How To Become A Grant Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a grant manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

As a grant manager, you will oversee the planning and implementation of grant programs from their application to approval and use. You'll manage overall grant efforts, document payments and expenditures, and oversee fundraising. You'll review the grant administration process and recommend modifications. Besides that, you'll prepare progress and financial reports, review grant proposals, and manage grant databases. Additionally, you'll ensure adherence to grant regulations. Moreover, you can work for organizations like education, non-profit, business, research, finance, or health, among others.

The minimum educational requirement for this post is a bachelor's degree in business administration or a related discipline. Candidates may add some relevant certifications to their applications. They must be familiar with auditing policies and donor agencies. They must possess communication, project management, strategic thinking, computer, interpersonal, and organization skills. Prior experience in a related role is required. These experts earn about $65,223 annually. Their salary varies between $46,000 and $93,000.

ScoreGrant ManagerUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $60,692

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.7

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.89%

Asian 5.18%

Black or African American 12.68%

Hispanic or Latino 14.53%

Unknown 5.40%

White 61.33%

Gender

female 70.61%

male 29.39%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

9.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a grant manager

Explore grant manager education requirements

Most common grant manager degrees

Bachelor's

66.5 %

Master's

23.1 %

Associate

6.5 %

Start to develop specific grant manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Grants Management	12.71%
Financial Reports	7.25%
Oversight	5.88%
Principal Investigators	4.92%
Payroll	4.66%

Complete relevant grant manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New grant managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a grant manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real grant manager resumes.

Research grant manager duties and responsibilities

Provide administrative support to NIH program functions; as well as providing logistical support, and managing data.
Organize and manage PowerPoint presentations used for business development and site visits.
Serve as principal financial resource and contact for subcontractors to ensure fiscal compliance of GAAP and OMB circulars.
Prepare monthly, quarterly, and yearly closeout financial reports per GAAP, state, and county guidelines.

Prepare your grant manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your grant manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a grant manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable grant manager resume templates

Build a professional grant manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your grant manager resume.