Financial & Budget Management Analyst (Affordability & Cost) – Expert

Description

As a principal expert, this analyst provides strategic-level cost analysis and affordability assessments to guide the agency's most complex and high-value investment decisions. This role focuses on the "cost" element of the cost-schedule-performance trade space, developing sophisticated financial models and data-driven analyses to ensure that programs and portfolios are affordable and fiscally sustainable over their entire lifecycle. Work at this level involves an extraordinary degree of specialized knowledge or expertise performing highly complex and ambiguous assignments that normally require integration and synthesis of a number of unrelated disciplines and disparate concepts.

Duties May Include:

· Leading the development of complex, data-driven affordability analyses for entire portfolios to inform the agency's annual budget build and long-range strategic investment plans.

· Architecting and maintaining intricate cost models to conduct deep what-if scenarios and sensitivity analysis related to new programs, changing requirements, and budget fluctuations.

· Serving as the lead author and analyst for the financial sections of formal business cases, Analysis of Alternatives (AoAs), and cost-benefit analyses that are presented to senior leadership and governance boards.

· Serving as the agency's top subject matter expert on cost estimating methodologies and financial modeling, providing guidance and quality assurance to program offices.

Researching and proposing innovative, enterprise-wide solutions to address systemic funding shortfalls and optimize resource allocation across competing priorities.

Requirements

Required Skills:

· TS/SCI

· Industry leader with exceptional expertise relevant to field, compliant with GSA standards.

· Demonstrated experience in federal financial management, with a clear concentration in cost analysis, cost estimating, or affordability assessment.

· Advanced proficiency with relational databases and Microsoft Excel, including the ability to build complex, multi-variable financial models from scratch.

· Demonstrated experience developing and presenting formal affordability analysis and cost-benefit analysis to senior executive-level leadership.

Desired Skills:

· Master's degree in a relevant quantitative field such as Finance, Economics, or Mathematics.

· A professional cost-estimating certification, such as the Certified Cost Estimator/Analyst (CCEA)®, or a financial certification like CDFM or CGFM.

· Experience working with modern data visualization and statistical analysis tools (e.g., Tableau, R, Python, Crystal Ball).