Project Financial Advisor

WSP USA; Lawrenceville (NJ); On-site; USD 73,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP USA seeks a Project Financial Advisor to act as a trusted finance partner across project lifecycles, ensuring financial outcomes align with enterprise objectives. You will advise on budgeting, rate selection, revenue recognition, and risk identification, influencing project profitability and compliance.

You will work with Project Managers and FP&A to monitor margins, forecasts, and controls, supporting complex portfolio management and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Business, or closely-related discipline.
• 1 to 3 years of project finance or commercial finance experience in engineering, construction, or professional services.
• Proficiency in Excel and MS Office; experience with ERP tools (Oracle preferred).
• Experience with PowerBI or other data visualization tools.
• Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence leadership.

Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted finance partner to Project Managers, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations.
• Assist with WBS development, budgeting, rate selection, and pricing tool inputs.
• Advise on project financial planning and risk identification.
• Review labor structures and margins for rate optimization and profitability.
• Monitor revenue recognition and project funding, billing methods, and rates.
• Support project forecasts, budgeting, and variance analysis.
• Prepare and review project performance metrics and KPI tracking.
• Coordinate with FP&A and Controllership on financial policy compliance.

Skills

Advanced Excel

PowerBI

Oracle ERP

MS Office

Stakeholder management

Forecasting

Project accounting

Communication

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting/Business

Tools

Oracle ERP

MS Office

Job description

This Opportunity

The Project Financial Advisor (PFA) acts as a trusted finance partner to project delivery teams, ensuring alignment of financial outcomes with enterprise objectives. The role spans the entire project lifecycle across project budget setup review, revenue recognition, and timeline project financial reviews, by delivering disciplined financial stewardship and analysis. PFAs advise on profitability monitoring, working capital management for projects and compliance while contributing to sound decision-making and risk identification across a portfolio that ranges in a complexity of projects independently and supporting more complex projects with guidance.

Your Impact

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Financial Partnering & Project Support

• Contribute to the sound financial management of projects by working as an active financial partner to Project Managers, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations and financial terms
• Provide guidance on initial project setup, including Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) development, budgeting, rate selection, and pricing tool development inputs
• Advise on project financial planning and risk identification
• Support the review of category rates and labor structures to help maintain project recoverability and financial performance
• Review labor structures (e.g., non-billable time, cap rates, and labor breakage) to identify and flag areas for rate optimization and margin improvement
• Advise on project funding, billing methods, and rates for assigned projects
• Identify and communicate margin-related observations and cost-to-serve considerations to support financial performance
• Support the assessment of financial impact of subcontracts to ensure alignment with prime contract and profitability objectives

Financial aspects of Contract Execution, Structure & Policy Compliance

• Monitor execution of customer contracts for financial nuances (fee type, caps, retentions, deliverable-based triggers i.e., scheduled billing, milestones, CPFF [Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee])
• Review and validate project structure in Project Portfolio Management (PPM): WBS, funding, billing methods, rates, tax, revenue method, and project/contract master data
• Ensure compliance with financial policies, delegations of authority, and revenue recognition standards
• Coordinate and review Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)/ Women Business Enterprise (WBE)/ all business enterprise categories (XBE) reporting requirements [US and CA-specific, different terminology in the UK&I, confirm regional application/terminology]

Forecasting, Planning & Financial Alignment

• Perform margin impact and financial impact calculations and provide support in identifying reasons for variability in project margins
• Monitor the project-level forecast cycle for assigned projects, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with FP&A targets
• Review project budgets and forecasts to support the Project Manager in validating assumptions and financial accuracy
• Monitor mitigation action plans as directed by the Project Manager and report progress to the PFA Manager
• Perform revenue accruals, whenever required, throughout project delivery; advise on other financial adjustments
• Manage sub-contracting activities including requisition and Purchase Order (PO) creation (in alignment with Procurement), supplier/subcontractor invoice processing, and partner with PFO Managers on Accounts Payable (AP) payment requests

Project/Portfolio Performance Management

• Contribute to project performance reviews through analyses and commentary on relevant financial indicators (e.g., forecast accuracy, working capital, revenue recognition, change control)
• Review key measures and financial tracking, including client-specific reporting requests
• Monitor performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and flag variances promptly to Finance Business Partners with recommended corrective actions
• Participate in review meetings with Project Managers; deliver actionable insights on key performance drivers, risks, and required decisions
• Investigate recurring financial variances and elevate findings with observations to the PFA Manager
• Validate proper contract setup controls to ensure revenue recognition in-line with company policies
• Support active monitoring of Work at Risk (WAR), including tracking, business impact assessment, reporting, and follow-up to support timely contract execution and compliance
• Provide guidance to Project Managers (PMs) on project closeout in cases where specific contractual requirements apply (e.g., retainage, final payment confirmation)

Audit, Assurance & Customer/Regulatory Responses

• Respond to customer audit requests, coordinate evidence and formal responses with Controllership and Delivery
• Review and collaborate with project team on finance-specific responses to audit requests (internal or external)
• Ensure records, calculations, and decision logs are audit-ready and retained per policy.

Cross-Functional Integration & Escalation Resolution

• Collaborate with PFOs, Billing, Collections, Cash App, FP&A, Controllership, and business teams to address escalations
• Proactively elevate recurring issues through management to contribute to process improvement initiatives that enhance financial outcomes
• Identify and assign time and cost transfers and allocations; review and adjust project costs as needed

Finance Business Partnering Activities

• Foster a strong understanding and consistent application of corporate financial governance and controls across the business
• Identify and elevate any financial exceptions to PFA Manager to resolve issues at source to maintain project integrity
• Support Operations and Business Finance teams in delivering initiatives aimed at improving efficiency and financial performance
• Support project financial performance monitoring and documentation, and assist the PFA Manager and Finance Business Partners (FBP) in explaining variances and impact on P&L
• Support in identifying future cost pressures and potential loss-making projects, ensuring the business is made aware and mitigations are put in place

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Business, or closely-related discipline, (or demonstrated proven equivalent experience)
• 1 to 3 years of project finance or commercial finance experience in engineering, construction, or professional services
• Suitable qualifications/accreditations in Accounting/Finance/Business relevant to the jurisdiction(s) you are operating within
• Proficiency expectation is mostly Developing / Working, with some Practiced capability in recurring activities such as Project Target & Performance tracking and Project-Based Accounting
• Solid grasp of project accounting, financial reporting, Estimate at Completion / Estimate to Complete (EAC/ETC) forecasting processes, and margin analysis
• Experience in commercial support (e.g., project integration, contracts, Work in Progress (WIP)/ Revenue Recognition)
• Demonstrated experience supporting a multi-project portfolio with hands-on forecasting and reporting accountability
• Advanced Excel skills and proficiency in MS Office and ERP tools (Oracle preferred)
• Experience with PowerBI or other data visualization tools (advantageous)
• Self-starter who can work independently as well as collaboratively
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities
• Exceptional stakeholder relationship management and engagement skills with the ability to influence delivery, commercial, and finance leadership
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills required to apply learned subject matter and technical knowledge to reach conclusions from data collation, documentation, statistical analysis, and arriving at the most effective, economical, and logical solution.
• Effective/Strong Capable interpersonal and communication skills when interacting with others, expressing ideas effectively and professionally to an accounting and non-accounting audience
• Strong planning, prioritization, and time management abilities
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a focus on actionable insights

WSP Benefits

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.

Compensation

Expected Salary (all locations): $73,000-$95,000

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

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About WSP

WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.

www.wsp.com

NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES

WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Unsolicited resumes include any resume or hiring document sent to WSP in the absence of a signed Service Agreement where WSP has expressly requested recruitment/staffing services specific to the position at hand. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers or other business leaders, will become the property of WSP and WSP will have the right to hire that candidate without reservation – no fee or other compensation will be owed or paid to the recruiter, employment agency, or other staffing service.

WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.

The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.