Disbursement Associate

Ford Foundation • New York, NY

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Financial Services department is seeking a Disbursement Associate to manage and execute the Foundation's daily global banking, cash, and corporate expense operations. Reporting to the Manager, General Accounting, the Disbursement Associate plays a critical core function in ensuring the seamless, accurate, and timely distribution of domestic and international funds, spanning grants, payroll, and vendor disbursements across the Foundation.
In this role, you will collaborate closely with key internal stakeholders, including overseas regional office staff, cardholders, and IT, as well as external banking and vendor contacts. The ideal candidate will gain broad exposure to international financial operations, multi-currency wire systems and enterprise expense administration tools.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Finance or Business Administration, or relevant and equivalent experience.
• A minimum of 4 years of relevant work experience, with 3 years working in global banking operations and expense management.
• Strong proficiency in standard office productivity tools, including Google Workspace and Microsoft Office Suites (spreadsheets, documents, presentations)
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage small projects, prioritize competing demands, and maintain high attention to detail.
• Proven problem-solving skills using judgment, precedent, and analytical thinking to resolve complex transaction and system discrepancies.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to collaborate effectively with internal global staff and external partners.
• A commitment to accountability, teamwork, and aligning individual work with organizational objectives and core values.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with enterprise systems like Workday and Concur.

Responsibilities

• Validate and initiate domestic and international ACH, wire transfers (via SWIFT in both foreign currency and USD), paper checks, and prepare manual USD payroll for relevant overseas staff.
• Perform daily transaction and grant reconciliations, alongside monthly bank reconciliations in Workday (including Social bond cash accounts).
• Identify, investigate, and correct issues regarding incomplete payment instructions, statement discrepancies, vendor queries, and payment returns.
• Deposit cash receipts, create supporting documentation, and monitor overseas cash reserves to ensure proper usage.
• Assist overseas offices with investigating and resolving supplier, payroll, and statutory payment questions
• Record daily bank activities, update exchange rates, and prepare general ledger batches.
• Identify and help resolve issues relating to the general ledger integration with Banking and Expense Report systems.
• Review corporate card, third-party, and exception expense reports in Concur to ensure policy compliance, completeness, and accurate general ledger coding.
• Process out-of-pocket staff reimbursements for all staff.
• Post Concur expense batches to Workday, and prepare reclassification batches for manager review.
• Ensure integration and data transfer from expense report system to general ledger is accurate. Work collaboratively with IT to resolve any issues.
• Provide ongoing expense reporting and corporate card policy training for new and existing staff.
• Maintain accurate cardholder account databases for active employees in New York and overseas regional offices.
• Process requests for new corporate cards and promptly close accounts that are no longer needed.
• Serve as the key point of contact to assist cardholders with resolving account issues and potential fraud.
• Assist management with gathering organizational inventory data from overseas offices for annual insurance renewals.
• Support regional offices with collecting details and reporting information for potential insurance claims.

Benefits

• medical
• dental
• vision benefits
• Generous time off, including personal, vacation, sick, extended holiday time off, and wellness days
• Generous parental leave policy, including birth, surrogacy, adoptive, foster parents, and resources for backup child and elder care
• Comprehensive retirement benefits options (with employee and employer contributions of up to 13%)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level