Grant Manager

We are seeking an experienced Grant Manager to join the Grant Management Department at the Novo Nordisk Foundation in Hellerup, Denmark. This role offers a unique opportunity to work in a purpose driven foundation alongside passionate and talented colleagues committed to creating impact benefitting people and society.

Grant Management is a department with 25 international employees across two teams. As a Grant Manager, your primary responsibility is to ensure seamless and professional grant management for our grantees, committees and internal stakeholders. Grant Management is on an exciting development journey where we continue to strengthen our role as partners to our internal colleagues in the programme areas while driving operational excellence in grant management. This entails ensuring efficient processes, developing standardised ways of working and maintaining solid day-to-day operations. We work collaboratively across the department’s teams and disciplines and place a strong emphasis on knowledge sharing, continuous improvement and professional development.

The role

As Grant Manager you will have the end-to-end responsibility for committees, open calls and grants awarded outside of open calls, managing the full process from call design and launch through assessment, decision making and post award follow-up. You will join the Health and Corporate Affairs team within the department where you primarily will work with calls and grants within Biomedical Research, working closely with colleagues across the programme area to support the development and execution of high-quality funding activities.

Your key responsibilities will be:

• Take end to end responsibility for committee processes, including preparation of decision material, facilitation of meetings and implementation of outcomes in line with governance and quality standards.
• Support applicants, committee members and grant recipients throughout open calls, ensuring transparent processes, timely decisions and high-quality communication across the full application and decision-making cycle.
• Advise on timeline, risk assessment and key decision points and ensuring grant agreements are set up, reviewed and finalized in line with NNF-standards.
• Manage a portfolio of grants outside of open calls, including grant agreements, post award follow up, and ensuring compliance.
• End-to-end grant management, incl. financial reporting, managing change requests from grant recipients, ensuring compliance, and supporting grant recipients throughout the entire grant cycle
• Drive continuous improvement and digitalisation initiatives within grant management processes, acting as project manager for defined initiatives or workstreams, to strengthen operational efficiency and cross-organisational collaboration.

You will join a department that is actively shaping the future of grant management at the Foundation. Beyond managing grant portfolios, you will have opportunities to contribute to process improvements, digitalisation initiatives and the continued development of our ways of working. You will contribute to a positive team environment and working culture where you interact and build relationships with colleagues across the organisation. 

Professional and personal qualifications

We are looking for a candidate with a strong expertise in managing complex grant processes. You hold a master’s degree or equivalent within a relevant field and have at least 5 years of relevant experience in grant management from a university, research institute, foundation, NGO, or the public sector.

We expect you to have:

• Experience in delivering high-quality grant management
• Proven ability to ensure compliance and quality across a diverse portfolio of grants and/or projects.
• Experience advising on complex grant programmes and contributing to the development and improvement of funding models and processes.
• Proficiency in working with systems and digital tools that support funding processes and portfolio oversight.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and clear, professional communication; excellent written and spoken English.

As a person, you:

• Act as a collaborative team player, actively supporting colleagues through knowledge sharing and sparring.
• Are highly structured, detail-oriented, and proactive, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and deliver high-quality results in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
• Take responsibility for constructive collaboration across functions and respecting role clarity and ownership.
• Seek, reflect on, and provide feedback in a way that supports continuous improvement and a positive working environment.
• Thrive in a cross-disciplinary setting and in team-centric ways of working.
• Handle differing perspectives with professionalism, sound judgement, and constructive dialogue.

We believe the best solutions are created through collaboration. We value openness, constructive feedback, mutual support and a willingness to learn from one another. We succeed as a team and actively share knowledge and expertise across the department. This role offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of science, strategy, operations and stakeholder engagement while contributing to some of the Foundation's most important grants and initiatives.

You will work onsite at the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s headquarters in Hellerup. We have an office-first policy where limited remote working conditions can be agreed upon.

Application and information

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible and no later than 3 August 2026.

To apply, please upload your CV and cover letter by clicking on the "Apply" button.

The first-round interviews will be conducted 17-18 August

The second-round interviews will be conducted 27 August

Candidates invited to the second interview will be asked to complete a case study and an assessment test in advance.

About The Novo Nordisk Foundation
Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people's health and the sustainability of society and the planet.
The Foundation's mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.