If we're talking about unicorns, a competent "staff grant writer" has to be the rarest of them all. To write a grant well, you have to deeply understand the spe

If we're talking about unicorns, a competent "staff grant writer" has to be the rarest of them all. To write a grant well, you have to deeply understand the specific science at hand and be a good writer. Someone who would voluntarily choose such a job would also be someone who enjoys the process of writing. So, in other words, someone perfectly suited to be a PI, a more prestigious and better-paying position with more freedom. Our institution has one you can ask to help write/review/correct grants. They are pretty useless because they cannot possibly understand the science each individual lab is engaged in at an adequate level. Usually they just offer superficial suggestions/corrections.