Senior Grants Assistant

• Attractive local package
• Friendly and supportive team environment
• Join the principal development organisation in the region

Description

The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, supporting development since 1947. We are an international development organisation owned and governed by our 27 country and territory members. In pursuit of sustainable development to benefit Pacific people, our organisation works across more than 25 sectors. We are known for our knowledge and innovation in such areas as fisheries science, public health surveillance, geoscience, and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The Operations and Management Directorate (OMD) provides corporate services to all SPC Divisions and Programmes. It consists of three key departments: Finance, Human Resources and Information Services. OMD is focused on improving the effectiveness of systems, policies and management to provide high-quality customer-oriented services.

The role – Grants Senior Assistant will support Grants activities; provide high quality advice and client customer service; to contribute to the Grants Team reforms.

The key responsibilities of the role include:

Operations: procurement

• Support the grants activities in accordance with SPC’s Grants Policy, in close collaboration with divisions, and as allocated by management, by assisting with drafting grant solicitation and calls for proposals documentation, processing grantee entries and undertaking due diligence on grantees, support the pre-award processes, ensuring compliance with internal policies, support the post-award processes, including the monitoring, reporting and closure processes for grants drafting standard grant agreements using SPC’s templates.

Teamwork

• Contributes to the Grants and Collaboration Team.
• Risks and any ethical issues identified and escalated.

Advice and client services

• Provide high quality customer service on Grants issues.
• Provide professional and sound service to the divisions and assist with providing service to the Grants Procurement Committee to assist with granting decisions.
• Respond to routine queries received through the Helpdesk or external email.
• Provide information to divisions on routine grant matters to divisional contacts.

Records keeping

• Support reporting and ensure dashboard is accurate and up to date.
• Record-keeping is accurate.

Other duties as required

• Support logistics for meetings.
• Ensure other administrative tasks as allocated are completed, including back-up support for the general administrative assistant.

For a more detailed account of the key responsibilities, please refer to the online job description.

Key selection criteria

Qualifications

• Diploma in finance, administration or a related field or equivalent body of knowledge and experience.

Technical expertise

• At least 5 years of experience supporting grants, collaborations, project management or stakeholder engagement, financial or legal management in a public sector or not-for-profit environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present information clearly and persuasively to different audiences.
• Commitment to upholding ethical standards and ensuring transparency in all activities.
• Familiarity with grant management, donor compliance, or collaboration processes.      

Language skills

• Excellent English communication skills (oral and written).

Interpersonal skills and cultural awareness

• Ability to work in a multicultural, inclusive and equitable environment.

Salary, terms and conditions

Contract Duration – Until 31 October 2028 – subject to renewal depending on funding and performance.

Remuneration – the Senior Grants Assistant is a band 7 position in SPC’s 2025 salary scale, with a commencing taxable salary range of FJD 2,402-3,002 per month, plus local staff benefits. An offer of appointment for an initial contract will be made in the lower half of this range, with due consideration being given to experience and qualifications. Progression within the salary scale will be based on annual performance reviews.

Benefits for Staff in a position advertised locally (EPAL) whose duty station is Suva – SPC provides medical and life insurance for eligible employees and their eligible dependents. Employees are entitled to 25 working days of annual leave per annum and other types of leave, and access to SPC’s Provident Fund (contributing 8% of salary, to which SPC adds a 10% contribution).

Recruitment principles – SPC’s recruitment is based on merit and fairness, and candidates are competing in a selection process that is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory. SPC is an equal-opportunity employer, and is committed to cultural and gender diversity, including bilingualism, and will seek to attract and appoint candidates who respect these values. Due attention is given to gender equity and the maintenance of strong representation from Pacific Island professionals. If two interviewed candidates are ranked equal by the selection panel, preference will be given to the Pacific Islander.

Applicants will be assured of complete confidentiality in line with SPC’s Privacy Policy.

Application procedure

Closing Date – 26 October 2025 at 11:59pm (Fiji time)

Job Reference: JM000911

Applicants must apply online at http://careers.spc.int/

Hard copies of applications will not be accepted.

For your application to be considered, you must provide us with:

• an updated resume with contact details for three professional referees
• a cover letter detailing your skills, experience and interest in this position
• responses to all screening questions

Your application will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed at shortlisting stage if all the above documents are not provided. Applicants should not attach copies of qualifications or letters of reference. Please ensure your documents are in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

Only Fijian citizens are eligible to apply for this role.

SPC does not charge a fee to consider your application and will never ask for your banking or financial information during the recruitment process.

Screening Questions (maximum of 2,000 characters per question):

1. Please describe your past experience in supporting grants activities.
2. What are the key elements for delivering good quality customer service? Please provide an example of how you have applied these in the past.
3. Please provide an example of when you have actively contributed as part of a team to deliver high quality results.