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Finance and Grants Manager (South America Fire Fund)
Accounting & Finance
Washington, DC, USA
USD 128k-136k / year
Posted on Jul 25, 2026
Conservation X Labs Inc Finance and Grants Manager (South America Fire Fund) Washington, DC · Full time Company website
Conservation X Labs (CXL) is hiring a Finance and Grants Manager for the South America Fire Fund, a three-year, $27M program funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that tackles the underlying conditions contributing to destructive fire in South America. Most of the Fund's resources go to partners in Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru as subgrants, and this role keeps that flow moving and compliant. It covers the full subaward cycle: drafting and issuing subgrant agreements, managing milestone-based disbursements, assessing partner risk, and establishing and implementing the systems and processes to ensure budgeting, cash-flow, accounting, and internal-controls that keep the Fund's books accurate and ready for audit. Working alongside the Finance Director and program team leadership, the manager makes sure partner funds are well-governed, paid on time, and properly documented and that program leadership has up to date financial information to inform decision-making.
About Conservation X Labs Inc
Our mission is to prevent an impending sixth mass extinction – the first in Earth’s history driven by the actions of a single species: ours. Unlike traditional conservation efforts, Conservation X Labs focuses on leveraging the best technology, the newest innovation, interdisciplinary genius, and the power of the marketplace to boldly confront the biggest problems facing the planet. Though humans have driven this sixth extinction, we know humans have the power to reverse it.
Description
About Conservation X Labs
Our mission is to prevent an impending sixth mass extinction – the first in Earth’s history driven by the actions of a single species: ours. Unlike traditional conservation efforts, Conservation X Labs focuses on leveraging the best technology, the newest innovation, interdisciplinary genius, and the power of the marketplace to boldly confront the biggest problems facing the planet. Though humans have driven this sixth extinction, we know humans have the power to reverse it.
Description
Who We Are
CXL seeks to solve the world's greatest conservation problems by supporting innovative solutions that address the underlying drivers of extinction. We develop new technology, lead innovation competitions, and empower talented innovators across disciplines to create transformative products that serve people and our planet.
CXL is the operational lead for a new philanthropic Fund tackling fire across three of South America's most globally significant ecoregions: the Amazon, the Pantanal, and the Chiquitania. The Fund brings together a diverse coalition of local, regional, and international partners to build and test integrated fire prevention and response systems, with the goal of learning quickly and scaling what works. Interventions span community-led stewardship, technology and innovation, behavior change, accelerated ecological restoration, and financial mechanisms that incentivize fire-safe land management.
The Role
Working directly alongside the Finance Director and program leadership, the Finance and Grants Manager runs how the Fund moves and stewards its money. About two-thirds of the Fund goes to in-country partners as subgrants, across at least four countries and currencies. When the agreements, risk checks, and payments are handled well, partners receive resources on time; when they aren't, the work of the Fund stalls. This role owns that work.
The work spans the whole subaward cycle and the controls around it, along with the broader financial management of the Fund: issuing and administering agreements, assessing and tiering partner risk, managing tranche-based disbursements, maintaining the Fund's cash-flow and budget models, supporting fund accounting and periodic close, supporting funder reporting, and informing program decision-making. Rigorous subaward compliance, sound internal controls, budget and financial management processes, and audit-ready records sit at the center of the role. The work is done in coordination with the Fund host's accounting and finance team, so the two don't duplicate each other.
The position is supported by in-country program associates, particularly for partner enablement, information and data flow, and reporting. This role ensures processes are clear, utilizing templates wherever possible for greater efficiency, and that each agreement step from development to close-out meets requirements, including around English as the governing language for agreements, invoices, and financial reports.
Scope of Work
The Finance and Grants Manager runs the Fund's subaward and disbursement cycle from start to finish: structuring and issuing partner agreements, risk-tiering and releasing milestone-gated payments, and reconciling and reporting to funders. The role also maintains the budgeting and cash-flow models for the Fund and supports fund accounting, decision-making, periodic close, and internal controls, working closely with program leads and associates. Coordinating closely with the host's accounting and treasury teams, it keeps donor covenants, financial controls, and accurate records holding across three countries and currencies.
Key Responsibilities
Budgeting, Accounting & Reporting
• Maintain actual-versus-budget tracking across the Fund's scenarios; support budgeting, partner budget reviews, and re-forecasting
• Work closely with program leads to develop, monitor, and manage budgets on a timely basis as the program evolves
• Support fund-level accounting and periodic close in coordination with the host finance team, including account reconciliations and maintenance of the Fund's ledger structure
• Maintain accurate program financial records (transaction coding, reconciliations)
• Help administer the Fund's accounting-system setup and financial workflows, and strengthen internal controls over the Fund's records
• Prepare funder financial and compliance reports (actual vs. budget, interest earned, variance explanations) and support the annual audit
• Assist in tracking financial-innovation exposure (credit guarantees, outcome-based finance) on its separate, non-grant ledger
Subgrant Agreements & Compliance
• Establish clear templates and process guidances for moving agreements from design to close-out, working closely with the Finance Director and program team leadership
• Draft, review, and issue subgrant agreements to in-country partners, ensuring flow-down of donor covenants (budget-variance thresholds and pre-approval rules) and clear payment contingencies
• Administer expenditure-responsibility (or equivalency-determination) requirements for foreign subgrants and the associated reporting
• Review implementing-partner agreements, budgets, and financial reports for completeness, allowability, and alignment with Fund and funder terms
Disbursement Management
• Operate the milestone/tranche disbursement model: release funds against verified milestones, acceptable reporting, and liquidation of prior advances; withhold final tranches until clean close-out
• Execute and document multi-currency payments (BRL, BOB, PEN) with the host treasury under dual control; monitor exchange-rate movements against budget and flag FX variances
• Maintain the disbursement schedule and the Fund's cash-flow model, and re-base it on the executed grant agreement
Risk Assessment & Monitoring
• Run structured pre-award risk screens and assign subrecipient risk
• Conduct ongoing financial monitoring, sanctions/OFAC screening, periodic spot reviews, and site checks; enforce anti-diversion and anti-fraud controls
• Maintain the Fund's risk register and surface finance and compliance risks into the quarterly and stage-gate reviews
• Work closely with program associates and in-country program leadership to monitor grantees
Grant Management & Committee Support
• Manage the subgrant pipeline and lifecycle (concept → due diligence → award → close-out) in the Fund's grants-management tracker
Partner Enablement & Coordination
• Support partner financial and compliance capacity, translating requirements into practical guidance for grantees with varying levels of financial infrastructure, working closely with in-country program associates and program leadership
• Serve as the day-to-day finance point of contact with the Fund host, coordinating on disbursements, reporting, reconciliations, and covenant compliance
• Coordinate with the host accounting/treasury functions to avoid duplication, and contribute finance and compliance practices to the Fund's community of practice
Qualifications
• Degree or professional credential in finance, accounting, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• Minimum 5 years of experience in grants/financial management for nonprofit, international development, or conservation programs
• Strong financial analysis and budgeting skills: Excel modeling (cash-flow, actual-vs-budget, scenarios) and proficiency with an accounting system (e.g., QuickBooks)
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving, agile, multi-country fund environment
• Fluency in English (spoken and written), the Fund's governing and working language
Preferred
• Experience administering U.S. government–funded awards
• Familiarity with foreign-exchange management and international payment/wire compliance
• Familiarity with grants-management systems and lightweight workflow tools (e.g., Airtable or Asana)
• Fluency in Spanish and/or Portuguese
• Experience managing awards or operations in Latin America
• Background in conservation, climate, or REDD+/carbon finance; exposure to blended or outcome-based finance structures
Salary
$128,000 - $136,000 per year