraries, proposal templates, and submission checklists; and,
- Other related duties as assigned from time to time. KEY SUCCESS MEASURES
- The Vector Institute’s grant portfolio is managed with consistent quality, strong alignment with funder priorities, and full compliance across the grant application and award lifecycle;
- Funder relationships generate early intelligence and highly targeted proposal strategies and stronger pre‑submission positioning, with Vector recognized as a credible partner across priority funding channels;
- Institutional infrastructure – frameworks, tools, and processes – is built, adopted, and demonstrably reduces the effort required to develop and submit high‑quality proposals; and,
- Faculty and cross‑functional teams consistently experience the grants function as a reliable, well‑organized, and strategic organizational partner. PROFILE OF THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
- A bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., communications, public policy/administration, business, social sciences, a scientific/technical discipline) or an equivalent combination of education and experience; a Master’s degree is preferred;
- Minimum five (5) years of progressive experience in advancement, with at least three (3) years dedicated specifically to institutional grants management and proposal development at a research institution, university, hospital foundation, or similarly complex organization;
- Proven track record securing and managing competitive grants ($250K+ awards), including active funder stewardship;
- Strong understanding of the research landscape with a proven ability to translate highly technical or abstract AI concepts into clear, impact‑driven narratives for funders;
- Advanced prospect research capabilities using grant databases and analytical frameworks;
- Project management expertise coordinating multi‑stakeholder proposals under tight deadlines;
- Systems builder mentality – has developed grants infrastructure and knows what operational excellence looks like;
- CRM proficiency (Salesforce prefer