Staff Accountant (Remote - South Dakota)

Remote accounting job with a rural nonprofit lender. Help keep the books for a nonprofit that helps South Dakota small towns thrive.

Status: Full-time, exempt, benefits-eligible

Location: Remote, anywhere in South Dakota.

Salary: $58,000 to $72,000

Benefits: 4 weeks vacation; 15 paid holidays; Summer Friday afternoons off; flexible schedule; health, dental, vision insurance; 401k match

Apply by: November 30, 2026, or until filled

Dakota Resources is hiring a staff accountant to handle day-to-day accounting, loan servicing, and compliance for Dakota Resources and Dakotas America LLC, our New Markets Tax Credit subsidiary. You will work side by side with our Chief Financial Officer every day. If you like finishing what you start, catching errors before they become problems, and helping rural communities thrive, read on.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field
• Hands-on experience with accounts payable, accounts receivable, reconciliations, and month-end close
• Proficiency in QuickBooks and Excel
• Daily use of AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT in your own work
• A record of accurate, detailed work
• Live in South Dakota or within 100 miles of Renner, SD, and travel to Renner about six times a year
• Pass a background check

Preferred

• Nonprofit or fund accounting experience
• Loan servicing experience
• Compliance reporting for grants or federal programs

THE JOB

• Handle day-to-day accounting for Dakota Resources, a nonprofit rural CDFI lender, and for Dakotas America LLC, our New Markets Tax Credit subsidiary.
• Accounts payable: code invoices, run ACH payments, set up new vendors and collect W-9s, prepare and file 1099s, and process staff expense reports and credit card receipts.
• Accounts receivable: prepare invoices, record deposits, set up borrower payments, and follow up on past-due accounts.
• Reconcile every bank and credit card account, every month.
• Help keep us in compliance with the U.S. Treasury's CDFI Fund, our investors, and our funders.
• Close the books each month and year, and help get us ready for the annual audit.
• Assist in preparing loan closing documents alongside our lending team.
• Work closely, every day, with our Chief Financial Officer, who sets accounting direction, trains you on what is specific to us, and is in the work with you most days.
• Travel to our office in Renner, SD, at least six times a year for staff meetings and retreats (travel expenses covered).

UNCOMMON BENEFITS AND PERKS

• You will build on 30 years of results: over $83 million in loans, hundreds of leadership development events, and tens of thousands of Post-it notes put to work in 150+ rural organizations.
• Live where you want, anywhere in South Dakota or within 100 miles of Renner, and set your own schedule.
• Get generous time off: four weeks of paid vacation, 15 paid holidays including your birthday, summer Friday afternoons off, and plenty of paid personal time for what life throws at you.
• Get full individual premiums covered for health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, and an annual healthy living allowance for that gym membership, bike, or pair of hiking boots.
• Get 3 percent of your salary put into your 401k before you contribute a dollar, then matched up to another 3 percent.
• Get a professional development budget for courses, conferences, and certifications, plus leadership coaching with a certified coach.
• Get home office equipment and furniture, and a monthly work-from-home stipend.
• Earn $58,000 to $72,000, depending on your skills and experience.

HOW YOU'LL KEEP OUR BOOKS

At Dakota Resources, accounting serves two organizations and the funds behind them. Every dollar comes with work: a bill to pay, a loan payment to post, a report a federal agency or an investor is waiting on.

• Keep the money moving. You pay the bills, send the invoices, and record what comes in, so nothing sits in the inbox and nothing goes unbilled.
• Close and service our loans. You prepare closing documents from templates and keep borrower payments posted and loan records current. Our lending team makes the credit decisions, and you keep the books behind them.
• Keep us in compliance. You make sure every report we owe the CDFI Fund, our investors, and our funders is accurate and on time.
• Close the books. You reconcile the accounts, close each month and year with the CFO, and help get us ready for the annual audit.
• Make it run better. Much of this work repeats every month. You write down how it works and use AI to take the repetitive parts off your plate.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

What you need: You have a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field and hands-on experience with payables, receivables, reconciliations, and month-end close. You are experienced and comfortable in QuickBooks and Excel. You have a track record of accuracy you can point to. You use AI in your daily work. You keep your work in the open, where the team can see your progress.

Even better if: You have done nonprofit or fund accounting, loan servicing, or compliance reporting for grants, the CDFI Fund, or New Markets Tax Credits. You have automated a process or helped an organization get ready for an audit. (You do not need CDFI or tax credit experience, though. We will teach you that part.)

WHO WE ARE

• Dakota Resources connects capital and capacity to empower rural communities. We are a nonprofit community development lender based in Renner, South Dakota, focused on building the capacity of rural community and economic development organizations to help their towns thrive. We level up those organizations in three ways at once: capital, capacity, and connection.
• We've created real impact. In 30 years, we have supported more than 150 rural organizations in South Dakota and 18 other states, and more than 8,300 rural leaders have connected and learned together through our events.
• We believe in a thriving rural. Every rural community has the right to define and build its own future, and everyone in those communities deserves a real shot at contributing to it and benefiting from it.
• The future of rural is here. Here means now, not someday when conditions improve, and it means wherever you already are.

HOW WE WORK

Here, you are more important than the work. Your well-being comes first, and so do your people and your property. When you are sick, when your family needs you, or when the basement floods, we make space for that to be your priority. When a week runs past 40 hours, you flex that time back within the next few weeks, because when you work too much, you cannot offer your best. You hear where you stand in one-on-ones every two weeks, not six months later.

Everyone is powerful here. We are a small, agile team where everyone contributes to the mission wherever they are needed. Dakota Resources runs more like a network than a hierarchy: there are few layers, people hold roles rather than positions, and nobody stands over your work. Whatever you hold, you lead, and you collaborate with teammates to get things done.

We build on each other's strengths. Everyone on our team knows their CliftonStrengths, and we use them to understand each other, share the work, and rely on each other. If you are selected for an interview, you may be asked to complete a CliftonStrengths assessment or share a recent one.

We work fully remote. Work-from-home is both freeing and isolating, sometimes in the same week. You need to be content with no conversations one day, and four video calls the next.

Our five core values are actions we live by: include, connect, inspire, empower, and celebrate. They are promises, not slogans. They shape how we treat each other and how we make every decision, design every project, and deliver every program, with our team, our board, our partners, and the communities we serve.

What that looks like on a typical Tuesday:

• Nobody checks your hours or hands you a to-do list. You set your own direction and notice you are behind before anyone has to tell you.
• You will usually know the target, but not always the route. You propose the steps and ask anything along the way. Curiosity is how you get to clarity.
• You seek out feedback and offer it with care. We push on each other's ideas because we want them to work, and we stay open to changing our minds with new information or ideas.
• You communicate clearly, often, and in the open. You write things down, tell teammates where you need help, and keep your progress where everyone can see it.

The future of rural is here. Come build it with us. 

HOW TO APPLY

Complete this application and upload all required documents. Applications will be accepted through November 30 or until the position is filled. If you are selected as a finalist for this position, a background check will be required.

Dakota Resources is a certified CDFI and an equal opportunity provider and employer.