Grants and Contracts Specialist, Europe

Overview

The Grants and Contracts Specialist, Europe is the International Council on Clean Transportation's (ICCT) first grants-focused staff position based in Europe. Sitting within the Development Team's Grants and Contracts function, this role manages grants administered out of ICCT's EU office, including funding from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF, UK), the European Climate Foundation (ECF), and other funders whose grants are held and administered by ICCT Europe gGmbH. The role works closely with EU-based program staff, ICCT Europe's finance and legal contacts, the global Grants and Contracts team, and program staff across ICCT's global offices and locations wherever program implementation occurs.

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.

The Grants and Contracts Specialist, Europe is part of ICCT's Development Team, within the Grants and Contracts function. The full-time role reports to the Grants and Contracts Manager, based in Washington, DC, and ultimately to the Senior Director of Communications & Development, with a dotted-line relationship to the Managing Director, EU.

Core Responsibilities

- Portfolio Management: Own end-to-end post-award lifecycle management for an assigned portfolio of grants administered out of ICCT's EU office, 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 to the Grants and Contracts Manager and Finance, 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 to the Grants and Contracts Manager 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.

ICCT EU Office Funding Specialist — Role Description

- Serve as the primary grants and contracts point of contact for CIFF, ECF, and other funders whose grants are administered out of ICCT's EU office, managing an assigned set of grants end-to-end post-award.

- Maintain deep familiarity with each funder's distinct systems, formats, and cadences — grantee reporting portals, deliverable-linked payment schedules, cascade-to-impact (C2I) data tracking, and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) / OKR reporting — liaising with EU-based program leads and the Managing Director, EU, to gather reporting content, and keeping the Grants and Contracts Manager informed of portfolio status, amendments, and extensions.

- Track and apply funder-specific compliance, classification, and screening requirements, including lobbying activity classification, restricted-countries provisions, Third-Party (sub-grantee/sub-contractor) due diligence, and sanctions screening consistent with OFAC and equivalent regimes, and maintain related due diligence documentation (e.g., annual audited financial statements, organization forms, safeguarding attestations).

- Lead day-to-day regranting and subgranting coordination for the assigned portfolio, including due diligence support, agreement tracking, disbursement monitoring, and compliance oversight for a global network of subgrantees spanning the EU and emerging-market partners across Asia, Africa, and Latin America/Brazil.

- Support the Grants and Contracts Manager in drafting funder-required regranting strategy deliverables (e.g., CIFF's Organizational Re-granting Strategy and region-specific strategies such as an Africa Strategy) with regional program leads and finance colleagues.

- Coordinate with ICCT Europe gGmbH's local finance and legal contacts on entity-specific grant matters, including governing law and jurisdiction provisions, UK/EU GDPR compliance, safeguarding requirements, and signatory/banking details, and manage funder-specific budgeting nuances (e.g., ECF's cash-accounting and multi-currency conversion; CIFF's USD-denominated, deliverable-linked disbursements).

- Stay current on regulatory developments relevant to ICCT's EU office grants portfolio (e.g., UK and EU data protection requirements, lobbying/transparency registration, sanctions regimes, and jurisdiction-specific civil code provisions referenced in funder agreements) and proactively share relevant updates with the Grants and Contracts Manager.

- Advise the Grants and Contracts Manager on where EU office funder practices may require adapted organizational templates, SOPs, or systems, and support the rollout of any related process changes.

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, as this role may take on supervisory responsibilities as ICCT's Europe team grows.

- 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 (or equivalent experience); master's degree a plus. Pursuit of GPC, CGMS or equivalent credentials encouraged.

- Able to work from ICCT's EU office in Berlin; comfortable coordinating across time zones with a Washington, DC-based manager and team, and with a dotted-line relationship to the Managing Director, EU.

- 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.

Application

Please submit a cover letter and resume to BambooHR, or send to [email protected] .

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