Director of Accounting, Grants & Contracts

At Leading Educators (LE), we know that excellent teaching is the most important driver of student success. The moment a student steps foot in the classroom, their opportunity to learn depends on how prepared their teacher is to translate complex content knowledge, standards, and their knowledge of that student into lessons that help them learn deeply and apply their thinking to the real world.

That’s a big lift, and it often happens alone. As a national nonprofit, we partner with school systems to overcome persistent instructional challenges, foster intentional collaboration and adult learning by design, and ignite new possibilities through systemic solutions at the intersection of teaching, talent, and technology.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with educators at every level of the education system to strengthen their instructional and leadership practices, bring a vision for excellent instruction to life with consistency, and ensure every student reaches their full potential.

Through direct support, strategic advising, innovation pilots, and best-in-class research, we help educators work toward a future where every student is ready to thrive. Learn more about our work at leadingeducators.org.

Leading Educators is seeking a Director of Accounting, Grants & Contracts to own the full lifecycle of our philanthropic, foundation, and government funding. As grant and contract revenue continues to grow as a share of our total funding, this role manages how we budget, track, report on, and maintain compliance with restricted funds—from proposal development through award closeout.

You'll be the primary point of contact between Development and Finance, translating complex grant agreements and funder requirements into clear, workable budgets and financial systems. You'll ensure Leading Educators stays compliant with grant and contract requirements, including federal requirements under 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance). Your work directly enables us to pursue and manage an increasingly complex portfolio of philanthropic and contract funding.

Currently, Leading Educators manages grants tracking in spreadsheets. You'll lead the effort to identify, select, and implement a grants management system that replaces manual processes with scalable, automated workflows—streamlining how we forecast, track, and close out grants across the organization.

• Managing the full post-award lifecycle for federal, state, and private foundation grants and contracts, including setup, cost-reimbursement processing, drawdowns, invoicing, and financial reporting?
• Interpreting grant agreements, fiscal tracking, and funder reporting requirements, with demonstrated knowledge of 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) and indirect cost rate negotiations?
• Leading the selection or implementation of financial management systems, or standardizing financial processes from manual, spreadsheet-based workflows into scalable, automated systems?
• Building strong partnerships with Development and fundraising teams, including hands-on experience developing proposal budgets and translating funder requirements into clear organizational guidance?

• Working independently on complex, ambiguous financial challenges while managing competing priorities and multiple stakeholder relationships?
• Translating technical compliance requirements into clear, accessible guidance that empowers non-finance colleagues to make sound decisions?
• Designing processes and systems that reduce friction, eliminate manual work, and create clarity across an organization?
• Taking ownership of a function and building it from the ground up—turning spreadsheets into systems, confusion into confidence?

• This is a remote position requires 2 to 5 amount of trips a year
• National travel for org retreats, programming, job related travel, or professional development 
• Outside of the above mentioned travel, this person will work from a home office that must be located anywhere within the U.S. 

If you have questions about this role or about our hiring process at any point, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at talent@leadingeducators.org. This inbox is monitored regularly, and we aim to respond within two business days. To ensure your question receives a thoughtful and timely response, we kindly ask that you refrain from emailing individual staff members or members of our HR team directly. The best way to connect with us is always through talent@leadingeducators.org.

• Build on strengths: We affirm and begin with the unique and collective talents, experiences, and wisdom of ourselves and others.
• Continuously learn: We develop ourselves and others. We apply new learning and deepened self-awareness to our relationships and practices.
• Prioritize people: We build trust and reflect on the impact of different perspectives and experiences.
• Champion success for all: We re-imagine structures, habits, and mindsets to ensure every learner has access to evidence-based learning opportunities.

Leading Educators is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.

Apply: https://leadingeducators.org/careers/opportunities

#LI-CN1