Finance Manager

About Field Engine

Field Engine Wildlife Research & Management is building the future of wildlife management, an integrated organization where science, technology, and field practice work together to solve the world's toughest wildlife conflicts. We oversee operational delivery, applied research, and service programs, ensuring projects are scientifically credible, operationally excellent, and financially sound.

Our multidisciplinary team of roughly 25 wildlife biologists, veterinarians, technicians, and project managers implements population reduction, fertility control, and ecological monitoring programs across diverse landscapes, bridging field operations with product development and research partnerships that advance humane wildlife management globally.

The role

Our revenue comes from a mixed portfolio of contract types: cooperative agreements and grants subject to Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200), along with IDIQ contracts and work-for-hire agreements with municipalities and other clients that follow standard commercial terms rather than federal grant rules. Nearly all revenue and cost activity runs through individual, contract-specific projects, each with its own budget, cost structure, billing terms, and compliance profile, whether federally funded or not. The Finance Manager owns project-based accounting across this full portfolio: standing up each project correctly in the accounting system, applying the right financial and compliance framework based on funding source, tracking budget-to-actual performance throughout its life, and closing it out cleanly for reporting and audit purposes.

This role also carries the organization's federal compliance obligations: cost allowability, time and effort documentation, indirect cost recovery, subrecipient monitoring, and Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) preparation for the annual single audit. Disciplined, project-level cost tracking and strong billing controls are an organizational priority. The Finance Manager will own day-to-day accounting activity directly, including full-cycle payroll and accounts payable, working closely with part-time administrative support on routine processing, and will serve as the primary hands-on financial partner to the Director of Finance and Administration.

What you'll do

Project-based accounting and contract financial management

• Set up each new contract, grant, or program as its own project/job in the accounting system, with appropriate cost codes, budget categories, and billing terms.
• Maintain project-level budget-to-actual tracking throughout the life of each contract, flagging variances and cost overruns early.
• Prepare project profitability and cost-to-complete analyses for active contracts, and support pricing and budgeting on new proposals.
• Own project closeout: final cost reconciliation, budget modification documentation, and archiving of supporting records.
• Maintain a portfolio-level view of all active projects for leadership, distinguishing government-approved budgets from internal management budgets to prevent reclassification issues.
• Recommend and maintain job-costing structures and reporting that scale as the number of concurrent projects grows.

Federal grant and contract compliance

• Apply federal cost principles to determine whether costs charged to each project are allowable, appropriately allocated, and reasonable.
• Oversee staff time and effort documentation for employees charging time to federally funded programs.
• Maintain and apply the organization's indirect cost rate methodology consistently across projects.
• Ensure costs identified as unallowable under a given award are excluded from billing.
• Evaluate and document whether partner organizations should be classified as subrecipients or contractors on pass-through funding.
• Process required billing data and documentation for specialized federal billing workstreams (for example, DFAS billing files, transportation account coding, and letters of instruction), coordinating with program staff as needed.

Annual audit and external reporting

• Oversee preparation of the organization's year-end federal spending schedule and reconcile it to the general ledger.
• Support scoping and planning discussions with the external audit firm ahead of annual fieldwork.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for the external audit firm during fieldwork, including any auditor transitions.
• Own remediation and ongoing monitoring controls tied to prior audit findings, including documentation of corrective actions taken.
• Review audit engagement letters for timeline, independence, and data-handling terms, and escalate concerns to the Director of Finance.
• Support the annual Form 990 nonprofit tax filing, working closely with the organization's CPA firm to provide required financial data and documentation.

Billing, cost allocation, and related-party compliance

• Review and approve invoices for cost-reimbursement contracts, ensuring billed costs match approved budget categories and supporting documentation at the project level.
• Review government contracts and cooperative agreements for financial terms and compliance obligations, flagging concerns to the Director of Finance.
• Serve as the organization's point of contact for government invoicing and contract-management portals used in billing.
• Apply approved arms-length billing rate frameworks for shared or contracted staff working across affiliated entities.
• Maintain hour-tracking and allocation records supporting inter-entity billing, ensuring rates remain defensible under a conflict-of-interest and related-party review.
• Flag and escalate any billing structure, contract, or budget change that could create a compliance or independence concern.
• Maintain oversight of multi-state corporate registration, insurance, and regulatory filings, coordinating with administrative support on routine tracking.

Payroll administration and compliance

• Process or oversee full-cycle payroll, including wages, tax withholding, benefit deductions, and PTO accruals for staff across affiliated entities.
• Reconcile each payroll run to the general ledger and resolve discrepancies before posting.
• Maintain correct exempt/non-exempt wage-and-hour classification for each position based on actual job duties and monitor federal and state salary threshold changes that could affect classification.
• Tie payroll and labor cost data to project- and grant-level time tracking to ensure federally funded programs are billed accurately.
• Coordinate multi-entity payroll allocation for shared staff working across affiliated organizations, consistent with approved arms-length billing rates.
• Manage new hire payroll setup, terminations, and payroll changes, and serve as the primary point of contact for payroll-related questions from staff.
• Stay current on federal and state wage-and-hour law changes and flag compliance risks to the Director of Finance.

Accounts payable and vendor management

• Process vendor invoices, coding each to the correct project, cost center, and budget category before payment.
• Match invoices to purchase orders or contract terms and confirm receipt of goods or services prior to payment.
• Manage payment runs (checks and ACH), maintaining accurate cash-flow visibility and positive vendor relationships.
• Maintain vendor records, including W-9 collection, and prepare and file 1099s at year-end.
• Monitor accounts payable aging and flag past-due items or cash-flow risks to the Director of Finance.
• Maintain appropriate approval controls and segregation of duties over disbursements, particularly for costs charged to federally funded projects.
• Reconcile the accounts payable subledger to the general ledger monthly.

Reporting, systems, and administrative collaboration

• Work closely with part-time administrative support, directing and reviewing their work on routine data entry, filing, and transaction processing.
• Deliver monthly financial summaries, project-level variance analysis, and portfolio dashboards to the Director of Finance and leadership.
• Maintain accounting system reconciliations and reporting, including oversight of system access and data integrity.
• Partner with program and grants staff to keep budget-to-actual tracking current across all active contracts.
• Support financial analysis for new award proposals, budget modifications, and no-cost extensions.
• Establish and lead a recurring finance cadence with the Director of Finance and relevant program stakeholders.

What you'll bring

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• 5 to 7+ years of accounting experience, including project-based or job-cost accounting and nonprofit and/or government contract/grant accounting.
• Working knowledge of federal grant compliance requirements (Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR Part 200), including cost principles and audit requirements.
• Experience preparing or overseeing year-end federal spending schedules and supporting independent audit fieldwork.
• Demonstrated experience managing budgets and financial performance across multiple concurrent projects or contracts.
• Comfort directing and reviewing the work of part-time administrative support while retaining full ownership of accuracy and compliance.
• Strong proficiency in accounting systems (QuickBooks Desktop and/or Online) and advanced Excel skills.
• Hands-on experience processing payroll in QuickBooks Desktop, including tax withholding and benefits deductions.
• Hands-on experience managing accounts payable, including invoice coding, payment processing, and vendor 1099 reporting.
• High attention to detail and comfort working across multiple related legal entities with distinct compliance profiles.
• Experience with cost-reimbursement contract billing to federal, state, or municipal agencies.
• Familiarity with related-party/arms-length billing structures between affiliated nonprofit and for-profit entities.
• Experience building or scaling job-costing and project-accounting structures as an organization's contract volume grows.
• Experience owning payroll independently, without a dedicated HR or payroll department for support.

Work environment

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk, working on a computer, and speaking on the phone.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times.

Equal opportunity employer

Field Engine Wildlife Research & Management is an equal opportunity employer and a drug-free workplace, and complies with ADA regulations as applicable. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.