Senior Development Accountant

Position Title: Senior Development Accountant Company: Red Tail Acquisitions Location: Irvine, California Full-time, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Reports To: Corporate Controller

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Development Accountant holds primary ownership of development accounting for Red Tail's ground-up and affordable housing development projects, carrying each project from acquisition and loan closing through construction draws, reporting, and ongoing asset management. The role works directly with lenders, investors, title and escrow, general contractors, and third-party property managers. Beyond the core accounting function, the Senior Development Accountant is responsible for building capacity across the entire Accounting organization by developing and managing outsourced resources and by leading the adoption of AI tools department-wide, so that Accounting can scale with the company's growing pipeline.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Acquisitions & Loan Closings

• Work through the land acquisition closing process directly with title and escrow, and record the related acquisition journal entries.
• Work through the loan closing process directly with lenders and title, including complex multi-source closings, and record the related closing entries, ensuring sources and uses of funds are properly booked and understood.
• Establish banking relationships and open new accounts with lending institutions outside of JPMorgan as new loans require.

Due Diligence & Property Transitions

• Oversee the accounting process for properties in due diligence, ensuring invoices are paid through the corporate entity until due diligence is waived and legal entities are established in Yardi.
• Allocate costs incurred by corporate to the detailed jobcost budget once a property transitions into the live database.

Development Accounts Payable & Vendor Contracts

• Own Development Accounts Payable in full, end to end, including reviewing vendor invoices against contract terms (rates, retention, payment terms) prior to payment.
• Manage vendor contracting across both Development and Highway West Vacations (HWV) properties, including contract agreements, vendor setup, and W-9 collection.

Equity & Loan Draws

• Manage the draw process across current and upcoming Affordable and Market Rate projects, with draw volume expected to grow materially as additional projects break ground.
• Track project budgets in coordination with lenders.
• Compile and organize draw backup from project inception so all costs to date are properly recognized as part of the equity basis.
• Review AIA pay applications (G702/G703) and change orders (G701) submitted by the general contractor as part of draw preparation.
• Allocate and reconcile shared costs across projects, prorating multi-project vendor invoices by unit count or acreage per the project agreement, and splitting costs in Yardi for projects that originated under a single property code and were later divided into separate market-rate and affordable entities. Mark each allocation so lenders and auditors can verify the split.

Reconciliation & Cost Recovery

• Own and perform development bank reconciliations.
• Track and administer project costs reimbursed by outside parties, including cost-sharing agreements and quarterly reimbursement draws.

Financial Reporting & Review

• Lead the quarterly Development Financial Review: prepare the presentation, update jobcost budgets, correct balance sheet items, and present the financial position of development projects.
• Prepare lender financial reporting packages, including balance sheets and tax returns as required.
• Prepare the monthly investor reporting package for assigned projects.
• Coordinate with outside tax preparers on annual tax return preparation and review.

Affordable Asset Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the third-party property management company on assigned affordable projects, receiving monthly property financials and flagging questions as they arise.
• Review property-level financials for reasonableness, then package and deliver the monthly reporting to the investor; scope is expected to grow as familiarity with investor reporting expectations develops.

SENIOR-LEVEL / EXPANDED RESPONSIBILITIES

Beyond the core accounting function, the Senior Development Accountant is accountable for building capacity across the wider Accounting organization through the following two areas:

1. Developing and Managing Outsourced/Offshore (OHI) Resources

• Identify manual, time-consuming Accounts Payable tasks across the department that cannot be resolved through AI or other automation (e.g., due to API or system access limitations) and transition them to an outsourced/offshore resource.
• Use AI alongside the OHI relationship, preparing and structuring invoice data so the OHI resource can upload invoices quickly and absorb higher volume.
• Manage the OHI resource's day-to-day work, including coaching, performance review, and ongoing assessment of capability and productivity.
• Continue expanding the OHI relationship beyond Accounts Payable into additional workstreams as capacity and capability allow.

2. Championing AI Adoption in the Accounting Department

• Own department-wide adoption of AI-assisted bank reconciliations, now rolled out across the entire Accounting department, which converted the process from manual and gave time back to every team that performs it.
• Build and own the roadmap for extending AI-assisted workflows to additional accounting processes beyond bank reconciliations, validating viability before each rollout.
• Coach each receiving team through adoption and phase deployments in sequence.
• Organize and schedule the cross-team meetings needed to drive adoption; sequence the rollout order.
• Measure success of the rollout by time saved across the department.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 4–5+ years of real estate development accounting experience.
• Ability to carry development accounting independently and exercise judgment without day-to-day oversight.
• Strong working knowledge of Yardi jobcost accounting, equity and loan draw processes, and lender reporting requirements.
• Experience with HUD and affordable-housing project accounting, including cost allocation/proration methodology.
• Experience representing the company directly to lenders, investors, title and escrow, general contractors, and third-party property managers.
• People-leadership experience, with the ability to coach, review, and hold a managed resource (onshore or offshore) accountable for performance.
• Experience planning and leading a technology rollout across multiple teams, including piloting new tools and coaching teams through the change.

Special Requirements Physical Demands

• Regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, and reach using hands, arms, back, legs, and feet.
• Occasional climbing may be required.
• Vision requirements include the ability to use close and distance vision, color vision, depth perception, and focus adjustment.
• Must detect auditory and visual alarms.
• Flexible hours may include nights, weekends, or holidays as needed.

Attendance/Travel

• Full-time attendance required; may require occasional after-hours support for company events or special projects.

Learning & Development

• Commitment to ongoing professional growth through company-sponsored educational programs.

Red Tail Acquisitions is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. #RTA