TL Senior Project Analyst

University of Dayton; Dayton (OH); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Dayton—UDRI seeks a Team Lead Senior Project Analyst to provide contract, financial, and project analysis support across sustainment programs. The role requires strong PM and government contracting knowledge and involves managing project finances, tracking deliverables, coordinating contract actions, and delivering performance insights.

In addition to core duties, the position includes Team Lead responsibilities, mentoring junior analysts, ensuring process consistency, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, project management, engineering technology, or a related field.
• 6+ years of directly related experience in project management support, financial analysis, contract administration, or program coordination.
• Ability to independently perform most responsibilities with sound judgment.

Responsibilities

• Track and manage contract deliverables, coordinate contract actions, and support proposal development.
• Review contract terms, monitor compliance, and identify impacts to scope, schedule, or funding.
• Maintain and analyze project budgets, burn rates, financial performance, and expenditure tracking.
• Execute forecasting, variance analysis, spend planning, and reconcile invoices and cost documentation.
• Prepare financial summaries, dashboards, and monthly reporting packages for leadership and customers.
• Coordinate communication across government customers, subcontractors, and internal teams.
• Identify inefficiencies, propose process improvements, and support cross-team initiatives.

Skills

Project management

Financial analysis

Contract administration

Team leadership

Communication

Excel

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job No: 503983
Work Type: Staff Full Time (1500 hours or greater)
Location: Dayton, OH
Category: Research Institute Staff
Department: Sustainment Bus Support Ser - 250723
Pay Grade: P3 - Exempt
Advertised: October 21, 2026
Applications close: November 02, 2026

Position Summary:

Join UDRI as a TL Senior Project Analyst!

This position provides contract, financial, and project analysis support across a broad portfolio of sustainment programs. The role requires a strong understanding of project and program management principles, government contracting processes, and financial tracking. The Project Analyst supports senior program managers, engineers, and technical leads by managing project finances, monitoring deliverables, coordinating contract actions, and generating performance insights.

In addition to core analyst duties, this position includes Team Lead responsibilities, supporting workflow coordination, mentoring junior analysts, enhancing process consistency, and assisting leadership in maintaining an effective and collaborative project support environment. The majority of work supports government customers, with some engagement from industry partners.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Track and manage contract deliverables, coordinate contract actions, and support proposal development.
• Review contract terms, monitor compliance, and identify impacts to scope, schedule, or funding.
• Maintain and analyze project budgets, burn rates, financial performance, and expenditure tracking.
• Execute forecasting, variance analysis, spend planning, and reconcile/validate invoices and cost documentation.
• Prepare financial summaries, dashboards, and monthly reporting packages for leadership and customers.
• Support PMs and engineers with schedule tracking, resource forecasting, logistics coordination, and deliverable management.
• Maintain project data systems, including risk/issue/action item tracking, shared folders, and action logs.
• Compile and analyze financial, contractual, and project data to provide decision-support insights.
• Coordinate communication across government customers, subcontractors, and internal functional teams.
• Identify inefficiencies, recommend process improvements, and contribute to inventory, audit, and cross-team initiatives.

Team Lead Responsibilities

• Serve as a workflow coordinator for junior project analysts, ensuring consistent processes and high-quality outputs.
• Provide mentoring, training, and guidance on UDRI policies, contract workflows, deliverable tracking, and financial tools.
• Review analysts’ work for accuracy, consistency, and compliance with internal standards.
• Recommend enhancements to tools, templates, and reporting methods to increase efficiency across the project analyst team.
• Support Group Lead and senior program managers in identifying training needs, assignment planning, and task prioritization.
• Help foster a collaborative, agile environment focused on accuracy, timeliness, and customer satisfaction.
• Act as a liaison between analysts and program leadership to ensure clarity in expectations and alignment with sector objectives.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, project management, engineering technology, or a related field.
• 6+ years of directly related experience in project management support, financial analysis, contract administration, or program coordination.
• Ability to independently perform the vast majority of responsibilities, exercising judgment in determining methods, approaches, and appropriate techniques.
• Strong and in-depth knowledge of project or financial analysis standards, principles, and practices, including wide application of PM, financial, or contract management concepts.
• Experience developing solutions for problems requiring integration of multiple factors, creativity, and thoroughness.
• Ability to serve as a team member or informal team leader for projects or workflows within a professional work group.
• Strong communication skills with ability to represent the organization as a prime contact on contracts or projects, interacting with senior internal/external personnel.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, for budget reconciliation, spend plans, deliverable tracking, and financial reporting.
• Due to requirements of our research contracts with the U.S. federal government, candidates for this position must be a U.S. Citizen.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in business administration, finance, project management, engineering management, or related field.
• 8+ years of directly related experience in a government contracting, defense sustainment, or R&D support environment.
• Experience providing technical guidance or mentorship to less experienced staff or analysts.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate problems, identify solutions, and support decisions that influence project schedules, client relationships, or expenditures.
• Prior experience preparing cost proposals, spend plans, financial review packages, and contract deliverables for government customers.
• Familiarity with project management methodologies, reporting standards, and common risk/issue tracking practices.
• Experience leading or coordinating cross-functional workflows (finance, contracts, engineering, PM).

Closing Statement:

Informed by its Catholic and Marianist mission, the University is committed to the dignity of every human being. Informed by this commitment, we seek to increase diversity in all of its forms, achieve fair outcomes, and model inclusion across our campus community. The University is committed to policies of affirmative action designed to increase the employment opportunities of individuals with disabilities and protected veterans in compliance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1973.