Senior Director of Budget and Grants

Chicago Commons • Chicago, IL

5d

About The Position

The Senior Director of Budget & Grants provides strategic leadership and oversight for the Early Childhood Development (ECE) and other departments' budgeting, financial planning, and grants management functions. This role is responsible for developing and managing operating and capital budgets, ensuring fiscal integrity, and aligning financial resources with organizational priorities and strategic objectives. The Senior Director serves as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, offering data‑driven insights to support informed decision‑making. In addition, this position oversees the full lifecycle of grants management, including planning, compliance, forecasting, reporting, and audits, while ensuring adherence to applicable regulations and funding requirements. The Senior Director leads cross‑functional collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners to optimize funding opportunities, mitigate financial risk, and strengthen financial sustainability. This role is expected to drive continuous improvement, strengthen governance and controls, and build a high‑performing team that supports transparency, accountability, and long‑term organizational impact.

Requirements

• BA/BS/MPA in accounting, finance, or a related degree.
• Minimum 3+ years supervising staff
• Minimum 7+ years in grant and contract administration, grant writing, budgeting, funding source research, project management, or any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience, which provides the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the tasks well associated with the job.
• Organizational skills, attention to transactional detail, and ability to organize, prioritize, multi-task and meet deadlines is required
• Excellent analytical, verbal, and written communication skills are required to effectively communicate financial information
• Requires thorough knowledge of the principles and practices associated with grant planning, grant management, and grant administration; requires thorough knowledge of state and federal laws affecting grants; requires knowledge of municipal budgeting procedures.
• Demonstrated experience is required in: Project management.
• Requires the ability to apply principles of influence systems, such as motivation, incentive, and leadership, and to exercise independent judgment to apply facts and principles for developing approaches and techniques to resolve problems.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the budget and financial portions of pre-award cycle grant proposals for Early Child Education, including verification that the budget proposal conforms to state, city, and federal guidelines, policies, and procedures.
• Initiate new account set-up and distribution; maintain grant files; ensure grant deadlines and compliance requirements are met; monitor budgets; approve expenditures to ensure compliance with generally accepted accounting principles, policies, and procedures.
• Prepare and submit grant financial reports; compile and submit reimbursement requests/claims; maintain sub-award policy and procedures manual; and distribute audit reports to grantors.
• Work independently and collaboratively with key stakeholders.
• Prepare and evaluate budget projections and trend analyses, including the development of predictive models to assess the financial consequences of policy and program changes to support strategic decision-making.
• Advise and train on grant and/or budget questions, processes, and procedures.
• Formulate and implement improvements to budget and grant-related processes, including refining modeling assumptions and methodologies that result in improved projection accuracy
• Oversees the administration of partnerships and grants with a cross-departmental view of timelines, deliverables, and financial management.
• Develops, updates, and implements policies and procedures for grant administration and management.
• Coordinates development of grant funding applications to secure grant funding for projects or programs: assists with preparation of grant applications and related documentation in prescribed format as directed by grant outlines or instructions for submission to appropriate agencies.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees