Grant Manager

The Grant Manager at ACCEL Schools will oversee the full lifecycle of federal, state, and local grants supporting four West Virginia schools, including pre-award planning, application support, budgeting, accounting, compliance, reporting, reimbursement, monitoring, and closeout. This role requires a deep understanding of how grant requirements connect to the general ledger and financial operations.

This is a working-manager position. The Grant Manager will initially manage detailed day-to-day grant and financial management activities for the West Virginia portfolio. As ACCEL Schools grows, the portfolio is expected to expand to additional schools and states, requiring the Grant Manager to help establish scalable, standardized processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the full grant lifecycle for federal, state, and local grants, including grant identification, pre-award support, application coordination, award review and setup, budgeting, post-award administration, financial management, compliance, reporting, reimbursement, monitoring, and closeout.
• Manage the grant portfolio for four West Virginia schools, with responsibility expected to expand to additional schools and states as the organization grows.
• Review grant award documents, terms, conditions, approved budgets, funding restrictions, reporting requirements, and deadlines; translate requirements into practical accounting and operational processes.
• Maintain detailed grant ledgers and spending trackers, record actual expenses and revenue, update forecasts monthly, and monitor remaining balances against award budgets, performance periods, and spending timelines.
• Reconcile grant revenue and expenses to the general ledger and cross-check activity across accounting, payroll, procurement, reimbursement, state and federal reporting systems, and internal grant schedules.
• Prepare and post journal entries related to grant revenue, payroll, wages, expenses, allocations, reimbursements, and other allowable costs, ensuring grant activity is accurately reflected in the general ledger.
• Review grant-funded expenditures for allowability, allocability, reasonableness, proper documentation, and compliance with applicable federal, state, and grant-specific requirements.
• Prepare, submit, and monitor invoices, cash requests, reimbursement requests, drawdowns, and other funding requests, including supporting documentation required by funding agencies.
• Prepare and/or oversee timely and accurate financial and programmatic grant reports across required state, federal, and internal systems.
• Manage West Virginia-specific reporting and compliance requirements, including detailed documentation for programs such as CSP grants, and respond to rejected, questioned, or returned submissions.
• Monitor grant activity throughout the grant period, identify budget variances, underspending, overspending, compliance risks, and missed funding opportunities, and recommend corrective actions.
• Coordinate grant budget amendments and revisions when spending plans or program needs change, ensuring required approvals are obtained before changes are implemented.
• Support grant applications and renewals by gathering financial information, developing or reviewing grant budgets, and coordinating required documentation with school and corporate stakeholders.
• Maintain complete, organized, and audit-ready grant files, including award documents, budgets, invoices, payroll support, reimbursement documentation, reports, correspondence, and closeout records.
• Support federal, state, and other compliance audits and monitoring reviews; coordinate responses to information requests and ensure findings or recommendations are addressed timely.
• Manage grant closeout activities, including final expenditure reconciliation, final reports, remaining balances, required documentation, and confirmation that all grant requirements have been satisfied.
• Partner with Finance and Accounting on monthly close and explain the financial impact of grant activity on revenue, expenses, payroll, reimbursements, and the general ledger.
• Collaborate with school and operational leaders to ensure grant-funded staffing, programs, purchases, and other costs are allowable, properly documented, and charged to the correct award.
• Provide guidance and training to school leaders and other stakeholders on grant requirements, allowable costs, budgeting, documentation, reporting, and compliance.
• Continuously review monthly activity and grant processes to identify opportunities to improve controls, accuracy, efficiency, and visibility into grant performance.
• Help design and implement standardized, scalable grant management processes as ACCEL Schools expands into additional states and schools and transitions to new financial and procurement systems.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and primary point of contact for assigned grants, coordinating effectively with school leadership, Accounting, Finance, Accounts Payable, Payroll, Procurement, and external funding agencies.

Required Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business, Public Administration, Education Administration, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in grant management, grant accounting, accounting, or financial management, with demonstrated responsibility for managing grants through multiple stages of the grant lifecycle.
• Demonstrated experience managing federal and state grants, including budgeting, expenditure tracking, reconciliations, reporting, compliance, reimbursement, and closeout.
• Experience in a nonprofit, education, public sector, charter school, or other highly regulated grant-funded environment.
• Direct knowledge of West Virginia grant requirements, reporting practices, and compliance expectations.
• A strong understanding of grant accounting principles and the ability to connect grant requirements to general ledger activity.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, data analysis, and maintaining detailed financial trackers.
• Ability to manage multiple entities, grants, reporting systems, deadlines, and competing priorities with a high level of accuracy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain financial and compliance requirements to accounting, school, and operational teams.
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, and project management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing grants across multiple states or school locations.
• Experience with education-focused grants, including CSP, Title I, Title II, Title IV, 21st Century, or other federal and state education programs.
• Experience with NetSuite.
• Experience with Dayforce.
• Knowledge of Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200) and evolving federal grant requirements.
• Experience developing grant management policies, procedures, internal controls, and reporting tools.
• Experience supporting grant applications, renewals, monitoring visits, and closeouts.

Work Style and Success Profile

• Hands-on and willing to perform detailed grant accounting, financial management, compliance, and administrative work.
• Able to independently own a grant portfolio while maintaining strong communication with school, finance, accounting, and operational stakeholders.
• Comfortable shifting between strategic portfolio oversight and transaction-level review.
• Proactive, highly organized, detail-oriented, analytical, and responsive in a fast-moving environment.
• Able to research and interpret grant requirements and translate them into clear actions and processes.
• Comfortable identifying issues, challenging questionable activity, and recommending solutions before problems become compliance or financial risks.
• Able to build and improve processes rather than relying solely on existing procedures.
• Comfortable learning new state requirements and supporting expansion into additional non-West Virginia schools.

Work Location and Travel

The position is a 100% remote role within the state of West Virginia. Travel is not required, but the Grant Manager may optionally travel approximately one to two times per year to meet colleagues and school partners.