Senior Public Health Grant Strategist

Senior Public Health Grant Strategist

Title: OSDH Public Health Grant Strategy & Business Process Optimization

Duration: 6 12 months

Location & Schedule: Remote/Hybrid (Oklahoma City, OK preferred), Monday Friday, core hours 8:00 AM 5:00 PM CST.

Experience Level: Senior (15+ years)

Interview: Virtual/In-person

Description

This engagement centers on providing senior leadership at the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Grant Management Office with strategic advisory services. The consultant will be responsible for optimizing federal grant acquisition, navigating complex funding streams such as HHS, CMS, and USDA, and modernizing the agency's grant management practices to ensure strict compliance with 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance), Single Audit readiness, and Oklahoma State financial and procurement laws.

A primary focus of the role is enhancing centralization and enterprise grant oversight by bridging programmatic operations with the state's PeopleSoft financial ERP system. The position will assist with planning and designing automated, centralized Smartsheet workflows, control centers, and real-time executive dashboards that replace disparate manual spreadsheets.

Additionally, this role will advise and assist the Grant Management Office with stakeholder engagement, agency communications, outreach and education, legislative interactions, and organizational change management for all OSDH grants. The role also involves delivering high-level policy briefings, performing comprehensive grant readiness assessments, and establishing standardized subrecipient monitoring frameworks.

Requirements

• 15+ years of experience in public health grant strategy, executive advisory, and federal grant portfolio management within state or local health department environments.

• Proven track record of providing agency-wide strategic insight, specifically within state health agencies such as OSDH or equivalent state health departments, leveraging grant funding to sustain and expand core public health operational capabilities.

• Demonstrated experience integrating state PeopleSoft Financials enterprise grant modules with operational business processes and workflow management tools.

• Demonstrated experience with Smartsheet architecture and solutions design, specifically focused on digitizing complex state business processes and creating executive-level reporting frameworks.

• Deep, hands-on familiarity with federal grant systems and state health department administration tools, such as HRSA EHBs, Grants.gov, and state-level central grant repositories.

• Deep, authoritative understanding of 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance), state administrative codes, and federal compliance requirements.

• Exceptional strategic consulting, executive presentation, and stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to influence C-suite leaders and state agency heads.

• Master's degree in Public Health (MPH), Health Care Administration (MHA), Master of Public Administration (MPA), Master of Science (MS), or a related field, or equivalent senior executive experience.

• At least four years of Smartsheet workflow integration experience in building automation, dashboards, governance, and solution delivery.

• At least four years of experience with PeopleSoft Financials, including queries, requisitions, approvals, and ledger tools.

• Direct prior experience working within or consulting for the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) or other state health departments.

• Expertise in state-level public health governance, multi-county health district structures, or social determinants of health (SDOH) strategy.

• Extensive experience in public health federal grant lifecycle management exceeding $150M.

Health Department Strategy & Core Public Health Integration

• Advise OSDH leadership and agency directors on strategically leveraging, blending, and braiding major federal funding streams (HHS, CMS, and secondary sources such as USDA) to build long-term capacity for foundational public health capabilities.

• Evaluate department-wide grant portfolios to eliminate operational silos, identify funding gaps, and align multi-year grant applications with state health improvement plans and agency priorities.

• Translate complex multi-grant financial and compliance data into high-level strategic intelligence for executive leadership, board members, and legislative stakeholders to guide health policy and resource allocation.

Core Deliverables & Task Areas Task Area 1: Strategic Grant Policy Advisory & Core Public Health Integration

• Federal & State Grant Policy Advisory: Provide executive-level interpretation and strategic guidance on evolving federal grant policies, agency-specific policy updates (e.g., HRSA, CDC, CMS policy notices), state administrative codes, and executive orders impacting grant operations.

• Strategic Funding Alignment: Evaluate the agency's existing grant portfolio to identify gaps, funding cliff risks, and policy-compliant opportunities to blend and braid multi-agency federal funding streams (HHS, CMS, USDA) in support of foundational public health services.

• Executive Policy Briefings: Deliver strategic intelligence briefings, policy memos, and decision-support materials for program area directors, administration and financial directors, executive leadership, and legislative stakeholders to guide health policy and resource allocation.

• Grant Readiness & Governance: Perform agency-wide grant readiness assessments across divisions and establish governance frameworks aligned with federal and state policy standards.

Task Area 2: Business Process Modernization (PeopleSoft Integration & Smartsheet Architecture)

• PeopleSoft Financial Integration & Alignment: Audit and align health department grant management workflows with the state PeopleSoft financial enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, including Commitment Control, General Ledger, Contracts, Grants, and Billing modules.

• Cross-System Workflow Architecture: Design and build centralized, automated Smartsheet solutions utilizing Control Center, Dynamic View, and automated approval routing to bridge programmatic operations with PeopleSoft financial reports, replacing disparate manual spreadsheets.

• Lifecycle Digitization & Reconciliation: Streamline end-to-end business processes, connecting pre-award tracking, subrecipient monitoring, project setup, budget pre-encumbrances, and post-award drawdown reconciliations between Smartsheet and PeopleSoft.

• Executive Dashboards & KPI Tracking: Develop real-time Smartsheet executive dashboards that aggregate operational data with PeopleSoft financial ledgers to give leadership visibility into active awards, spend rates, compliance milestones, and reporting deadlines.

Task Area 3: Federal Alignment & Strategic Pre-Award Advisory

• Funding Stream Positioning: Provide strategic direction, policy analysis, and competitive positioning for major federal grant applications across HHS (CDC, HRSA EHBs, SAMHSA, NIH) and CMS, with secondary alignment for USDA rural health and nutrition programs.

• Program & Proposal Design: Advise program leads on strategic alignment, federal policy constraints, multi-agency collaborative models, and health system integration during the pre-award phase.

Task Area 4: CFR Compliance, Policy Interpretation & Risk Mitigation

• Regulatory & Policy Compliance Oversight: Provide expert policy interpretation and guidance on adherence to 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance), Oklahoma Central Purchasing Act, allowable cost frameworks, indirect cost negotiations, and agency-specific policy statements.

• Subrecipient Oversight & Audit Readiness: Establish standardized subrecipient monitoring workflows aligned with federal pass-through regulations and conduct internal compliance reviews to ensure Single Audit (A-133) readiness.

Task Area 5: Organizational Readiness & Capacity Building

• Conduct comprehensive grant readiness assessments for health department divisions, deliver executive-level technical assistance, and establish sustainable governance structures for long-term grant management.

Roles & Responsibilities Primary Responsibilities (Consultant)

• Strategic Advisory & Policy Guidance: Guide executive-level grant strategies, funding alignment, federal policy interpretation, and business process re-engineering across health department divisions.

• PeopleSoft Integration & Business Process Optimization: Provide strategic advice on evaluating, mapping, and optimizing grant management business processes between state PeopleSoft Financials modules and operational workflows.

• Smartsheet Architecture & Solutions Design: Facilitate the end-to-end design, construction, and deployment of automated Smartsheet workflows, control centers, and executive dashboards that interface with PeopleSoft data structures.

• Executive & Stakeholder Engagement: Lead strategy sessions with agency directors, financial leads, and program managers to translate complex grant policy and financial data into actionable decisions.

• Compliance & Technical Guidance: Provide authoritative guidance on 2 CFR 200 compliance, federal portal navigation, grant policy interpretation, subrecipient oversight, grant lifecycle management, and Single Audit readiness.

• Capacity Building & Training: Deliver hands-on technical assistance, policy briefings, and executive training to ensure smooth adoption of modernized PeopleSoft/Smartsheet grant workflows.

Client Responsibilities

• Data & System Access: Provide timely access to relevant historical grant records, PeopleSoft Financials ledgers/reports, central repository data, and key program/financial leads for interviews and requirements gathering.

• Review & Approvals: Review and sign off on project deliverables, architecture designs, policy frameworks, and strategic roadmaps within agreed review windows.

Primary Skills: Public Health Grant Strategy, Federal Grant Management, Grant Portfolio Management, PeopleSoft Financials, Smartsheet Architecture, 2 CFR 200 Compliance, Executive Advisory, Grant Lifecycle Management

Secondary Skills: HHS, CMS, USDA, HRSA EHBs, Grants.gov, CDC, SAMHSA, NIH, Single Audit Readiness, Subrecipient Monitoring, Oklahoma State Purchasing Regulations, Business Process Optimization, Workflow Automation, Executive Dashboards, KPI Reporting, Organizational Change Management, Public Health Governance