Grants and Compliance Officer

Job Description

The Grants Officer supports effective, compliant, and timely management of programme sub-grants across multiple countries, ensuring that grants function as reliable enablers of programme delivery and donor accountability.

Working under the guidance of the Grants Manager, the role is responsible for day-to-day coordination, documentation, tracking, and quality assurance of sub-grant processes across the grant lifecycle—from pre-award review and start-up through implementation, reporting, and close-out. The Grants Officer works closely with programme teams, Finance, MEL, and sub-grantees to support compliance with donor and Amref requirements, strengthen grant management practices, and maintain audit-ready grant files.

The role requires strong attention to detail, sound professional judgement, and the ability to operate confidently within evolving donor, regulatory, and programme environments, while escalating risks and issues appropriately and contributing to continuous improvement of grants systems and ways of working.

Key Responsibilities

Programme Sub-Grant Administration and Coordination

Support the management of active programme sub-grants across countries, ensuring alignment with approved objectives, budgets, and delivery models.

Maintain accurate, complete, and up-to-date sub-grant documentation, trackers, dashboards, and audit-ready grant files.

Monitor sub-grant expenditures against approved budgets and flag variances, risks, or anomalies to the Grants Manager.

Review sub-grant agreements and amendments to extract key obligations, milestones, reporting requirements, and compliance considerations.

Support the maintenance of accurate sub-grant management documentation, trackers, dashboards and audit-ready files.

Sub-Grantee Engagement Support

Serve as a first point of contact for day-to-day grants-related queries from country teams and sub-grantees, providing practical guidance within established policies and escalating complex issues as required.

Support sub-grantees to understand and comply with agreement terms and conditions, reporting requirements, and budget management expectations.

Assist in implementing partner onboarding processes, including documentation checks, compliance verification, and orientation to grants management tools and templates.

Contribute to partner capacity strengthening efforts by identifying recurring gaps or support needs and feeding these into targeted capacity-building plans.

Financial Coordination and Reporting Support

Coordinate with Finance teams to support accurate budget set-up, expenditure tracking, and reconciliation for sub-grants.

Coordinate funds disbursement to sub-grantees and ensure appropriate cash flow management practices are in place.

Conduct quality checks on sub-grantee financial reports to ensure completeness, accuracy, and consistency with approved budgets before submission or review.

Support the preparation and consolidation of grants-related inputs for donor financial and narrative reports, ensuring timelines and quality standards are met.

Compliance, Risk Monitoring and Audits

Support implementation of grants compliance standards by applying agreed tools, templates, and procedures consistently across programme countries.

Assist with sample-based reviews of sub-grantee reports and documentation to identify compliance risks or areas requiring corrective action.

Support audits, compliance reviews, and spot checks by coordinating documentation, responding to information requests, and tracking follow-up actions.

Proactively identify and escalate grant-related risks—financial, compliance, delivery, or reputational—to the Senior Grants Manager in a timely manner.

Entrepreneurial Mindset and Continuous Improvement

Demonstrate curiosity and proactive problem-solving in day-to-day grant administration, identifying inefficiencies, process bottlenecks, or recurring compliance risks and proposing practical solutions.

Identify opportunities to simplify documentation, improve tracking tools, or enhance clarity of communication with sub-grantees, country teams and internal teams, including Finance and MEL where needed.

Capture lessons learned from grant implementation, reporting, audits, and partner engagement, and support integration into improved practices.

Contribute actively to testing and refining grants management tools, templates, and systems, providing feedback grounded in implementation experience across countries.

Support programme-wide initiatives related to Organisational Development and System Strengthening (ODSS) as they relate to partner and sub-grants management.

People and Performance

Take ownership of individual performance objectives aligned to programme grants priorities, demonstrating accountability for quality, timeliness, and compliance of assigned sub-grant portfolio responsibilities.

Contribute actively to a high-performing grants function by collaborating effectively with peers across HQ and country programmes, sharing knowledge, and reinforcing consistent application of tools, templates, and standards.

Model Amref’s values, leadership behaviours, and safeguarding commitments in all grants-related interactions, contributing to a respectful, accountable, and inclusive working environment.

Proactively identify areas for self-development, including evolving donor regulations, financial controls, and grants systems, and pursue learning opportunities that strengthen individual and team capability.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (SUCCESS MEASURES) – Building the right platform and creating lasting impact

Donor compliance and risk awareness: Grant compliance risks within assigned sub-grants are identified early, documented clearly, and escalated appropriately to the Grants Manager. Donor rules and agreement terms are accurately reflected in trackers, reporting templates, and partner guidance materials. Reporting deadlines are consistently tracked and met, with minimal avoidable compliance gaps.

Operational judgement: Demonstrates initiative in identifying process inefficiencies, documentation gaps, or coordination bottlenecks across grants, finance, and programme interfaces. Applies sound professional judgement in balancing flexibility and compliance in routine grant administration decisions. Anticipates operational issues (budget variances, reporting delays, documentation gaps) and acts early to prevent escalation.

Efficient and audit-ready sub-grant administration: Sub-grant files, trackers, and documentation are complete, well-organised, secure, and audit-ready at all times. Financial and narrative reporting inputs are accurate, reconciled, and submitted on time. Audit requests and compliance reviews are supported efficiently, with minimal documentation gaps attributable to the assigned portfolio. Corrective actions related to assigned sub-grants are tracked and closed promptly.

Sub-grant portfolio coordination: All assigned sub-grants are actively tracked across lifecycle stages (start-up, implementation, amendments, close-out). Budget variances and milestone risks are flagged early, with clear documentation and follow-up actions. Country programme teams demonstrate clarity on reporting timelines and sub-grant obligations for assigned grants. No critical reporting or contractual milestones are missed due to gaps in coordination.

Implementing partner and Cross-functional collaboration: Sub-grantees demonstrate improved understanding of reporting expectations and documentation standards. Coordination between Grants, Finance, MEL, and Communications is smooth for assigned portfolio elements. Stakeholder queries are addressed professionally and within agreed timelines. Escalations to the Grants Manager are timely, well-documented, and solution-oriented.

Country programme and team capability building support: Country teams demonstrate reduced need for repeated clarification on routine grants processes within the Officer’s assigned portfolio. Knowledge sharing contributes to improved consistency in grants documentation and tracking across countries. The Grants Officer is recognised internally as reliable, responsive, and technically competent in sub-grant administration.

Continuous improvement & governance support: Lessons from implementation, reviews, or audits are documented and fed back into process improvements. Governance discussions are supported with accurate, well-prepared grants data and documentation. Improvements in tools or workflows are implemented consistently within the assigned portfolio.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in international development, Public Administration, Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Project Management, Public Health, or a related field

CPA (K), ACCA, CFA, CMI, CA or other internationally recognized professional qualification(s) required, with proven experience applying professional accounting standards in multi-country, donor-funded programme environments, including practical understanding of country-level financial operations and regulatory contexts

Credentials such as Certified Grants Management Specialist (CGMS) are an added advantage

Experience

Four (4) to six (6) years of relevant experience in grants management within the social impact/development sector

Proficiency in financial, CRM systems or software and Microsoft Office suite

Demonstrable experience in managing grants, sub-grants, procurement, and compliance with donor regulations

Demonstrable experience in prefunding assessment, contract design, compliance management, data analysis and budget & report review for multi-country programmes

Experience managing complex donor grants, sub-grants and partner compliance

Fluent in oral and written English

Minimum qualifications

BA/BSc/HND , Professional Certificate

How to apply

Interested and qualified? Go to Amref Kenya on jobs.smartrecruiters.com to apply

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