Grant Management Consultant (New York)

Position Overview: We are seeking an experienced Grant Management Consultant with a strong accounting and finance background to provide hands-on leadership and subject matter expertise across the organization's grant management function. This consultant will play a key role in addressing identified grant management findings, strengthening financial controls and processes, and providing interim leadership to the Finance Grant Management team during a period of transition. The successful candidate will bring deep experience in grant accounting, restricted funds, financial compliance, internal controls, and process improvement, with the ability to independently investigate complex issues, quantify potential financial exposure, and implement practical solutions.

Key Responsibilities: Provide interim leadership and oversight to the Finance Grant Management team during the current VP of Finance vacancy. Assess the existing grant management function and identify opportunities to strengthen processes, controls, documentation, and financial oversight. Review and address grant management findings identified by CLA, developing and driving appropriate remediation plans. Lead the organization's Grant Management Task Force, coordinating stakeholders across Finance and other relevant functions. Review concerns regarding the potential movement or use of restricted funds and determine whether inappropriate activity has occurred. Where issues are identified, quantify the organization's potential financial and compliance exposure and provide clear recommendations for remediation. Develop recommendations and controls to ensure the appropriate treatment, tracking, and use of restricted and unrestricted funds going forward. Review existing grant accounting practices to ensure funds are appropriately recorded, allocated, reconciled, and reported. Evaluate the end-to-end grant management process and identify gaps in financial controls, ownership, documentation, and accountability. Establish or enhance policies, procedures, and controls to create a more consistent and sustainable grant management framework. Partner with Finance leadership, Accounting, program teams, and other stakeholders to resolve outstanding grant-related issues. Provide clear reporting and recommendations to senior leadership regarding findings, risks, remediation activities, and ongoing process improvements.

Qualifications & Experience: Significant experience in grant management and grant accounting, with a strong accounting/finance orientation. Deep understanding of restricted funds, donor restrictions, fund accounting, and grant-related financial controls. Experience reviewing and remediating audit or accounting advisory findings, ideally within a nonprofit or grant-funded organization. Strong knowledge of accounting and compliance requirements associated with restricted and unrestricted funding. Experience investigating potential financial control or compliance issues and determining the associated financial exposure. Demonstrated ability to develop and implement corrective action plans, internal controls, policies, and improved financial processes. Experience leading a grant management, accounting, or finance team, particularly through periods of transition or transformation. Strong project leadership skills with experience leading cross-functional task forces or remediation initiatives. Ability to work independently, assess complex or ambiguous situations, and provide clear recommendations to senior leadership. Strong analytical skills with the ability to reconcile financial activity, identify discrepancies, and quantify potential exposure. Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across Finance and non-Finance functions.

Ideal Background: The ideal consultant will have operated at a senior grant accounting, grant finance, Controller, or finance leadership level within a nonprofit or similarly grant-funded environment. They should be equally comfortable getting into the detail of restricted-fund activity and accounting records as they are leading teams, presenting findings, and driving organization-wide process improvements.