Project Manager, Grants Management System (GMS)

Background

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is the state’s Stem Cell Agency. We were created by the voters of California when they approved Proposition 71 in 2004, and renewed when Proposition 14 was approved in 2020, providing $5.5 billion to invest in stem cell research in California. CIRM’s mission is to accelerate world class science to deliver transformative regenerative medicine treatments in an equitable manner to a diverse California and world.

To meet this challenge, our team of highly trained and experienced professionals actively partners with both academia and industry in a hands-on, entrepreneurial environment to fast-track the development of today’s most promising stem cell and regenerative medicine technologies. 

CIRM is the world’s largest institution dedicated to helping people by bringing the promise of regenerative medicine closer to reality.

General Statement

The mission of the Software Development Team is to create innovative technology support for CIRM’s robust grantmaking process through a custom-built Grants Management System (GMS) that supports the grantmaking operations of the organization from application intake to managing unique reviews, award reporting and payments, grant files and award close-out.

The Project Manager, GMS reports to the Software Development Manager and is responsible for coordinating, managing workstreams, documenting procedures, and implementing critical process aspects for CIRM’s GMS software solution. 

The Project Manager, GMS will serve as the project administrator working across all business teams as a central resource for system requests, scheduling, testing feature releases, and conducting end-user trainings.

The Project Manager, GMS will have an innate sense of urgency and determination to deliver outstanding results and to find innovative ways of meaningfully advancing CIRM's mission.

Job Functions

Project Management

• Serve as the central point of contact for the GMS solution, coordinating between the Software Engineers and each business department (e.g., Grants Management, Review, Program).
• Provide customer service to internal and external users on the GMS solution
• Closely track timelines and ensure deadlines achieved for critical development activities such as feature requirements, programming windows, beta testing, rollout, and communications.
• Monitor the day-to-day tickets and long-term feature requests between the software issue-tracking tool (Gitlab) and project management software (Monday.com).
• Utilize project management software and other tools to track GMS-related priorities, timelines, and feature release progress.
• Implement dashboards in project management software to capture GMS performance metrics including system response time, time to ticket resolution and workload management.
• Organize, assist, and draft the GMS standard operating procedures and user manuals.

Organization-Wide Feature Development

• Manage feature release requirements creating, analysis and documentation.
• Assist the Software Development Manager identifying the need for prioritization within and/or across projects and business functions.
• Support business case creation to aid in the prioritization and management of projects.
• Support project estimation through the use of project management solutions.
• Aid business partners in understanding technology tradeoffs and developing consensus.
• Support enterprise digital strategy, innovation, and organizational change.
• Contribute towards sustainability of project management processes, tools, and systems.

Administrative Support

• Draft agendas and capture notes and action items, circulating them to all constituents and depositing all relevant documents in the appropriate repository.
• Foster a team culture of accountability by setting agendas, directing collaborative and efficient discussions, and establishing agreement on a clear path to success.
• Coordinate external vendors including monitoring deliverables, scheduling meetings, expenditures and process.
• General IT project management as needed for special projects, trainings, meetings and communications.

Harmonizing with the CIRM Mission

• Demonstrating in their words and actions commitment to CIRM’s mission.
• Collaborating with CIRM team members to generate efficiencies, enhance productivity, and develop competencies.
• Committing to team decisions by supporting and working to achieve team objectives.

Supervision Received

The Project Manager, GMS reports to the Software Development Manager. 

Qualifications (Experience and Education)

• Preferred bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, business administration or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in a Project Management or related role.
• Preferred Project Management Professional certificate or similar training.
• Preferred proficiency with a state-of-the-art project management software and grants management databases.
• Preferred experience in a grantmaking organization.
• Proficiency in Gitlab (developer platform) and Monday.com (project management solution) is a plus.

Desired Skills/Abilities

• Demonstrated effective communication, coordinating project tasks and project lifecycles, coordinating schedules, managing timelines.
• Demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving as well as risk management.
• Skilled in verbal and written communication.
• Effective organizational, planning and project management abilities with critical attention to detail.
• Desire to learn the grant-making process.
• Ability to function independently and handle multiple, simultaneous projects.
• Ability to handle confidential information and act with integrity.
• Ability to implement change in a positive, forward-thinking manner.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Proactive attitude.
• Collaborative team player with a sense of humor.
•  Professional and mature interpersonal work style with the ability to interact well with a diverse range of people.
• Anticipates needs of those assisted.

Working Conditions

• Hybrid environment, required to work two days in the South San Francisco office and three days remotely. In-person attendance of organizational meetings and board, subcommittee, and working group meetings as required.
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be willing to work in a high-rise building.
• Ability to operate standard office equipment.
• Be available to work outside of normal business hours.

Salary Range and Benefits

This position is expected to pay $112,270 - $128,000 which fits within the full salary range of $112,270 - $145,230 for the Project Manager job classification.  It is uncommon for an individual to be offered a salary close to the upper end of the full range for a position. Salary for this position will reflect the final candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, knowledge, relevant education, and certifications, in addition to being aligned with the internal leadership peer group.

Required Application Documents

The following items are required to be submitted with your application. Applicants who do not submit the required items timely may not be considered for this job:

• Cover Letter
• Resume/CV

For any inquiries about the position sent to jobs@cirm.ca.gov, the e-mail should have the position title on the subject line. 

Contact Information

Kathie Raftery

Email - jobs@cirm.ca.gov

Please direct requests for Reasonable Accommodations to the interview scheduler at the time the interview is being scheduled.  You may direct additional questions regarding Reasonable Accommodations or Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) for this position to CIRM’s EEO Office.

• EEO Officer: Denise D’Angel
• Email:jobs@cirm.ca.gov
• California Relay Service: 1-800-735-2929 (TTY), 1-800-735-2922 (Voice) TTY is a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf and is reachable only from phones equipped with a TTY Device.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The State of California is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

It is an objective of the State of California to achieve a drug-free workplace. Any applicant for state employment will be expected to behave in accordance with this objective because the use of illegal drugs is inconsistent with the law of the State, the rules governing Civil Service, and the special trust placed in public servants.

Benefits

Information on benefits afforded by membership in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System can be found on the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) Salary and Benefits website.