Senior Associate, Portfolio Financial Operations

Lincoln Avenue

Santa Monica (CA)

Hybrid

USD 108,000 - 132,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Performance bonuses

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) with employer matching

Generous PTO and holidays

Job summary

Lincoln Avenue Communities seeks a Senior Associate in Santa Monica to strengthen the financial operations of its affordable housing portfolio. You will partner across Asset Management and Corporate Accounting to support reporting, analysis, and accounting activities in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.

The role is hybrid (3 days in office) with a track record of building scalable processes and managing lender/investor relationships. CPA or Big 4 background is a plus.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Accounting, or Finance required.
3–5 years in finance or accounting roles.
CPA license and/or Big 4 experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversee annual budgets and monthly financials for real estate portfolio.
Prepare quarterly valuations including normalized NOI and DCF models.
Coordinate audits with property management and external firms.
Calculate periodic distributions per LP and loan documents.
Develop and automate reporting using portfolio metrics data.
Monitor DSCR, LTV, and other lender metrics quarterly.
Provide information on investments, development fees, and asset mgmt fees.
Design and strengthen finance policies, controls, and procedures.
Review loan agreements and tax credit covenants; test stabilization criteria.

Skills

Detail oriented

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Communication

Independent & collaborative

Integrity & professionalism

Cross-functional collaboration

Resident/community focus

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Accounting, or Finance

CPA license

Big 4 experience

Real estate/partnership accounting

Audit background

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

The Company

Welcome to Lincoln Avenue Communities (LAC) – a leading, mission-driven real estate private equity firm dedicated to strengthening communities through the development and preservation of affordable housing.

As a vertically integrated developer, investor, and long-term operator, we deliver sustainable, high-quality homes to lower- and moderate-income individuals, seniors, and families across 33 states. Our growing portfolio – more than 200 properties and 31,000+ homes – reflects our commitment to long-term impact, operational excellence, and resident well-being.

LAC is proud to be recognized as an industry leader, recently ranked No. 1 on Affordable Housing Finance's 2025 AHF 50 list of top developers. Our approach combines strategic investment, thoughtful design, and community partnerships to deliver housing solutions that foster stability, opportunity, and resilience.

The Role

Our Asset Management vertical is seeking a Senior Associate to join our growing Portfolio Financial Operations team—a collaborative group focused on strengthening the financial performance of LAC's affordable housing portfolio and supporting our mission to preserve and develop high-quality housing across the country.

In this role, you’ll play an important part in the financial operations of our portfolio, partnering across Asset Management and other teams to support reporting, analysis, accounting-related activities, and portfolio performance. This is an opportunity for someone with a strong accounting foundation who is ready to broaden their experience, gain greater exposure to the business, and contribute beyond a traditional accounting role.

As LAC continues to grow, the scope of this position will evolve with the business, creating opportunities to take ownership of new challenges and meaningful projects. We’re looking for someone who is analytical, curious, and comfortable working in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment—someone who enjoys solving problems, improving processes, and collaborating with others to drive results.

This is a hybrid role (3 days in the office) and you will report to a Manager.

Essential Job Functions

Oversee financials for our real estate portfolio, including completion of annual budgets and review of monthly financials prepared by property management companies, including a budget-to-actual analysis.
Prepare quarterly valuations for all real estate holdings, including calculations of normalized net operating income and discounted cash flow models.
Liaise with property management companies and external accounting firms to review and coordinate property-level financial statement audits.
Calculate periodic distributions for real estate entities based on the waterfall terms in their underlying limited partnership agreements and loan documents.
Collaborate with other departments (asset management, development, etc.) to oversee the maintenance of our newly created database of various property-level metrics and assist with building out automated reporting functionality using this data.
Maintain a quarterly schedule of real estate owned to track DSCRs, LTV ratios, and other metrics requested by lenders.
Prepare calculations of and provide key information on investment transactions, development fees, and asset management fees to Corporate Accounting for use in the quarterly financial statements.
Design, implement, and continually strengthen key policies, procedures, and controls for the finance team as well as those of the property management companies.
Review loan agreements and partnership documents to identify stabilization benchmarks and covenants, then perform testing to confirm a property has met the criteria required for tax credit equity installments.
Perform loan sizing analysis for new construction properties converting from construction to permanent financing to determine the supportable permanent loan amount based on financial results.
Build and maintain relationships with lenders and equity investors to understand their specific stabilization testing and debt-sizing methodologies.
Present testing results and drive the analytical discussion with internal leadership in monthly financial review meetings.
Ensure operating budgets and forecasts for new construction properties stay consistent with underwriting and closing assumptions.
Perform special projects or duties as assigned.

Skills & Abilities

Ability to work with minimal oversight while managing multiple projects with firm deadlines and prioritizing key deliverables
Detail oriented, self-motivated, and intellectually curious
Critical thinking, problem solving, and analytical skills
Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to interact with all levels of the organization, including external lenders and investors
Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a growing environment
A high-level of professionalism and integrity in dealing with confidential issues
Aptitude for creating strong internal relationships within LAC. Must be a strong collaborator among peer groups within the company.
Passionate and aligned with the company's double bottom line mission: generating appropriate returns for investors and managing great, stable communities for our residents

Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Accounting, or Finance
3-5 years of experience working in the field of finance or accounting
Highly proficient with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel
Preferred qualifications include:
- CPA license
- Experience at a "Big 4" public accounting firm
- Background with real estate and partnership accounting
- Audit background strongly preferred
- Experience with low-income housing tax credits and/or investment management is a plus

Benefits

The expected base salary for this role is $120,000. This represents the current target and is subject to change. To determine starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location and an evaluation of a candidate’s skills, experience, market demands, and internal parity. Our comprehensive total rewards package offers more than just a salary. Benefits include: