Project Control Analyst

ARA Brand; Greenville (SC); On-site; USD 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Ara is seeking a Project Analyst to join their Integrated Products Division in Greenville, SC. This role involves managing KPIs, performing budget analysis, and supporting project reporting for innovative technology projects.

Successful candidates will have a Bachelor’s Degree, expertise in MS Excel, and strong organizational skills. Responsibilities include maintaining dashboards, generating project plans in Smartsheet, and supporting project management processes.

Join Ara's team to be part of exciting emerging technologies!

Qualifications

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Experience with project/task scheduling.
• Knowledge of change management or configuration management processes.

Responsibilities

• Maintain dashboards to track progress and ensure transparency of key metrics.
• Generate and manage project plans within Smartsheet.
• Perform budget analysis and cost projections.
• Compile, analyze, and track data to influence costs.
• Support the project management and systems engineering teams.
• Update cost trackers with actuals from Job Status Report.

Skills

Proficient in MS Word

Proficient in PowerPoint

Highly proficient with MS Excel

Highly organized

Detail oriented

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or similar

Tools

MS Word

Power BI

Deltek Cost Point

Smartsheet

Job description

The Integrated Products Division (IPD) of Applied Research Associates, Inc. is looking for a Project Analyst to join our team in Greenville, SC. The IPD team strives to develop and deliver solutions to challenging problems involving highly technical areas such as robotic systems, autonomous vehicles, advanced sensors, geotechnical applications, weapon systems, energy solutions and other emerging technologies – for both commercial and DOD/Government customers. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a growing Program & Project Management team with coordination and support to the Accounting Team.

As the Project Analyst, you will work closely with ARA’s project managers and accounting team to manage KPIs, perform budget analysis, estimate costs/labor hours, support configuration management, and manage project reporting for both New Product Introduction (NPI) and New Technology Introduction (NTI) projects.

Responsibilities

• Maintain dashboards to track progress and ensure transparency of key metrics.
• Generate and manage project plans within Smartsheet, ensuring projects are properly linked to reports.
• Perform budget analysis, cost projections, and estimates.
• Compile, analyze, and track data that can influence cost, such as materials, labor, and special equipment requirements.
• Proactively anticipate and resolve issues that may occur involving accuracy of resource and financial monitoring and reports for the project deck.
• Maintain resource (people and materials) planning spreadsheets, ensuring all required resources are captured and allocated accurately.
• Proactively identify potential resource constraints and communicate effectively with project managers.
• Support the generation of work instructions and Standard Operating Procedures for project and change management.
• Support the project management and systems engineering teams in executing the change management process.
• Support configuration reviews with the Change Management Review board, ensuring the process is completed and required approvals are received.
• Track and monitor subcontractor spending, work completion, and deliverables when required.
• Support during project reviews, documenting and communicating identified action items.
• Facilitate lessons learned activities/reviews for completed projects.
• Support the project management team and proposal managers in compiling estimates and getting quotes for project proposals.
• Provide other support to project managers as required.
• Possibly lead internal process improvements.
• Update cost trackers with actuals from Job Status Report (JSRs); work with PM to realign hours, material & travel costs.
• Maintain project cost tracker templates—adding new employees, formatting/modifying, and troubleshooting errors or problems with formulas.
• Add employee allocations into Adaptive Planning (AP); maintain AP with changes/updates on projects (direct labor, travel and material costs).
• Assist accounting team with reconciling project revenue in AP to E-office and cost tracking worksheets.

Required Experience and Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or similar.
• Proficient in MS Word, PowerPoint, and Smartsheet.
• Highly proficient with MS Excel.
• Highly organized and detail oriented.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.

Preferences

• Familiarity with Power BI and Deltek Cost Point.
• Familiarity with Earned Value Management practices.
• Experience with project/task scheduling.
• Knowledge of change management or configuration management processes and procedures.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities. This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.