Large-Scale Collaboration Grant Project Manager at Santa Clara University in Berkeley, CA

Job description

• Under the supervision of the Sr. Assistant Dean / Chief Operating Officer and in close coordination with project co-leads, the Project Manager provides administrative, operational, and tactical leadership for the implementation of the $10 Million Lilly Endowment Large-Scale Collaboration Grant. This 5-year grant project supports the launch and integration of the Pope Francis Institute for Pastoral Flourishing (PFI), the relocation and integration of JST-SCU into Santa Clara University’s main campus, and the expansion of regional and national network partnerships.
• The Project Manager serves as the primary operational engine driving daily grant activities. This position is responsible for ensuring all strategic deliverables, sub-project timelines, inter-departmental workflows, budget tracking, and official compliance reporting to the Lilly Endowment are executed seamlessly, accurately, and on schedule.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the central point of tactical execution, project tracking, and workflow management for all initiatives funded under the $10M Lilly LSC Grant.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive master project plans, timelines, work breakdown structures, and milestone tracking frameworks across all grant components.
• Monitor day-to-day progress across project working groups, internal SCU departments (JST, GPPM, Religious Studies), and external collaborating partners.
• Manage the operational roadmap for Year 1 ("Year of Co-Design"), coordinating inter-departmental task forces, curriculum alignment teams, and committee deliverables.
• Identify operational bottlenecks, risks, or schedule deviations, implementing corrective action plans to maintain project momentum.
• Manage overall compliance with Lilly Endowment Grant Agreement terms, conditions, and reporting requirements.
• Partner closely with SCU Office of Sponsored Projects (SPO), JST Finance, and University Development to monitor the $10M budget, track expenditure allocations, approve line-item disbursements, and manage sub-award contracts.
• Coordinate, write, and submit all annual narrative program reports and collaborate with the SPO to submit financial reports to the Lilly Endowment by established deadlines.
• Collect, aggregate, and verify project data, revenue match metrics, and qualitative/quantitative outcomes from constituent units (such as CLTM, PFI, and external partner networks) for centralized reporting.
• Oversee budget revision requests and line-item reallocations in accordance with Lilly Endowment policy guidelines.
• Facilitate regular communication, meeting schedules, documentation, and reporting streams for the Grant Steering Committee, Advisory Boards, and Working Groups.
• Serve as the primary liaison between internal academic units and external partner organizations (e.g., ACHTUS, RECOSS, Iskali, regional dioceses, Discerning Deacons), managing partner contracts, stipends, and joint project deliverables.
• Maintain central project repositories, shared documentation, communications archives, and collaborative platforms (e.g., Google Workspace/Drive) to ensure transparent governance.
• Coordinate the execution of project events, national symposia, planning retreats, workshops, and advisory council meetings in collaboration with project staff.
• Implement the grant’s strategic communication and dissemination plan, sharing project insights, best practices, and research outputs with national theological networks and peer institutions.
• Maintain systematic evaluation data and performance indicators to measure long-term institutional impact and pastoral reach.
• 5. Other duties as assigned in support of JST’s mission and operational needs

Requirements

• Thorough understanding of formal project management methodologies, lifecycle frameworks, and grant administration tools.
• Familiarity with private foundation grant administration (experience with Lilly Endowment grants or higher education sponsored programs highly preferred).
• Understanding of university organizational structures, academic administration, and multi-institutional collaborative networks.
• Knowledge of Catholic ecclesiology, ministerial formation, and the pastoral realities in the United States preferred.
• Strong understanding of the values, ideals, and mission of Jesuit higher education and the Jesuit School of Theology preferred.
• Knowledge of ATS-accredited graduate theological education preferred.
• Demonstrated mastery of project management tools (e.g., Asana, Smartsheet, MS Project, Google Workspace) and budget management software.
• Strong written communication skills, with proven ability to synthesize complex project data into formal narrative grant reports.
• Excellent organizational skills, sharp attention to detail, and ability to manage multi-million-dollar project budgets.
• Exceptional task-management ability: capable of driving execution across complex, concurrent timelines with high autonomy.
• Proven ability to build collaborative relationships and gain alignment among diverse stakeholders (faculty, university administrators, external nonprofit leaders, and foundation officers).
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive, solution-oriented approach to execution.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Public Administration (MPA), Educational Leadership, Higher Education Administration, or a related field preferred. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a strong plus.
• Two to four years of progressively responsible project management experience managing complex, multi-year, multi-stakeholder grants or strategic institutional initiatives.

Skills

Required

• Strong written communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Sharp attention to detail
• Exceptional task-management ability
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Proactive, solution-oriented approach
• Budget management software
• Google Workspace/Drive

Benefits

• Santa Clara University offers a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees with programs and resources designed to promote and sustain personal health care, well-being, and the financial objectives of our employees and families. Visit our benefits page for more information.
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