Senior Lead, Grant Compliance, Reporting and Audit Readiness

Company Description

At Brightspeed, we are reimagining how people live, work, play and connect by providing fast, reliable internet connections and an awesome customer experience in twenty states throughout the Midwest and South.

Backed by funds managed by Apollo Global Management, our vision is to accelerate the upgrade of copper to fiber optic technologies, bringing faster and more reliable internet service to many rural markets traditionally underserved by broadband providers, while delivering best-in-class customer experience.  

Be a part of the team that will make this vision a reality….designing and building a world class fiber network and creating a customer experience second to none.

Check us out on the web!  

Job Description

The Senior Lead, Grant Compliance, Reporting and Audit Readiness leads the execution and quality control of grant reporting, compliance documentation, evidence management, audit readiness, and closeout support for broadband grant programs. This role ensures reporting submissions, supporting records, and compliance controls are complete, accurate, timely, and defensible. The position partners closely with Construction, Engineering, Legal/Regulatory, Procurement, and reimbursement stakeholders to support compliant program execution and readiness for agency inquiries, audits, and closeout activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage recurring grant reporting activities across active broadband grant programs, including reporting calendars, submission checklists, templates, and internal deadlines.
• Review, validate, and organize supporting documentation, performance metrics, milestone evidence, and records required for grant reporting and compliance submissions.
• Lead audit readiness activities, including evidence retention standards, documentation controls, organized file structures, response support, and corrective action tracking.
• Interpret grant reporting and compliance requirements and translate them into practical internal procedures, workflows, and control checks.
• Serve as the primary cross-functional interface with Construction and related operating teams for build status, milestone support, and other documentation required to satisfy reporting and compliance obligations.
• Partner with the reimbursement Senior Lead on ARPA closeout deliverables, BEAD startup requirements, and other activities where reporting and reimbursement obligations intersect.
• Direct contractor work supporting reporting preparation, documentation gathering, record management, compliance file organization, and related compliance support activities, including NEPA documentation support.
• Identify reporting, compliance, and audit risks, and escalate issues requiring leadership awareness or intervention.
• Develop, maintain, and improve standard operating procedures, templates, checklists, and documentation controls for recurring compliance work.
• Support responses to agency inquiries, audits, monitoring requests, and closeout requirements by ensuring records are complete, accessible, and well organized.
• Monitor deadlines and deliverables across multiple grant programs to ensure timely and accurate completion of reporting and compliance obligations.
• May perform other duties as assigned.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 5–7 years of experience in grant compliance, regulatory reporting, audit support, risk management, program controls, or related compliance-focused functions.
• Experience supporting high-volume, deadline-driven work in a regulated environment required.
• Compliance-related certifications are strongly preferred.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong knowledge of grant reporting, compliance documentation, audit readiness, and records management practices.
• Ability to interpret external program requirements and operationalize them into repeatable internal processes and controls.
• Strong documentation discipline, quality control, and attention to detail.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, especially Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, and Adobe.
• Strong organizational and project coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and priorities.
• Effective cross-functional collaboration skills and the ability to drive accountability across operational partners.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and issue escalation skills.
• Abi