Senior Grants Accountant

NACBA; Northern, Los Angeles (KY, CA); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 88,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

403(b) plan

Pension

Life insurance

Disability benefits

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Job summary

United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) seeks a Sr. Grants Accountant to manage end-to-end grant financials, contracting, invoicing, and reporting for the JCOD partnership with LA County.

This role offers a hybrid work model with a DTLA office presence on select days, opportunities to improve financial systems, and a focus on ensuring accurate, audit-ready records and timely disbursements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in a finance, accounting, or grants function; grants management or fund accounting is strongly preferred.
• Advanced familiarity with Excel, including pivot tables.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the main Finance point of contact for assigned program teams and grantees.
• Build and own grantee relationships for contracting, payment setup, invoicing, reporting, and compliance.
• Lead finance-focused Technical Assistance for grantees and track participation and effectiveness.
• Manage the grantee Help Desk for finance matters and document activity for County reporting.
• Drive coordination across Finance, Program, Grants, Legal/Contracts, and Data teams from award through payment.

Skills

GAAP knowledge

Fund accounting

Budget-to-actual analysis

Journal entries

Account reconciliations

Excel expertise

Data analysis

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field

Tools

Sage Intacct

Excel (pivot tables)

Job description

WHO WE ARE

United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) is home to the change makers and justice seekers. We're individuals from various walks of life making collective steps towards a better future for our community. Our focus is on bringing about real and sustainable change by unleashing the collective power of people to open minds, unite diverse communities, and convert compassion into action for a more just, inclusive, and thriving L.A. County. Together, we make tangible impact on some of our region's most pressing challenges by expanding educational opportunity, advancing economic mobility, strengthening community resilience, and helping people thrive. For us, being 'united' isn't just in reference to our organization but to our hope for the future of Los Angeles. Regardless of race, gender, orientation, or self-identification - we do our part as one by making room for all.

WHY WE NEED YOU

We are inviting analytical and dedicated professionals with a passion for turning financial data into actionable steps to apply for our Sr. Grants Accountant role.

You'll contribute to the success of our economic empowerment and sustainability work by supporting financial administration of United Way’s third-party administration contract with LA County’s Justice, Care & Opportunities (JCOD) department, managing complex financial processes, supporting nonprofit service providers with financial technical assistance, and ensuring public resources are invested responsibly and effectively.

In this role, you'll have the opportunity to do more than account for grant funds. You'll help ensure millions of public dollars reach community organizations and create meaningful economic opportunity across Los Angeles County.

HOW YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE TO THE CAUSE

Grantee Relations, Technical Assistance & Help Desk

• Serve as the primary Finance point of contact for assigned programmatic teams and grantees, modeling a responsive, solutions-oriented approach.
• Build and own strong grantee relationships that drive timely contracting, payment setup, invoicing, reporting, and compliance.
• Lead finance-focused Technical Assistance for grantees — coaching, office hours, and templates on invoicing, budgeting, documentation, and reporting — and track participation and effectiveness.
• Manage the grantee Help Desk for finance matters, resolving invoicing, payment, compliance, approval, and systems questions, and documenting activity for County reporting.
• Drive coordination across Finance, Program, Grants, Legal/Contracts, and Data teams to move awards from selection through contract execution to payment.

Grantee Onboarding, Contracting & Payment Setup

• Own a master tracker of all grantees, covering award and contract status, budget, payment structure, required documents, banking setup, and open items.
• Drive each grantee from award notification through full contract execution, ensuring all paperwork is complete before payment begins.
• Direct the collection and review of fiscal setup documents, including signed agreements, W-9s, ACH/banking details, and vendor setup forms.
• Follow up directly with grantees to resolve missing, incomplete, or inconsistent documentation.
• Ensure all contract and payment setup information is accurate and audit-ready before any disbursement is processed.

Payment Administration, Invoice Review & Budget Management

• Own the end-to-end grantee payment process, from invoice intake and review through Sage Intacct upload, AP coordination, and confirmation of disbursement.
• Review grantee invoices for completeness, accuracy, budget alignment, allowable cost support, and consistency with the grant agreement.
• Track each payment from submission through disbursement, maintaining accurate records of dates, amounts, and unresolved issues.
• Drive timely payment resolution with grantees, Finance leadership, Program staff, and Accounts Payable, escalating concerns as needed.
• Maintain detailed financial tracking by grantee, program, allocation, and balance to support quarterly, year-end, and closeout reporting.

Financial Systems, Compliance, Documentation & Data Integrity

• Ensure grant transactions are accurately coded and prepare journal entries, reclasses, and accruals for assigned grants and payments.
• Own audit-ready financial records for the assigned portfolio, retained in accordance with record retention and audit requirements.
• Track key deadlines for invoicing, reporting, compliance, and closeout, and proactively flag significant or recurring grantee delays.
• Coordinate with program and monitoring staff on grantee fiscal issues, and elevate suspected fraud, waste, or internal control concerns to Finance leadership.
• Lead improvements to financial tracking systems, dashboards, and reports while safeguarding confidential financial and participant information.

Reporting, Audit Support, Closeout & Other Duties

• Prepare financial reports, reconciliation schedules, and disbursement summaries for leadership, funders, auditors, and County reporting across all cycles.
• Serve as a key point of contact for organizational, funder, and County audits, preparing schedules, supporting documentation, and variance explanations.
• Own grant and contract closeout, including final invoice review, reconciliation, confirmation of balances, and identification of unused funds.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure final programmatic and fiscal information is complete before closeout submission.
• Drive process improvements across the grant lifecycle, participate in internal and grantee meetings, and perform other duties as assigned.

WHAT 1 YEAR OF SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Successfully manage the financial administration of the JCOD grant and subgrants end to end, with accounting, compliance, and reporting running smoothly and needing little day-to-day oversight.
• Establish a reliable payment and reconciliation rhythm that gets grantees paid on time and keeps reporting deadlines consistently met.
• Lead grantee support through Technical Assistance and the Help Desk, resolving issues with a solutions-oriented approach and building grantee confidence over the year.
• Carry the assigned portfolio through audits and monitoring reviews as a trusted, well-prepared partner.
• Drive steady improvements to the tools and processes that keep the portfolio organized, transparent, and audit-ready.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• Hiring Salary Range: $80,000-88,000 per year dependent on internal equity and a variety of job-related factors including, but not limited to, experience, training, education, and market demands.
• The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 403(b) plan, pension, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, paid holidays, and paid time off.
• Please Note: This position is grant funded for 3 years.

SKILLS YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED (The Must-Haves)

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required; preferably in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in a finance, accounting, or grants function; grants management or fund accounting is strongly preferred.
• Must have advanced familiarity with Excel, including pivot tables.

Personal Qualities & Competencies:

• You enjoy a hybrid environment that includes both in-person and remote work styles and are able to work from our DTLA office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and other days as needed.
• You understand the value of racial equity as an organizational operating principle and are committed to continued learning on issues related to race, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• You are curious about emerging technology and artificial intelligence (AI) and always looking for practical ways to apply new tools to work smarter and drive greater impact.
• You're diligent about accuracy and details, making sure anything with your name on it gets double-checked, triple-checked, and ready for prime time.
• You speak fluent GAAP and fund accounting, with fundamentals that are second nature to you.
• You've got hands-on experience with budget-to-actual analyses, journal entries, and account reconciliations, so this isn't your first time at the rodeo.
• You have strong accounting judgement and know when something doesn't look right and you investigate, elevate, or correct it before it becomes a bigger problem.
• You understand that attention to detail is not optional in this work — a mismatched amount, a missing signature, or an incorrect code can have real consequences, and you treat your work accordingly.
• You bring consistent follow-through to every commitment you make, ensuring outstanding items, unanswered questions, and pending approvals don't sit unresolved longer than they should.
• You practice thoughtful relationship management with grantees and internal partners alike balancing warmth and responsiveness with the rigor and documentation standards the role demands.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU’RE A FIT (The Nice-to-Haves)

• You've worked with subgrantees or pass-through funding before - you know how to keep multiple partner organizations on track without missing a beat.
• You speak the language of government grants - terms like "cost allowability" and "Uniform Guidance" are old friends, not foreign concepts.
• You've been through a financial audit before - pulling together documentation and backup so the whole process goes off without a hitch.
• You can turn a sea of numbers into a story - graphs, trends, and takeaways that make sense to people who don't speak "finance".
• You're proactive and self-sufficient - nobody needs to micromanage your workload because you've already got it handled.
• You are highly organized and able to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and details with accuracy and consistency.
• You're a true team player - colleagues and stakeholders alike would vouch for how easy you are to work with.
• You talk the talk communicating clearly, concisely, and (above all) respectfully, no matter who's on the other end of the conversation.
• You're a relationship-builder - juggling internal departments and external partners alike, you keep everyone aligned on goals, expectations, and deadlines.
• You never drop the ball - once something's on your plate, it gets done, full stop.
• You can be trusted with confidential information - if it's need-to-know, you make sure it stays that way.
• You're comfortable working in cloud-based accounting platforms, such as Sage Intacct, and can make sense of financial data no matter what system or format it lives in.
• You know your way around the Microsoft suite - Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams are all second nature to you.