Grant Evaluation & Peer Review Manager

Position summary

The Grant Manager leads the end-to-end administration of merit and peer review cycles for research and education grant applications. This role is accountable for planning, execution, compliance, quality assurance, and on-time delivery of peer review outputs. The Grant Manager serves as the primary point of contact with the client, oversees Scientific Review Administrators (SRAs) and support staff, coordinates panel meetings (virtual and in-person), and ensures accurate reporting of scores, critiques, and recommendations.

Location

Remote eligible. Preference for candidates located in the Northeastern U.S. (to support time zone coverage and occasional in-person panel operations), but not required.

Key responsibilities

Program leadership and client management

• Serve as the primary point of contact with the client; provide routine status updates, manage expectations, and resolve issues quickly.
• Own the master schedule across peer review cycles and ensure milestones are met from intake through reporting.
• Lead day-to-day team execution, including tasking SRAs and coordinating administrative support.
• Identify risks (reviewer attrition, schedule conflicts, surges in applications) and implement mitigation plans.

Peer review operations (end-to-end)

• Oversee secure receipt, tracking, and screening of applications for completeness and eligibility, including any required compliance checks when applicable to the program.
• Direct reviewer recruitment and management in coordination with SRAs, including credential verification and conflict-of-interest (COI) screening.
• Ensure reviewer onboarding and training are completed prior to panel meetings and aligned to scoring methodology, critique requirements, confidentiality, and COI rules.
• Oversee assignment of applications to reviewers using expertise matching and balanced workloads.
• Ensure panel meetings are structured to produce defensible scoring and documentation; support panel chairs and facilitators as needed.

Quality assurance and deliverables

• Apply multi-layer quality assurance to confirm score-critique alignment, completeness, and consistency before submission.
• Ensure required deliverables are produced and submitted on schedule, including cumulative score reports and application-level evaluation reports with critiques and panel summaries.
• Confirm that reports, supporting files, and required records are complete, audit-ready, and submitted within required post-meeting timelines.

Administrative, logistics, and financial coordination

• Oversee panel logistics for virtual and in-person meetings, including scheduling, meeting materials, attendee coordination, and any travel support when required.
• Ensure accurate processing and tracking of honoraria and reimbursements at established rates; provide itemized payment documentation as required.

Security and data stewardship

• Ensure peer review materials and reports are handled using secure, compliant systems and practices, and that confidentiality requirements are consistently enforced.
• Ensure records are organized, retained, and transferred per client requirements.

Continuous improvement

• Lead post-cycle debriefs and implement improvements using operational metrics and stakeholder feedback.
• Maintain and update SOPs, templates, and training materials to support consistent execution across cycles.

Typical scope of work

• Manage multiple peer review cycles annually and scale operations based on application volume and panel requirements.
• Coordinate small virtual reviews through larger in-person panels, adjusting recruitment, logistics, and quality controls accordingly.