Cost Analyst

Clayco; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary annual bonus

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Clayco is seeking a Project Cost Analyst to bridge cost control and data analysis across large warehouse projects. You will interpret job costs, budgets, and forecasting, while building tools to automate reporting and improve accuracy across reports and Excel deliverables.

The role requires active field/site exposure, hands-on cost management experience, and strong SQL/Excel capabilities. Expect travel with client nationwide projects and a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in construction with active site exposure.
• Hands-on cost control or estimating on commercial/industrial projects.
• B.S. in Engineering, Construction Management, or related technical field.
• Working SQL—read, write, and debug queries against a warehouse.
• Demonstrated Excel automation or reporting (Power BI/Tableau) with concrete tools named on résumé.
• Advanced Excel with complex formulas and large dataset modeling.

Responsibilities

• Understand how large warehouse datasets map to project realities.
• Maintain data pipeline feeding reports and Excel deliverables.
• Troubleshoot and fix Excel formulas and SQL queries.
• Lead or advise data engineering on reporting needs.
• Develop and deploy ad hoc reporting for project teams.

Skills

4+ years construction experience

Cost control / estimating

Advanced Excel

SQL read/write

Education

B.S. in Engineering / Construction Management / related field

Tools

SQL

Power BI

Tableau

Power Query

Power Automate

SSAS

Snowflake

Job description

About Us:

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that safely delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $8.1 billion in revenue for 2025, Clayco specializes in the \"art and science of building,\" providing fast track, efficient solutions for mission critical, industrial, life sciences, power & energy, aviation, commercial, institutional, residential and sports & entertainment related building projects.

The Role We Want You For

As a Project Cost Analyst, you understand job cost, budgets, and forecasting from field/project experience, and have since built tools that automate the reporting around it. This is not a pure data analyst or a pure cost engineer role, this role is the overlap of the two roles.

The Specifics of the Role

• Understand how large warehouse datasets map to what's actually happening on a job, and navigate them without hand-holding
• Maintain the data pipeline feeding standing reports and Excel deliverables, keeping them accurate as source systems and business processes change
• Troubleshoot and fix Excel formulas and SQL queries when they break — which in construction is often, because the work and the org structure keep moving
• Lead or advise data engineering on changing reporting and data needs, translating cost-side requirements into something engineering can build
• Develop and deploy ad hoc reporting for project teams, from request through delivery

Requirements

• 4+ years construction industry experience, including time on active project sites
• Hands-on cost control, cost management, or estimating experience on commercial/industrial projects
• B.S. in Engineering, Construction Management, or a related technical field
• Working SQL — able to read, write, and debug queries against a warehouse
• Demonstrated Excel automation or report development work (Power BI, Tableau) — the résumé should name specific tools built, not just \"proficient in Excel\"
• Advanced Excel: complex formulas, pivot tables, large-dataset modeling

Strongly preferred

• Power Query / Power Automate named explicitly on the résumé
• BI and semantic modeling experience: Power BI, SSAS, or Tableau. Power BI is the more transferrable of the skills given our usage of Power Query.

Nice to have

• Python
• Snowflake or other cloud data warehouse
• VBA / Office Scripts
• Procore, PMWeb, or JD Edwards
• MBA
• Any other programming experience

Some Things You Should Know

• Our clients and projects are nationwide – Travel will be required.
• No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
• We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
• The pace is fast!
• This position is classified as a safety-sensitive role in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. Candidates selected for this position will be subject to a comprehensive background check, which includes mandatory drug testing

Why Clayco?

• 2025 Best Places to Work – St. Louis Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Phoenix Business Journal.
• 2025 ENR Top 400 – Top Data Center Contractor (Top 3).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms – Design-Build Contractor (Top 5).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors – Green Contractor (Top 3).

Benefits

• Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!

Compensation

• The salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case