Grants Program Manager

At AKS, we are growing and building for the future. We bring together multidisciplined experts across the land development, energy, and infrastructure markets to take on bigger challenges and deliver solutions that make a real difference. Our teams combine creativity, technical excellence, and a collaborative, hands-on approach to solve complex problems and deliver results our clients and communities can count on. We take pride in our work and our ability to provide opportunities for our teams, support each other’s growth, and look ahead to what’s next. When you join AKS, you will find opportunities to take ownership of meaningful projects, learn, lead, and make an impact from day one.

If you thrive at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, technical understanding, and you know how to turn great ideas into funded projects, this is the role for you. As a Grants Program Manager, you’ll play a key role in helping communities access critical funding for infrastructure, planning, and development projects that shape our communities throughout the West Coast. You’ll dig into capital improvement and comprehensive plans, identify opportunities, and write winning proposals that bring projects to life.

What You’ll Do

• Research, identify, and track federal, state, and local grant opportunities relevant to AKS’s markets (engineering, surveying, land use planning, construction support, landscape architecture, energy/renewables, traffic, water resources, and natural resources).
• Review jurisdictional capital improvement and comprehensive plans to identify funding gaps and opportunities and match potential grant programs that could address those needs.
• Evaluate the technical requirements, program priorities, scoring criteria, and review panel approach for each grant to develop tailored strategies that increase award success rates.
• Write, edit, and submit compelling and compliant grant applications and supporting materials.
• Collaborate closely with technical teams and clients to translate technical concepts into clear, persuasive narratives.
• Manage post-award activities, including reporting, documentation, and communication with funding agencies.

Who You Are

• Strong understanding of federal, state, and local grant programs, particularly within the AEC industry.
• Skilled at analyzing capital improvement or comprehensive plans and identifying potential project matches for grant programs where funding can make an impact.
• Exceptional written communication skills with the ability to translate technical content into persuasive narratives and graphics.
• Familiar with how grant scoring systems work and how to structure applications to align with evaluation criteria. Ability to think strategically from the evaluator’s perspective, apply detailed analysis of the evaluation criteria, and ensure the application is easy to review and maximizes scoring opportunities. Evaluators are often reviewing numerous applications in a short amount of time, and every point counts.
• Develop and maintain relationships with prospective clients to understand their funding needs and present AKS’s grant writing and management services as strategic solutions. Awareness of client culture and needs improves the ability to find grant programs that will match projects and be successful in implementation.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple deadlines at once.
• Collaborative and confident working with engineers, planners, and other technical professionals. Ability to gain awareness of company culture and the services AKS can provide to assist in grant applications, as well as grant implementation.

Nice to Have

• Experience managing grants from application through post-award compliance.
• Understanding of the upstream and downstream effects of accepting certain grant types (e.g., federal vs. local funding implications).
• Familiarity withthe proper application of AI and other efficiency and automation tools to streamline research, writing, or data analysis.
• Background in public agency consulting or AEC proposal writing and funds procurement.
• Experience coordinating across multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated success working with external clients and developing relationships. Known as a “go-to” resource for assistance.

Why AKS?

At AKS, we believe your work should support your life, not the other way around. Here's what you can count on when you join our team:

• Meaningful Growth: Whether you're just starting out or looking to advance, we offer hands-on training, mentorship, and clear paths for professional development so you can grow with purpose.
• Real Collaboration: Join a team that brings diverse perspectives together to solve complex challenges with creativity, curiosity, and a shared commitment to quality.
• Respect for Your Time: We value work-life balance and offer generous PTO and a supportive environment that helps you manage both personal and professional responsibilities.
• Benefits That Care: You’ll have access to health coverage that supports your total well-being, plus a 401(k) match, paid holidays, and more resources to help you thrive.
• Weekly Team Lunches: Take a break and recharge with your teammates — we believe food brings people together.
• Culture That Connects: We invest in experiences that build strong teams and strong communities.
• A Place People Love to Work: We’ve been named one of the Top Workplaces in the Pacific Northwest year after year for good reason.

Join us and be part of a team that values your contributions and invests in your future.