Director of Grant and Contract Management

Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) fights poverty and seeks racial, social and economic justice for low-income New Yorkers. For over 50 years, we have challenged systemic injustices that trap people in poverty and provided legal services that help our clients meet basic needs for housing, income and economic security, family and immigration stability, education, and health care. LSNYC is the largest civil legal services provider in the country; our staff of more than 600 people in neighborhood-based offices and outreach sites across all five boroughs helps hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers annually. We partner with scores of community-based and client-run organizations, elected officials, public agencies, pro bono lawyers, and the courts to maximize our effectiveness. Our work fights discrimination and helps to achieve equity for all low-income New Yorkers.

LSNYC employees have numerous opportunities for growth and professional development, including access to our internal Justice Learning Center, which provides opportunities to earn free CLEs and gain experience as a trainer. Further, LSNYC prides itself on its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) efforts and aims to create a work environment where everyone can bring their full selves to the work.

BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES SEEKS

DIRECTOR OF GRANT AND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Brooklyn Legal Services seeks a Director of Grant and Contract Management to join the dynamic leadership team of a community-based legal advocacy organization with over 160 advocates, three neighborhood offices, two satellite locations and a $32 million annual budget. The Director will be primarily responsible for managing a wide range of government and private contracts and grants across diverse practice areas with different city, state and federal funders and agencies. We are looking for detail-oriented candidates who are excited to work in a fast-paced environment and to use creative strategies and collaborations to support the work of the office.

Brooklyn Legal Services (BLS), part of Legal Services NYC, provides high-quality, innovative representation to address the pressing legal needs of Brooklyn's diverse low-income population. BLS focuses on the problems that have the greatest impact on our clients - preserving affordable and decent housing, challenging employment violations, maintaining income support, redressing abusive lending and consumer practices, promoting family stability and mitigating the effects of domestic violence, and advocating for vulnerable populations including low income immigrants, older adults and people with disabilities.

As a social justice organization, BLS is committed to fighting for a workplace that is as diverse, equitable, and inclusive as possible for everyone. Our DEIB committee and numerous affinity groups work to foster collegial relationships among staff and allow staff to explore and advocate for racial justice and anti-oppression growth within our organization and through our legal work. All employees are expected to learn about, seek to understand, and work to realize our DEIB goals. Every supervisor is expected to actively engage in learning and become increasingly skilled in supervision that supports diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The Director's duties will include actively working to advance LSNYC's mission and furthering LSNYC's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging goals.

Role and Responsibilities

The Director will report to the Project Director, and work in collaboration with the Borough Budget Manager, Unit Directors, and other key personnel to support the office and mission as follows:

• Provide development support to the program, including identifying and applying for new sources of funding;
• Assist in the preparation of grants proposals and responding to RFPs;
• Reviewing contracts and maintaining up-to-date knowledge of contract requirements to ensure program's compliance;
• Serving as a liaison to the Finance Department and funders in order to properly register contracts; prepare and submit reports;
• Reviewing, monitoring, and analyzing reports from LSNYC Central Grants & Contracts staff and Borough Budget Manager;
• Work closely with LSNYC Grants and Contracts Department, Unit Directors, Grant and Contract Specialists and staff to review and complete case cleanup reports and assist with compliance including client eligibility verification;
• Collaborating with the Borough Budget Manager to prepare grant and contract budgets and expenditure reports;
• Work closely with LSNYC Finance Department and Budget Manager to monitor spending on grants to ensure proper spenddown of contract funds;
• Work closely with Budget Manager, LSNYC Finance Department, Unit Directors and the Director of Administration with the preparation of budgets, reviewing and approving expenditures, and supporting the general operations of the office;
• Serving as a key point of contact for grant-funded programs and communicating with funder agency/program staff, as needed;
• Help prepare and participate in grant-specific and program-wide audits and funder site visits;
• Preparing written and oral presentations on grant performance and related subjects;
• Coordinating reporting and communicating with unit managers and staff about grant/contract-related needs and deadlines, including grant close-outs;
• Preparing statistical and narrative grant reports based on funders reporting cycle;
• Work closely with unit managers to develop systems to track area-specific progress toward contract goals and requirements, identify problems and propose solutions to ensure contract goals and organizational needs are met;
• Collaborating with practice leaders and other staff to assist in ensuring that LSNYC's case management system and other databases are modified to collect all required data for grants and are able to generate custom reports providing these data elements, which includes working with practice leaders and staff to develop forms for data collection and strategies for reporting;
• Provide training to new staff on proper use of case management system to ensure proper timekeeping and tracking of contract deliverables;
• Coordinating administrative activities and tasks related to our grant obligations;

Experience and Qualifications:

• Minimum five (5) years relevant experience, at least some of which in a non-profit environment, preferably at an organization providing direct services;
• Three (3) years of experience developing non-profit budgets and other organizational financial statements, and experience working with accounting staff developing financial budgets, statements and filings (strongly preferred);
• Experience obtaining and managing city, state, and federal funding
• Familiarity with funding portals (such as VendRep; SAM.Gov; Passport, SFS, Eloccs, Secure Systems; STARS) strongly preferred;
• Intermediate knowledge of Excel and Adobe Pro;
• Experience with LegalServer or other case and grant management systems;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Strong organizational skills and detail oriented;
• Strong problem-solving skills and good judgment;
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment, manage multiple priorities, and able to meet deadlines;
• Strong interpersonal skills and collaborative approach to leadership;
• Collaborative team player and ability to work well independently;
• Supervisory experience or project management experience (preferred);
• Strong commitment to social justice, interest and experience working with and supporting diverse, low-income communities.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.

How to Apply

Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and two writing samples.

BLS offers a generous benefits package. Salary is commensurate with experience.

Dependent on work history and experience.

Salary Range

$102,168-$152,536 USD

All employees are strongly encouraged to continue to receive and maintain up-to-date COVID vaccinations unless they are unable to for medical or religious reasons.

Legal Services NYC is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, people over 40, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are strongly encouraged to apply.