diff --git a/addons/api/addon/serializers/role.js b/addons/api/addon/serializers/role.js
index c4fb5ebb2..9cf12da58 100644
--- a/addons/api/addon/serializers/role.js
+++ b/addons/api/addon/serializers/role.js
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ export default class RoleSerializer extends ApplicationSerializer {
   serializeWithGrants(snapshot) {
     return {
       version: snapshot.attr('version'),
-      grants: snapshot.attr('grants').map(grant => grant.attr('value'))
+      grant_strings: snapshot.attr('grants').map(grant => grant.attr('value'))
     };
   }
 
@@ -42,8 +42,9 @@ export default class RoleSerializer extends ApplicationSerializer {
    */
   normalize(modelClass, resourceHash) {
     // TODO:  can fragment string normalization be handled generically?
-    if (resourceHash.grants) {
-      resourceHash.grants = resourceHash.grants.map(value => ({ value }));
+    if (resourceHash.grant_strings) {
+      resourceHash.grants =
+        resourceHash.grant_strings.map(value => ({ value }));
     }
     return super.normalize(modelClass, resourceHash);
   }
diff --git a/addons/api/tests/unit/models/role-test.js b/addons/api/tests/unit/models/role-test.js
index 7cf7ba8fa..fe1b8224b 100644
--- a/addons/api/tests/unit/models/role-test.js
+++ b/addons/api/tests/unit/models/role-test.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ module('Unit | Model | role', function (hooks) {
     this.server.post('/v1/scopes/o_1/roles/123abc:set-grants', (schema, request) => {
       const body = JSON.parse(request.requestBody);
       assert.deepEqual(body, {
-        grants: ['grant1', 'grant2'],
+        grant_strings: ['grant1', 'grant2'],
         version: 1
       });
     });
diff --git a/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/role-test.js b/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/role-test.js
index 5724cfb89..1293d28b4 100644
--- a/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/role-test.js
+++ b/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/role-test.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ module('Unit | Serializer | role', function(hooks) {
     };
     const serializedRecord = serializer.serialize(snapshot);
     assert.deepEqual(serializedRecord, {
-      grants: ['foo', 'bar'],
+      grant_strings: ['foo', 'bar'],
       version: 1
     });
   });
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ module('Unit | Serializer | role', function(hooks) {
     const payload = {
       id: '1',
       name: 'Role 1',
-      grants: ['*', '*']
+      grant_strings: ['*', '*']
     };
     const normalized = serializer.normalizeSingleResponse(
       store,
diff --git a/ui/core/mirage/factories/role.js b/ui/core/mirage/factories/role.js
index e597c3433..739b273e6 100644
--- a/ui/core/mirage/factories/role.js
+++ b/ui/core/mirage/factories/role.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import factory from '../generated/factories/role';
 export default factory.extend({
 
   // eslint-disable-next-line ember/avoid-leaking-state-in-ember-objects
-  grants: [
+  grant_strings: [
     'id=*;action=*',
     'id=*;type=host-catalog;actions=create,read'
   ],