Finance Manager, Grants & Compliance

The mission of Centinela Youth Services, Inc. (CYS) is to strengthen families and communities by empowering youth to resolve conflicts and overcome obstacles in order to become successful students and contributing adults. Established in 1975, CYS operates a variety of innovative programs proven to increase student performance, reduce school dropout rates, gang involvement, youth violence and crime – all of which ultimately help preserve families.

This work is leading innovation that is transforming youth justice in L.A. and the state with a commitment to both youth development and serving victims of youth crime, while impacting systemic change to end the school to prison pipeline. CYS is also providing leadership to critical juvenile justice reform in L.A. County and is growing rapidly as a result.

Work Location

This position will be split between remote work and work at our Inglewood office, with meetings in the field around the LA area.

Schedule

This is a full-time, exempt position. CYS has the following 9/80 work schedule:
Monday – Thursday, 8am – 6pm. Friday, 8am – 5pm, with every other Friday off.

General Functions and Responsibilities

Under the general direction of the Chief of Operations, the Manager, Financial Analysis & Compliance will provide critical information and insights to maximize funds while ensuring compliance with all commitments, requirements, and regulations governing awards as well as generally accepted accounting principles through analysis, facilitation, and collaboration with internal and external partners. This key leader will provide guidance and assist in applying for, managing, and complying with grant requirements.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Serve as the day‑to‑day expert and leader of grant funding and compliance, demonstrating the core values of CYS.
• Lead and support an accurate, timely, efficient, and transparent grant process for the full life cycle, from proposal to close, through cross‑functional coordination.
• Serve as the expert on specific grant compliance and interpretation of relevant Federal, State and County financial regulations and legislation.
• Support Program leaders and grant writer during the application process by reviewing Requests for Proposal materials to flag potential financial or administrative compliance challenges and to support in the preparation and retrieval of compliance‑based forms and documents needed during the submittal process.
• Review, track, and approve grant reimbursement requests prior to submittal to granting agencies.
• Interpret granting agency regulations and policies to prevent over‑expenditure of funds, ineligible expenditures, and ensure awards are fully expended.
• Grant budgeting and financial analysis including forecasting, annual budgets, and support for applications and proposals.
• Coordination between accounting services vendor and Program teams to ensure grant invoices and quality reports are submitted on time.
• Serve as CYS liaison for fiscal compliance training, reviews, or audits with funding agencies, including the state and county.
• Assist and guide internal and external partners to ensure funding agency requirements are appropriately incorporated throughout the procurement process.
• Understand and accurately report on the commitments within CYS grants and training contracts.
• Provide reporting as required by the funder or contract and to support program understanding and activities.
• Support program managers to ensure required reports for State and County authorities, and other grant‑funding sources are submitted on time and meet funder requirements.
• Serve as the primary administrator for the grant management system and provide training to staff.
• Provide ongoing training to staff relative to grant administration and related organizational policies.
• Responsible for maintaining all grant agreements and MOUs pertaining to grant awards.
• Review policies and recommend changes as needed to maintain compliance with granting agencies' requirements. Assist with the development of procedures consistent with adopted policies.
• Perform other duties or projects of similar nature and level as assigned.

Required Skills/Abilities

• Strong…