Grants Policy & Product Owner in London

The National Church Institutions (NCIs) operate a wide range of grant‑making activities to support the work and mission of the Church of England, distributing in excess of £250 million a year to dioceses, cathedrals, parishes and other organisations across different thematic areas administered by separate grant‑making teams.

The NCIs have recently implemented a Grant Policy Framework and a new Grant Management System (Vera Solutions Amp Impact) to support compliant, consistent and efficient grant‑making across the grants portfolio, while ensuring proportionality across the breadth of grant types and grantees.

The Grants Policy & Product Owner will be responsible for helping to embed new ways of working across the grant teams, ensuring consistent adoption of the system and processes, and monitoring compliance with the Grant Policy Framework.

They will act as a subject‑matter expert to support NCI Grant Teams to ensure best practice operation of new grant processes, take advantage of new system functionality as it becomes available, and maintain, interpret and update the Grants Policy Framework as needed in accordance with legal and regulatory expectations.

This is a fixed‑term contract for 18 months.

Responsibilities

• Grant Policy Ownership
• Owning, interpreting, implementing and updating the Grants Policy Framework to ensure it meets the needs of the Church, is compliant with all relevant regulations and good practice, and creates a positive experience for grantees.
• Convening, coordinating and working with Grant teams to ensure consistent application of the grants policy, including helping them to apply the policy accurately and consistently, and supporting its adoption for new grant initiatives as needed.
• Convening, coordinating and working with Legal, Risk, GDPR and Finance teams to ensure that grant‑making processes and policies are in line with relevant regulatory requirements, enforce appropriate control frameworks and ensure transparent evidence trails.
• Providing training and guidance to grant teams and others to build confidence and capability in the application of grant policies and processes.
• Facilitating learning and networking between NCIs grant teams on grant‑making issues, and working collaboratively with grant managers to ensure the grant policy remains fit for purpose.
• Supporting due diligence, eligibility assessment, risk management and quality assurance in relation to grant‑making activities as required.
• Escalating matters as required to the relevant senior leaders in Finance, Legal, Data Services, Risk & Assurance, and Grant Making teams, and as needed to the Chief Operating Officer and other Chief Officers.
• Grant System Product Ownership
• Own the functional design of the Grant System including the data model and associated processes.
• Champion the use of the system and associated processes and policies across NCI Grant‑making activity.
• Approve any changes to the system design, having appraised and understood user needs and technical considerations, and adhering to best practice out‑of‑the‑box principles (i. e. adopt not adapt) and NCI grant policy.
• Keep abreast of the supplier’s product roadmap development to inform future strategy.
• Collaborate with the Grant Portal Product Owner and the Technical Systems Owner to:
• Evaluate and prioritise bug fixes, enhancement requests and new functionality available in releases (both compulsory and optional).
• Develop and manage the long‑term strategy and roadmap for the system.
• Coordinate critical activities such as bug fixes, releases and enhancements and associated user acceptance testing and communications.
• Coordinate and chair the Grant System User Group, facilitating a collaborative and consultative approach to developing the system roadmap and encouraging full adoption and compliance with the intended use of the system.

Qualifications

You will be an experienced grants professional with a strong understanding of best practice in proposal development, charity law, due diligence, financial controls, grant assessment, and monitoring, evaluation and learning.

You will also be technology‑confident, with experience using grant management systems, and able to implement technology‑enabled processes to drive efficiency and effectiveness.

Naturally collaborative, you will be able to persuade and influence others, and to build confidence and capability across our grant‑making teams.

• Considerable experience of grant making within a large charity or foundation.
• Experience designing or advising on grant‑making processes which create a positive grantee experience and facilitate learning and impact.
• Good understanding of charity law, financial control and risk management in relation to grant making.
• Credible professional, demonstrating strong technical knowledge and an ability to authoritatively guide others, including developing capability and enforcing policy compliance.
• Collaborative approach, able to work effectively with multiple teams and colleagues, building effective relationships and carefully negotiating differences in approach and opinions.
• Experience of advising senior colleagues and supporting governance bodies through analysis and reporting.
• Experience of using and/or implementing Grant Management systems.
• Good understanding of using technology and data to drive efficiency and compliance in grant making or other processes.
• Experience of developing and implementing new technology‑enabled processes, including delivering associated documentation and training.
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal.
• Enthusiastic; able to energise others and champion ways of working; able to influence and persuade others effectively.
• Strong organisational skills.
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