Project Financial Analyst - CRO experience preferred

Cognitive Research Corporation; United States; Remote; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognitive Research Corporation is seeking a Project Financial Analyst to partner with project managers, implementation managers, and core teams on all project finance matters including revenue recognition, cash flow, resourcing, and profitability.

The role focuses on providing accurate financial analysis, preparing monthly business analyses, and communicating meaningful insights to drive decisions and improve project outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or Accounting or equivalent
• Strong analytical and financial modeling abilities
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion
• Experience with Excel, PowerPoint, and NetSuite is preferred
• Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines

Responsibilities

• Provide accurate financial analysis for project leadership to aid decision making
• Support monthly business analyses including revenues, costs, variances, and cash flow
• Develop and communicate project metrics across contracts and portfolios
• Translate financial data into actionable business insights on performance and risk
• Model alternative scenarios with technical rigor and business acumen
• Maintain and update project budgets from post-award onwards
• Assist with resource planning and assess margin implications
• Support process improvement initiatives and customer inquiries
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and company policies
• Support project setup and closeout activities as needed

Skills

Analytical skills

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Time management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/Finance/Accounting

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

NetSuite

Job description

The Project Financial Analyst acts as the primary finance business partner to project managers, implementation managers and core project team members supporting all project finance matters including, but not limited to, revenue recognition, cash flow, scope management, change order management, profitability, resourcing, customer support and other project related matters.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide accurate, transparent, and timely financial and non-financial analysis to support project leadership in project and project portfolio decision making process; clearly articulate financial implications of business decisions / choices, and provide retrospective analysis as well as drive forward looking actions
• Support the project analysis requirements for simple and complex projects and/or contract types; be responsible for the execution of financial processes and preparation of monthly business analysis (e.g. revenues and costs, actuals vs. forecast, variances, cash flow, profitability, cost-to-complete, resourcing and scope management ) for defined projects
• Maintain, produce and communicate a relevant and impactful set of project metrics consistent with the project and contract types being managed
• Leverage understanding of the business context to synthesize financial and operational data into meaningful business insights that highlight performance, risk, and opportunities
• Outline alternative finance scenarios with a high degree of technical knowledge, business acumen, best practice approach and minimal supervision
• Maintain/update simpler to complex projects and program budgets within relevant tools from post-award onwards including analysis and action on any subsequent changes in scope
• Provide project resource planning support, monitor resource levels on ongoing projects and identify and communicate project/portfolio margin implications
• Support process and technology improvement initiatives
• Interact and support customer requests
• Ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements and company policies and standard operating procedures
• Support project setup and closeout activities as necessary

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance or Accounting, or in a related field or equivalent combination of education, training and experience
• Previous experience as a project financial analyst; some experience in clinical research industry preferred
• Strong experience with Excel and PowerPoint applications; experience with financial performance systems (e.g., NetSuite)
• Exceptional attention to detail, accuracy, organizational, interpersonal, and teamwork skills
• Excellent financial, communication, and interpersonal skills as well as an elevated level of personal motivation to achieve
• Demonstrated ability to work with confidential and sensitive data
• Effective time management and prioritization skills, to manage multiple projects or tasks simultaneously
• Able to perform in depth analysis using various sources of information
• Able to meet deliverable timelines set by the client, project team and company
• Understands the underlying principles of revenue recognition and the relationship between Revenue, Backlog, Work in process and Invoicing
• Ability to travel <10%