Budget and Contract Manager (Headquarters)

POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE INC•New York, NY

5d•$90,000 - $100,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Police Athletic League (PAL) is New York City’s largest independent youth development organization, operating a wide range of programs from early childhood education to college readiness and employment initiatives. The Budget & Contracts Manager plays an elevated, high-impact leadership role within the Fiscal Department, serving as the primary operational link between strategic contract oversight and tactical financial execution. This position oversees the day-to-day management of the agency's government and foundation contract portfolios, including the direct supervision, training, and professional development of the Grants & Contracts Accounting team. The role drives proactive, analytical fiscal management by establishing new workflows, tracking tools, and rigorous review processes to ensure public and private resources are utilized to their maximum capacity and the risk of disallowed costs is mitigated. The ideal candidate balances strong technical accounting skills with a collaborative approach, partnering with program directors, executive leadership, and auditing bodies.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance or business management.
3 years of progressive, hands-on experience in non-profit or government agency grants and contracts accounting.
Proven ability to supervise accounting staff, manage workloads, establish clear performance priorities, and provide constructive feedback.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and deep operational knowledge of fund accounting software.
Direct experience owning month-end and year-end grant reporting cycles, supporting grant budget development, executing complex budget modifications, and managing full revenue-reimbursement lifecycles.
Demonstrated background liaising directly with government funding agencies and internal program directors regarding strict grant compliance, allowable costs, and desk reviews.
Excellent analytical, time management, and written/verbal communication skills, with a track record of meeting rigid deadlines in a fast-paced fiscal environment.
Strong familiarity with Single Audit requirements and direct experience preparing a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA).

Nice To Haves

Expert-level proficiency with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT and extensive direct experience navigating the NYC PASSPORT system.
Experience supporting change management efforts and implementing modern tracking tools or standardized workflows for fiscal departments.

Responsibilities

Supervise, train, and mentor the Grants & Contracts Accountants; establish standardized tracking workflows, evaluate performance, and continuously cross-train staff on complex vouchering, allocations, and non-profit accounting principles.
Serve as the mandatory internal review and approval authority for all contract vouchers, invoices, and required financial reports prior to portal submission, ensuring absolute data integrity and zero mathematical or compliance errors.
Assist in guiding the end-to-end development of contract budgets and complex modifications; support collaboration with senior staff to manage the iterative back-and-forth negotiations with funding portals until final agency approval is secured.
Actively analyze and monitor portfolio spending trends against approved budgets; identify financial risks, forecast structural over- or under-spending, and partner with program staff to build data-backed mitigation strategies.
Oversee the comprehensive reconciliation of general ledger activity against active contract billings, resolving complex misallocations, tracking time and effort distributions, and balancing all receivables and advances.
Act as the primary technical point of contact for external government funding agencies, promptly resolving compliance inquiries, escalating material risks to the Budget and Contracts Director, and managing necessary M/WBE reporting structures.
Lead award closeout activities to ensure year-end spending aligns with strict cutoff periods; prepare all primary documentation, audit trails, and schedules to support agency-wide and desk audits.
Play a lead role in the preparation and execution of the agency’s Single Audit, including preparing the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) and ensuring its accuracy, completeness, and integrity.