Director of Government Grants and Contracts

Organization Overview

Breaktime (www.breaktime.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to break the cycle of young adult homelessness by equipping young adults with the job and financial security they need to establish housing security. Our vision is a world without young adult homelessness. By providing employment, wraparound services, and financial support, Breaktime ensures that every young person has the tools they need to achieve job, financial, and long-term housing security.

Breaktime prides itself on our supportive, flexible, and rewarding work environment. We offer valuable benefits such as unlimited paid time off, 401k matching, 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, Flexible Savings Accounts, and flexible hybrid work. Breaktime is rapidly expanding as an organization, and we believe there are significant opportunities for advancement.

Roles and Responsibilities

Overview: Breaktime is seeking a strategic, collaborative, and highly skilled Director of Government Grants and Contracts to lead the expansion and execution of its public-sector revenue strategy. This director-level position is responsible for identifying, securing, and stewarding government grants and contracts to help Breaktime meet its ambitious goal of raising $1 million in FY2025 and scaling to $4 million annually by FY2029.

This Director will architect and lead a thriving public funding program that aligns with Breaktime’s mission to break the cycle of young adult homelessness through purposeful job training and living-wage employment. The role requires strong external relationship-building skills, deep knowledge of government grantmaking and compliance (including 2 CFR 200), and the ability to work cross-functionally to evaluate fundable programs, produce compelling proposals, monitor funding usage, and ensure strong post-award execution.

As the primary liaison to government partners, this role monitors funding landscapes and policy changes, positions Breaktime as a trusted public-sector partner, and champions innovative government partnerships that drive both revenue and impact.

Responsibilities:

• Strategic Planning & Pipeline Development (40%)
  • Formulate a four-year public-funding roadmap aligned with Breaktime’s strategic plan.
  • Establish annual and quarterly revenue targets, and monitor performance to adjust tactics accordingly.
  • Maintain a comprehensive pipeline of federal, state, county, and municipal opportunities, ranked by mission fit, competitiveness, and return on investment.
  • Lead and facilitate regular evaluation and 'go/no-go' decision-making processes in partnership with the VP of Programs & Community Outreach and VP of Development, including assessing implementation requirements, organizational capacity, and execution strategies for government grant opportunities.
• Grant Development & Submission (25%)
  • Lead cross-departmental teams in drafting narratives, budgets, work plans, and supplemental materials for grant and contract applications.
  • Manage multiple concurrent deadlines to ensure complete and compliant submissions.
  • Curate and update a repository of boilerplate language, institutional data, and compliance certifications.
  • Develop an annual grant pipeline schedule and budget projection.
  • Coordinate with program staff to generate proposals and reports.
  • Responsible for all proposals and reports submission.
  • Coordinate with program, finance, and program staff to generate proposals and reports.
  • Data and Record-Keeping – Utilize the Salesforce database to capture processes and results, generating regular reports on fundraising goals.
  • Ensure that all documentation, including the RFP, proposal, grant agreement, and reports, is properly organized and communicated to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Compliance, Billing & Reporting (20%)
  • Develop and enforce standard operating procedures for post-award activities, including financial draws, performance reporting, sub-recipient monitoring, audit readiness, and close-out.
  • Coordinate with the Finance team to align budgets, cost allocations, and restricted-fund accounting.
  • Produce internal dashboards tracking deliverables, expenditures, and risk indicators.
  • Track and generate invoices based on specific funder payment schedules.
  • Reconcile with the VP of Development and the Finance team to ensure accuracy of funding allocations and usage.
• Government Relations & Advocacy (10%)
  • Cultivate relationships with program officers, legislators, and coalition partners to enhance your influence and effectiveness.
  • Monitor legislative and regulatory developments that affect youth homelessness funding and workforce development, and brief senior leadership on these developments, drafting organizational responses as needed.
  • Represent Breaktime at hearings, briefings, and sector conferences.
  • Coordinate and lead legislative days and external events with key City, State, and federal leadership to increase awareness and deepen relationships with key stakeholders.
  • Collaborate with the Executive Director, VP of Development, and Senior Director of Communications & Strategic Initiatives on devising and implementing government relations and advocacy to champion support for young adults.
• Capacity Building & Knowledge Transfer (5%)
  • Deliver internal training on public grant regulations and best practices.
  • Provide technical guidance to colleagues on budget development, outcome measurement, and compliance issues.
  • Ensure consensus and partnership with the VP of Programs & Community Outreach, VP of Development, and other team members.

Reports to: VP of Development

Supervises: Provides functional oversight to cross-departmental proposal teams and manages contract grant writers and subject-matter consultants on an as-needed basis.

Working Conditions: Primarily computer-based, involving extended periods of document preparation, data analysis, and virtual conferencing. The role requires periodic local or regional travel—generally less than 10 percent of work time to attend funder meetings, legislative hearings, or sector conferences. It may also involve working early morning or evening hours to accommodate grant submission deadlines or government schedules. The incumbent must be able to lift and transport up to 20 pounds of proposal or presentation materials and stand or walk for extended periods during on-site engagements.

Requirements

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required (master’s in public administration, public policy, or a related field preferred) and a minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience securing and managing federal, state, or local grants with documented six- or seven-figure awards.
  • Applicants without a bachelor’s degree will be considered with at least seven years of directly relevant public-grant experience that clearly demonstrates comparable knowledge, skills, and compliance performance.

Technical Proficiency

• Expert knowledge of Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), federal cost-allocation principles, and public-sector contracting regulations.
• Advanced use of Salesforce (or comparable CRM) for pipeline, reporting, and compliance management.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) for collaborative drafting, data analysis, and complex budget modeling.
• Familiarity with federal grant platforms—including SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and JustGrants—as well as Trello (or similar project-management software) and Slack for real-time coordination.

Grants & Compliance Expertise

• Demonstrated success securing and administering six- or seven-figure awards from federal and/or state agencies.
• Proven ability to design performance-measurement frameworks, prepare audit-ready documentation, and manage post-award activities (drawdowns, reporting, close-outs) with zero material findings.

Core Competencies

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex programmatic and financial information into clear, persuasive narratives for agency officials and internal stakeholders.
• Upstream, systems-level thinking that anticipates policy shifts, identifies root-cause barriers to funding growth, and proposes proactive solutions.
• Strategic and analytical mindset with strong budgeting and forecasting capabilities.
• An inclusive collaborator who models Breaktime’s values of Young Adults First, Radical Inclusion, and Collaborative Innovation while disseminating knowledge across teams.
• Meticulous attention to detail and disciplined deadline management.

Breaktime carefully considers a wide range of compensation factors, including but not limited to prior experience, skills, expertise, location, internal equity, and other considerations permitted by law. The comprehensive remuneration details, inclusive of benefits, will be communicated upon finalization of the employment offer.

We value and welcome equivalent lived and professional experience. Research suggests that qualified women, marginalized identities, Black, Indigenous, and/or Persons of Color (BIPOC), may self-select out of opportunities if they don’t meet 100% of the job requirements. We believe in diversity and inclusivity at Breaktime, and encourage candidates from various backgrounds to apply if they believe they have the necessary skills to thrive in this role.

Breaktime champions radical inclusion. We strive to be an organization where everyone feels welcome, particularly those who are most often excluded and discriminated against. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Breaktime does not discriminate in its employment decisions on the basis of housing status, race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other basis that would be in violation of any applicable federal, state, or local law.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.