Job Description

Sr. Grants Accountant

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.

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.

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 escalate 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.

• 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.

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, escalate, 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 -

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