Recent Graduate (Grants Management Specialist)

Recent Graduate (Grants Management Specialist) at National Institutes of Health · Department of Health and Human Services. Grade: 9-9. Applications close 2026-10-30.

Summary

This is an excepted service appointment under the NIH Pathways Recent Graduate Program. NIH Recent Graduates receive on-the-job training for one year and complete at least 40 hours of formal interactive training while in the program. Assignments are aimed at developing the employees' skills and knowledge to progressively perform more difficult duties.

Duties

• As a Recent Graduate (Grants Management Specialist) your typical work assignments may include: Participating in the planning and business management of assigned grants and renewal applications.
• Assisting higher-level specialists in carrying out a variety of tasked related to reviewing proposals in a limited range of areas, using a variety of standard guidelines.
• Coordinating simple funding actions that begin the grants/agreements awards process.
• Researching numerous criteria, laws, rules, and regulations to determine what is legal and applicable in formulating agreements.
• Evaluating budget justifications and financials arrangements.
• Providing assistance in the administration of the portfolio including setting appropriate work priorities.
• Ensuring compliance with terms and conditions of grants/agreements and monitor assigned program allowances to track the pace of expenditures and prevent lapse of funds or over expenditures.
• Contributing to the initiation, refinement, and implementation of applicable policies and procedural guidance.

Qualifications

To be eligible for appointment, you must be a recent graduate who has completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associate's, bachelor's, master's, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree, or certificate from a qualifying, accredited educational institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. A valid certificate program is post-secondary education in a qualifying educational institution that is equivalent to at least one academic year of full-time study, as defined by your university. The certificate program must also be a part of an accredited college-level, technical, vocational, trade, or business school curriculum.

AND You qualify at the GS-09 level, if you meet one of the following qualification requirements:

• A. completed a master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or an LL.B. or J.D., if related; Note: The degree must be in a field of study related to the position being filled.
• OR B. 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal service obtained in either the private or public sector, performing the following types of tasks: 1.) Reviewing grant/cooperative agreement applications for compliance with administrative procedures. 2.) Providing information to applicants on the grant/cooperative agreement procedures and regulatory requirements. 3.) Drafting grant/cooperative agreement-related documents (e.g., award notices, status reports).
• OR C. a combination of post baccalaureate education and experience that meets 100% of the qualification requirements for this position.

You will receive credit for all experience material to the position, including experience gained in religious, civic, welfare, service, and organizational activities, regardless of whether you received pay. Do not copy and paste the duties or specialized experience from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position. We may verify or assess your qualifications at any time. Inflated or unsupported qualifications may affect your rating. Any misrepresentation or material omission of facts may be sufficient cause to end further consideration of your candidacy. Persons listed as knowing your past accomplishments or experience in your application may be contacted for verification purposes at any time. Verification may, but need not, begin before receiving an offer.

Veterans unable to apply within two years of receiving their degree due to military service obligation may have as much as six years after degree completion to apply. Veterans are granted exclusion for their time served. Therefore, if a Veteran graduates and then serves on active duty for four years, his/her service time is subtracted for the purposes of the two-year calculation.

While conversion is not guaranteed, Recent Graduates may be converted to a career-conditional appointment (a term position lasting 1-4 years or a permanent position) upon successful completion of all program requirements specified by the Pathways Participant Agreement. To be eligible for conversion to a permanent or term position, Recent Graduates must: Successfully complete at least 1-year of continuous service in addition to all requirements of the Program. Demonstrate successful job performance. Meet the Office of Personnel Management's qualifications for the position to which the Recent Graduate may be converted. To learn more, please visit: http://www.opm.gov/HiringReform/Pathways/program/graduates/. Preview application questionnaire before you apply: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13080843

Education

You must submit a copy of your transcripts. Unofficial transcripts will be accepted in the application package; however, official transcripts will be required prior to receiving an official offer. Please note that unofficial transcripts attached to the application must reflect that the degree or certificate has been awarded or conferred. The date that the degree was awarded or conferred must meet the program criteria at the time of application. Applicants must have graduated with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. We do not round the GPA. All documents must be received at the time of application. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency (a U.S. private organization's interpretation that such education has been deemed at least equivalent to conventional U.S. education programs) with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For more information regarding evaluation of foreign education for federal employment, please visit the U.S. Department of Education webpage on the Click here for information on Foreign Education.

How to apply

This announcement accepts applications during the open period of October 26, 2026, through October 30, 2026; unless the applicant cut-off of 150 applicants is reached. This announcement will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time (ET) on October 30, 2026, or on the day the 150th application is received, whichever comes first. A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM ET on the closing day of the announcement to receive consideration. Early submission of your application is highly encouraged. Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete and submit all required questionnaires, assessments, and required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents sections. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration.

The application process is as follows:

• Click Apply Online button.
• Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package.
• See the "Required Documents" section for any additional forms and/or supplemental materials required.
• Read all Eligibility questions and respond accordingly to any Eligibility you wish to claim. You will only be considered for those Eligibility questions (Veteran, Schedule A, etc.) you respond in the affirmative to, regardless of what documentation you submit. We cannot assume you intended to respond differently to a question based on other information in your application package.
• Complete the application questionnaire. Applicants are asked all questions regardless of their consideration preferences. We will only consider you for the grades, series, locations, specialties, and other considerations that you self-identify as being qualified for or interested in. Preview application questionnaire before you apply: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13080843
• After submitting an online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder.
• If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice.
• Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended.
• Set aside about 2 hours to take the USA Hire assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused.
• Verify all required documentation is included in your application package, review your responses to the application questionnaire for accuracy, and then submit your application.

Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. In addition to the required documents, we encourage you to submit a cover letter, copy of your transcripts, and any applicable certifications or licenses. Even though this information is not required at the time of application, we may request this information later. We cannot assume responsibility or grant extensions for personal issues (e.g., troubles navigating the application process, loss of internet, not understanding a question) when applying to our announcements. For technical difficulties, contact HR Systems Support between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM ET Monday through Friday at hrss@nih.gov. For reasonable accommodations not related to USA Hire, please contact Global Jobs at globaljobs@mail.nih.gov. Requests for reasonable accommodations must be made before the announcement closing date. Visit our site for information on NIH's EEO program, Reasonable accommodation procedures, laws, policy statements, and the operation of the EEO complaint process.