Grants and Contracts Specialist

Position description

From € 70,000 - € 84,000 per year

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is an award-winning, independent, global, non-profit research organization that provides data-driven research to advance policies that reduce the health and environmental impacts of the transportation sector. The ICCT offers a mission-driven and culturally diverse workplace where intelligence, flexibility, transparency, and good humor are highly valued. Join our team of talented researchers and operations staff with offices in Beijing, Berlin, New Delhi, San Francisco, São Paulo, and Washington D.C.

The ICCT is seeking a self-motivated and dedicated Grants and Contracts Specialist to support a growing global Grants and Contracts team. This role requires strong attention to detail, project management skills, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the judgment to identify and escalate compliance risks proactively, particularly where funder requirements diverge from ICCT's policies or where UK and EU regulatory regimes differ. Comfort working across time zones, geographies, and cultures is essential.

As ICCT's Europe team grows, this role may also provide supervision or mentorship to junior grants and contracts staff based in the region.

This is a full-time position based in Berlin, Germany.

You will:

• Portfolio Management: Own end-to-end post-award lifecycle management for an assigned portfolio of grants, including award setup and kickoff, deliverable and reporting coordination, regranting and subcontract support, and closeout, in accordance with each funder's requirements and ICCT policy;
• Funding & Financial Management: Track grant budgets and expenditures across the assigned portfolio, prepare routine financial tracking reports, flag variances and support preparation of funder financial reports;
• Compliance, Risk Management & Oversight: Monitor compliance requirements across the assigned portfolio, ensuring deliverables and expenditures align with funder requirements and ICCT policy. Identify and escalate compliance risks and support audit preparation;
• Funder Engagement, Cultivation & Stewardship: Serve as a day-to-day point of contact for assigned funders during active grant implementation, coordinating check-ins, progress updates, and correspondence to maintain strong funder relationships throughout the grant lifecycle;
• Data, Systems & Process Management: Maintain accurate, current, audit-ready grant records and post-award data in Salesforce and other systems for the assigned portfolio. Contribute to documentation standards, SOP development, and process improvements;
• Organizational Strategy & Policy: Support tracking and reporting on the Grants and Contracts function's workplan for the EU-administered portfolio, flagging issues or delays, and contributing input on policies (e.g., regranting and compliance frameworks) as they apply to EU office grants;
• Organizational Integration: Serve as the day-to-day contact for EU-based program staff on grants administration, and as a bridge between the DC-based Grants and Contracts team and the ICCT EU office, translating organizational SOPs into practice and supporting cross-team alignment. Develop and lead grants and contracts trainings to build staff capacity across ICCT's offices.

Qualifications

• 5-7+ years of grants management experience, including post-award compliance monitoring, reporting, and lifecycle management;
• Prior experience supervising, mentoring, or providing professional development support to junior staff is a plus;
• Experience with funders whose grants are administered through a European or UK office, similar to CIFF and/or ECF; familiarity with funder grantee portals, deliverable-linked reporting, and financial reporting strongly preferred;
• Working knowledge of UK/EU GDPR, sanctions/restricted-party screening (e.g., OFAC and equivalents), lobbying/transparency registration, and nonprofit compliance norms in Germany and/or other relevant jurisdictions;
• Strong background in international subgranting/regranting, including managing due diligence, compliance, and disbursement for partners based both locally and globally, across the EU, Asia/Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America/Brazil;
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (or equivalent experience); master’s degree a plus. Pursuit of GPC, CGMS or equivalent credentials encouraged;
• Ability to work from ICCT's EU office in Berlin; comfort coordinating across time zones with a Washington, DC-based manager and team;
• Strong financial acumen: budget monitoring, expenditure tracking, multi-currency reporting;
• Proficiency in Salesforce, Asana, and Microsoft Office Suite; familiarity with Adaptive or other financial management system;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate grant requirements clearly and diplomatically across multicultural, multi-office teams;
• Experience developing and delivering grants and contracts trainings or capacity-building sessions for staff is a plus;
• Fluency in English required; German or other languages a plus;
• Experience in international NGOs preferred; philanthropy or climate/environmental sector experience a plus;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in multicultural settings and across time zones and geographies.

What we offer:

This position offers an annual starting salary of €70,000 - €84,000, depending on level of experience. We offer an initial 2-year contract, with the possibility of extension depending on organizational resources and performance. The ICCT provides an excellent benefits package including hybrid/remote work flexibilities, a clean transportation subsidy, professional development opportunities, home office allowances, and other benefits.

Application instructions

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