Senior Accountant, Corporate Accounting

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative•Redwood City, CA

5h•$106,000 - $146,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) was founded in 2015 by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg to harness the power of technology to pursue some of society’s most ambitious goals — from curing or preventing all disease to transforming how students learn. At CZI, you’ll join a deeply collaborative, mission-driven community where your work helps drive breakthroughs across our flagship nonprofit organizations, Biohub and Learning Commons. Whether enabling scientific breakthroughs via open science and AI-powered biology or strengthening the tools teachers and students rely on every day, your contributions help turn bold ideas into real-world impact. Our teams operate at the intersection of innovation and scale, building the infrastructure, partnerships, and capabilities that allow scientists, educators, and innovators to tackle some of the most complex challenges of our time — and to do so with urgency, integrity, and optimism. The Operations team is a key partner in enabling Biohub’s pioneering work to combine frontier AI with frontier biology to solve disease and Learning Commons’ mission to build AI infrastructure that aligns how students learn with the tools that shape their learning experiences. Operations includes our Central Tech, Finance, Marketing & Communications, People, and Real Estate / Workplace / Events / Facilities / Security (REWFS) teams. Together, these teams create the systems, programs, and experiences that empower our partners and colleagues across Biohub and Learning Commons to drive impact. This work requires strategic and operational rigor, creativity, and deep collaboration. Whether designing world-class employee experiences, safeguarding data and infrastructure, or shaping how we communicate our impact, Operations plays a critical role in helping deliver meaningful change at scale. The Finance team ensures the accuracy and completeness of financial information across CZI, Biohub, and Learning Commons. We are building a world-class accounting function and strive for excellence in a complex, fast-paced environment — leveraging systems like Workday and Salesforce, and embracing AI to streamline processes and deliver high-quality reporting to internal and external stakeholders. As a Senior Accountant, you will report to the Senior Manager, Corporate Accounting. This role focuses on operational accounting, internal controls, treasury management, and continuous process improvement. It requires someone who is detail-oriented, takes ownership of their work, brings a collaborative mindset, and adapts well to shifting priorities. A CPA license (active or inactive) is required. You will partner closely with teams across CZI and with external stakeholders — including FP&A, Accounting Operations, Payroll, Month-End Close, and Legal — and should have demonstrated experience working effectively across a range of internal and external partners. Familiarity with ERP systems is essential; experience with Workday is a plus. An ideal background includes experience at a top public accounting firm, followed by month-end close experience in tech, bio-tech, or another high-growth industry. You bring strong knowledge of GAAP, the ability to manage projects independently from start to finish, and a track record of working across a broad range of accounting topics. We are also looking for someone genuinely excited about the role AI and automation play in modern accounting. You should have hands-on experience using AI tools in a professional context. This includes AI-assisted reconciliations, automated journal entry support, or AI-powered analytics. You will be responsible for continuing to build and improve upon these capabilities as we grow.

Requirements

5+ years of relevant accounting experience
CPA license required (active or inactive)
Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP
Intellectual curiosity and the ability to ask thoughtful, probing questions
Experience operating in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with competing priorities
A collaborative approach and experience partnering cross-functionally
Experience with month-end close activities, detailed review and analysis
Strong excel skills, ability to prepare complex formulas, pivot tables, etc.
Familiarity with Workday (a plus)
Hands-on experience using AI tools in a professional context, including AI-assisted reconciliations, automated journal entry support, or AI-powered analytics.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Workday

Responsibilities

Collaborate with grants management team to ensure timely and accurate grant payments
Build process documentation and internal controls
Review grant contracts to determine the proper accounting
Monitor weekly cash flow to assess bank account sufficiency; execute funding requests and reconcile differences against budget
Prepare month end close journals, reconciliations, analytics, and support for the financial statement audits in accordance with US GAAP
Leverage Workday, Salesforce, and other systems—including AI-powered tools—to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of month-end close and reporting processes
Identify opportunities to automate repetitive accounting workflows using AI or scripting, and partner with IT/BST to implement them