REPORTING TO: Global Chief of Operations
REMUNERATION: AUD 125,145 – 141,212; USD 121,726 – 143,956; GBP 72,100 – 92,700
LOCATION: Australia, US or UK (Remote)
START DATE: ASAP
Background
Driven by a passion to solve the climate crisis, The Sunrise Project is a team of experienced change-makers
with a mission to scale social movements to drive the global transition beyond fossil fuels. With affiliated
programs and staff in the United States, Europe and Asia, we have developed a unique model of grant making
and campaigning that supports networks of organisations to drive powerful change towards our mission.
We have a dynamic and nimble organisational culture. We’re serious about supporting our people to thrive as
we tackle the urgent climate challenge. We believe that a diversity of experiences and perspectives will help
us build stronger strategies, teams and movements. We take the broadest possible view of diversity and
encourage First Nations people, people of colour, people living outside of cities, people living with disabilities,
neurodiverse, and LGBTQIA+ people to apply. We are continually working on becoming a better workplace for
everyone.
About the Role
The Grants Director manages the Sunrise Grants Program. The role is responsible for strategy development in
collaboration with Sunrise leadership, and for operational planning, scheduling and delivery to ensure grant
decisions reflect the delegations policy to grant to aligned partners.
Our Grants Program is mature, having made thousands of grants. We, and our partners are experiencing
significant growth with many new network granting partners coming onboard across international
jurisdictions. This role will develop the future strategy to meet and build new levels of growth and manage the
complexities that go with rapid growth at the international level.
The Grants Director ensures program and operations teams understand the strategic, regulatory and
organisational risks and provides insights and analysis to key stakeholders (program leads, leadership team,
grants committees, board).
The role is hands-on, playing a critical role in overseeing the development and implementation of systems,
tools., workflows, reporting and processes, and working internally with staff to ensure smooth and timely
grant making.
We support networks of organisations to work together to achieve outcomes that would not be possible by
individual organisations acting alone. We expect all roles at Sunrise to actively support the capacity building
of these networks and partner organisations.
About You
You are driven by a passion to solve the climate crisis by enabling the work of others. You enjoy big picture
strategic thinking balanced with the technical capability to oversee the enablement of flexible platforms and
systems that streamline delivery. You are a strong influencer, and sharp decision maker with strong capability
in problem solving at the international level. You are a strong people leader, and enjoy coaching and
empowering leadership, partners and staff to build organisational grant making capability and to support
others in executing work that achieves real world outcomes. You have a strong service-orientation, and build
trusted relationships through skillful and timely communications.
We support networks of organisations to work together to achieve outcomes that would not be possible by
individual organisations acting alone. We expect all roles at Sunrise to actively support the capacity building
of these networks and partner organisations.
Key Responsibilities
• Collaborates with the leadership team to develop and implement a grants making strategy that
optimises future growth and balances opportunities with compliance and alignment with Sunrise
mission, objectives and policies.
• Develops and executes the Grants Program operational plan in collaboration with program,
operations, and key stakeholders: oversees the outgoing grant making system; implements
communications plans; and ensures capability building.
• Ensures that decisions are made in line with the delegations policy at the right time to grant to
partners in line with our program strategy.
• Works with the Legal & Governance team to :review grant agreements, conduct due diligence reviews;
identify potential compliance issues, and, propose solutions.
• Is accountable for the outgoing grants management schedule and communications.
• In collaboration with Finance, manages: grantee payments, responses to partners on structuring
grants/grant programs; compliance, and risk management; and manages the grants lifecycle (pipeline,
forecasting and budgeting).
• Is the grants management system owner – manages: data integrity/quality; vendor-contractor
relationships to support platforms evolution; user support & training; and, reporting.
• Provides analysis and insights for stakeholders, including developing systems to support this.
• Leads a high performance, collaborative and sustainable team and supports people to do their best
work.
• Promotes and creates a culture of continuous improvement, with learning and knowledge-sharing at
the heart of the Grants team to support programs and partners.
• Contributes to the sustainable culture of the wider organisation, including leadership on our
commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, including the integration of JEDI into our outward
facing partnerships.
• Aligns programmatic strategies and OKR’s with Sunrise’s mission and Values.
Required Skills and Experience
• Extensive grants management experience at the leadership level.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse grants data and provide insights to stakeholders.
• A comprehensive knowledge of, and experience in grants best practice processes, legislative and
compliance issues.
• Expertise in supporting a grants management platform, workflows, systems and users, with
competency ideally in Mac based environments: Office, GSuite, Excel, collaboration and reporting
tools.
• A proven ability to evaluate, improve, manage, maintain grants systems, processes, and procedures.
• Advanced level financial acumen and budget management skills, with experience in leading budgeting
and forecasting cycles.
• Exceptional service orientation and advanced stakeholder engagement skills, relationship building and
communication skills, both internally across the organisation & externally with diverse partners.
• Strong attention to detail, organisation skills, and ability to balance competing and/or shifting
priorities for the team.
• Demonstrated experience in people, performance, and culture leadership, with management
experience including hiring, nurturing and enabling talented and diverse people.
• A flexible, adaptable leadership approach: is open to new ideas; seeks feedback; builds consensus;
and leads on change.
• A passion for action on climate change and a deep commitment to justice, equity, diversity and
inclusion.
Desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience:
• Experience in outgoing grants management within an international not for profit organisation.
• Experience in implementing grants management tools, processes and policies.
Job Requirements
• You must have full working rights for the country in which you will be working. The Sunrise Project is
unable to sponsor applicants for employment visas.
• Employment background checks are required.
• Intermittent travel with advanced notice may be required.
• Flexibility to adjust work hours to accommodate multiple time zones
• COVID-19 vaccinations may apply in accordance with local legislation and/or Sunrise policy
How Sunrise supports its staff
• The Sunrise Project is committed to creating a workplace that supports our staff to do their best work
and develop professionally. We have the following in place to help us achieve that, noting that benefits
listed may vary in accordance with the Professional Employment Office (PEO) we engage with for this
role.
• Statutory benefits and entitlements of the country/province in which you are employed.
• Sunrise may provide additional benefits, where in-country entitlements are less than our standard
package, where applicable including:
- Birthday leave (if it’s your birthday, you get a day off)
- Solidarity and community leave up to 1 week p.a.
- Floating public holidays (cultural leave)
- Gifted leave (over Christmas and New Year)
- Minimum 3 months paid parental (maternity) leave
- Flexible work policy
- Employee Assistance Program
- Insurances (country dependent, please check)
Additionally, our offering includes:
• A commitment to your professional development (up to $2000 per annum)
• Laptop (Mac) and accessories
• Coaching and management support with regular 1:1 meetings
• Performance reviews and feedback to support you and the team to reflect and grow
• A co-developed initial 3 month work plan to set goals and provide clarity on your role and
responsibilities
How to apply
Interested applicants should submit the following by e-mail to [email protected] quoting reference
number NGG001:
• A CV in word or PDF format (please include 3 references)
• A 1-page cover letter outlining how your skills and experience align with The Sunrise Project’s mission
and the unique qualities you will bring to this role
Application Deadline: 24 February 2023
Interested applicants are encouraged to apply ASAP. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.