Director of Contract & Grant Accounting

Kentucky AG; Greensboro (NC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro seeks a strategic and collaborative leader for the position of Director of Contract and Grant Accounting. This key role involves overseeing post-award financial activities, ensuring compliance with regulations while leading a team to foster effective research funding management in an academic environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in direct grants and contracts/research finance in a higher education setting.
• Strong understanding of federal, state, and campus regulations.
• Proven ability to lead and manage a financial office effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead post-award accounting activities ensuring compliance with regulations.
• Manage all research-related grant and contract activities.
• Collaborate with faculty and external agencies to facilitate effective grant management.

Skills

Leadership

Collaboration

Financial Acumen

Communication

Education

Degree in Accounting or Finance

Job description

Director of Contract & Grant Accounting

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE SEARCH

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or the University) seeks a strategic, collaborative, and innovative leader to serve as the next Director of Contract and Grant Accounting (CGA). This is an incredible opportunity to join an institution that is on the road to becoming an R1 university with exciting developments in research, community-engaged scholarship, as well as new institutes launching in the near future. UNCG has been providing access and excellence since its founding in 1891 as a women’s college (and as one of the three original institutions of the University of North Carolina System) and now as a public, coeducational, doctoral-granting, residential university, serving a vast array of students.

Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for high research activity and community engagement, some of UNCG’s many strengths are its breadth and depth in research, scholarship, and creative activity, including robust undergraduate as well as graduate research programs. Currently, UNCG is a community-engaged R2 doctoral university with 17 interdisciplinary centers and institutes. The past eleven years have seen growth of the research enterprise, with fiscal year 2023 boasting the highest external funding in the institution’s history at $67 million, with fiscal year 2024 reaching $65 million, with research expenditures up 64% since FY19-20. Over 700 undergraduate students engage in research each year, which is an example of the institution’s commitment to student success and social mobility.

UNCG’s scholarly advances and innovation have a direct impact on people and communities, and UNCG faculty, staff, and students have been recognized for their community partnerships by multiple organizations including the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, and the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement.

Reporting to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance, the Director will be the lead campus representative for post-award accounting activities with a focus on effective post-award grant management in an academic setting, ensuring compliance with federal, state, system, and campus regulations. The role involves leadership and collaboration with external agencies, faculty, research deans, and the Office of Research, executed with independence, innovation, specialized knowledge, and accuracy. This position is responsible for all research-related grant and contract activities, including post-award financial and non-financial actions, with emphasis on compliance, cash management, and financial reporting. The Director has a fiduciary responsibility to all external funding agencies to monitor funds entrusted to the University to ensure funds are not misused and to maintain the University’s integrity. They are responsible for resolving audit exceptions/disallowances.

The ideal candidate for this opportunity will be an effective leader, a natural collaborator, and a skilled communicator who will bring a depth of knowledge and experience in direct grants and contracts/research finance in a higher education setting and a clear understanding of general accounting. They will also have a strategic, decision-enabling mindset and keen financial acumen that will allow them to effectively lead the Office of Contract and Grant Accounting and serve as an effective collaborator with internal and external stakeholders.

The University has retained the services of Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in conducting this important search. All inquiries, applications, and nominations should be directed in confidence to the search firm, as indicated at the end of this document.

APPLICATIONS, INQUIRIES, AND NOMINATIONS

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters should be sent via the Isaacson, Miller website: https://www.imsearch.com/open-searches/university-north-carolina-greensboro/director-grants-and-contracts-accounting. Electronic submission of materials is strongly encouraged.

Rebecca Kennedy, Partner

David Grimes, Senior Associate

Cortnee Bollard, Senior Search Coordinator

Isaacson, Miller