Grants Management Systems Analyst

Looking to use your technical expertise to directly power meaningful impact? As our Grants Management Systems Analyst, you'll shape and evolve the systems behind Ascendium's Education Philanthropy, turning complex needs into smart, scalable solutions. From enhancing the Fluxx grantmaking platform to driving data-informed decisions, you'll be at the center of collaboration and continuous improvement.

If you're energized by solving problems, building better systems, and supporting work that expands educational opportunity, this is your chance to make a difference.

The Grants Management Systems Analyst reports to the Grants Management Data and Systems Manager and serves primarily as the grants management lead system administrator. As Ascendium's grantmaking continues to grow and evolve, the analyst will work to ensure our systems keep pace with our growing grantmaking. The position works directly with the Manager to execute regular system enhancements and maintenance to meet stakeholder needs, while also exploring new capabilities to address the evolving needs of Ascendium's Education Philanthropy. The analyst plays a pivotal role in building and administrative duties of the Fluxx Grants Management System by staying abreast of regular updates needed and working on regular system cleanup. The position also helps with ensuring the system complies with corporate information governance standards.

This role is a Madison-based position, with the expectation of hybrid work at the Madison, Wisconsin, headquarters and additional work from home days.

The starting salary range for this position is $75,000-$85,000.

On a day-to-day basis, you may do the following.

• Serve as strategist and administrator for the grants system (Fluxx) and processes.
• Assist and support the Manager with the build, testing, and deployment of grant system updates in pre-production and production to ensure a high-quality product, designed to meet evolving stakeholder needs, as well as suggesting system or process enhancements.
• Support and deliver ongoing grants management software solution configuration. Configure Fluxx integrations, including DocuSign and additional integrations, as necessary. Help with the writing and editing of liquid/HTML code to support visibility and functionality on grant forms.
• Assist with ongoing development and updating of field coding structures and related implementation, including document system configurations.
• Communicate with internal and external partners regarding information needs, discussing solutions from both a technical and grantmaking perspective. This includes active engagement in the Fluxx community.
• Implement policies, procedures, and standards to ensure security and confidentiality of all records, accuracy, and data integrity and completeness. This includes administering responsible access management policies such as maintaining user rights for the division's grants management system. This position would manage all user credentials, including roles and permissions in accordance with access policies.
• Support the Education Philanthropy team through the creation and ongoing generation of data reports and data visualization using the Grants Management System (Fluxx) and the Grantelligence system. This includes developing and creating complex reports to support data-driven decision making and preparing data pulls and reports for internal and external use based on end user requirements. Examples include but not limited to board docket materials, grant data summaries, reports on grant expenditures and projections, and overviews of new grant proposals.
• Help create end user training of the grant system for internal staff and external partners by collaborating with the Grants Management team to identify training opportunities. Additionally, this position will facilitate the ongoing maintenance of staff and grant partner training materials, including but not limited to staff and grant partner user guides and internal and external training videos.
• Assist the Manager with staying up to date on changing trends and regulations within technology and philanthropy sectors. This includes listening to internal stakeholder needs and evaluating grants management system best practices to proactively identify and make recommendations related to opportunities for continued process improvement and automation, including use of artificial intelligence (AI).
• Help develop and create dashboards in the grant system to support data-driven decision making. In addition, create complex database queries that are informative, actionable, and repeatable reporting that can be run and utilized by a variety of stakeholders, primarily the Grants Management team for dissemination to additional stakeholders.

The Grants Management Systems Analyst is a key resource within the Grants Management and Education Philanthropy team who will develop a working knowledge of all Grants Management functions in order to serve as a team backup as needed. Approximately 5% travel required to two or three annual conferences for ongoing professional and skills development.

A highly qualified candidate will possess the following.

• Ability to think critically and creatively to develop solutions.
• Willingness to learn and adapt to a fast-paced, continually evolving field and work environment.
• Ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals.
• Ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with and among a diverse group of stakeholders.
• Ability to use available resources to continuously improve and develop mastery in your role.
• Effective interpersonal skills that are exemplified by initiative, courtesy, diplomacy, positive attitude, and professionalism.
• A demonstrated ability to ensure work is completed with attention to Grants Management's values of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and consistency.
• Proficiency in Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Windows, and Microsoft Word, along with the ability to learn other specialized grants management software programs.
• Very strong business mind and the expertise to translate user scenarios (or business requirements) into technical solutions.
• A critical thinker with the inherent ability to think ahead of the project work and take proactive steps to address roadblocks, conflicts, and risks.
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure to meet critical deadlines yet remain flexible in responding to changing requirements.
• Ability to gather, analyze, and report on grant data. Must also be adept at queries, report writing, and presenting findings.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Strong listening skills and the ability to translate end user concerns into actionable recommendations and solutions.
• Excellent organizational, problem solving, and coordination skills; excellent with time management and has the ability to manage multiple collaborative projects simultaneously.
• Ability to perform job functions independently with minimal direction/supervision.
• Effective interpersonal skills exemplified by initiative, courtesy, diplomacy, positive attitude, professionalism, and appropriate business ethics.

Education and Experience Requirements

• A bachelor's or master's degree in project management, business, communications, information technology or a related field, or a combination of experience and knowledge equivalent to such a degree.
• Five or more years of progressive experience in positions involving customer service, project management, problem solving, data management, and coordination of detailed, complex and dynamic information.
• Three or more years of professional experience conducting business process analysis, working with requirements/user stories, and configuring software solutions.
• Experience with system configuration and reporting including experience writing and editing HTML or liquid code.
• Experience in the philanthropic or nonprofit sectors is not required but preferred.
• Experience with Fluxx software is not required but preferred.

About Ascendium

Ascendium is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has helped millions of learners pursue postsecondary education since 1967, when it was formed to help fulfill the promise of the landmark Higher Education Act of 1965. Over the years, Ascendium has grown to become the nation's largest federal student loan guarantor, providing information, tools and counseling to help millions of borrowers nationwide avoid default and keep the door to re-enrollment open. Using our experience in the student loan industry, we've developed a suite of products and services that support academic achievement, financial wellness, and student loan repayment success.

We use the net proceeds from our business operations to fund our education philanthropy. Our strategic grantmaking provides funding to organizations that increase the number of low-income learners who succeed in postsecondary education and workforce training as a pathway to upward mobility. Through grantmaking and related investments in evidence-building and strategic field engagement, we seek to identify emerging innovations and reforms, validate their effectiveness, and expand proven strategies to promote large-scale, systemic change.

Ascendium offers an outstanding benefits package designed to provide employees and their families with a high degree of security. These benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Generous time off, including up to eight weeks of paid parental leave.
• Paid volunteer time off.
• Retirement savings plan with employer match.

Ascendium provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, creed, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.

H-1B sponsorship (initiation or transfer) is not available for this position.

If you would like assistance with the application process, please email Ascendium Human Resources. We invite all applicants to complete the Voluntary Affirmative Action questions when submitting application materials. The questions are found at the end of the online application process. To learn more about our commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity, please visit the Ascendium Careers webpage.

Ascendium requires criminal, employment, and education background investigations before hiring.