Cost Analyst / Cost Modeling Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Summary:
BizFirst is assisting our client
with recruiting a skilled and experienced Cost Analyst / Cost Modeling Subject
Matter Expert (SME). This position supports the following program: U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary (OST), Working
Capital Fund (WCF), Office of Financial Management (OFM) — WCF IT Financial
Management, Cost Model Development, and Systems Integration Support.
Our client is a boutique
consulting firm that employs consultants and professionals with unique skill
sets to support the federal government with strategic execution, financial
process enablement, IT systems, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software
implementation.
What will you do
Own the design, modernization,
and monthly operation of cost allocation and rate models for a federal Working
Capital Fund's IT shared-service portfolio — replacing legacy spreadsheet
methodologies with transparent, documented, reproducible models that recover
full cost, prevent cross-subsidization among 11 customer organizations, and
target near-zero retained earnings. This is a hands-on modeling role, not an
advisory role: you will take custody of live models that produce real monthly
bills, modernize them without disrupting billing, and document them so
Government staff can operate them independently.
Responsibilities:
· Develop, modernize, and sustain cost allocation
models for legacy (commodity) and newly incorporated programmatic IT shared
services, with full data lineage from source financial data through cost pools,
drivers, and allocation logic to final billing outputs.
· Apply federal cost accounting standards in model
design: full cost under SFFAS 4 (direct tracing, cause-and-effect assignment,
documented allocation), and software cost treatment under SFFAS 10, including
project-level segregation of development costs expensed in the year incurred.
· Design cost pool structures, cost drivers, and
allocation bases that keep development, sustainment, tenant-specific,
shared-service, and enterprise costs in separate, auditable lanes.
· Produce annual rate development models aligned
to the WCF budget formulation calendar, engineered to target near-zero retained
earnings; support Government rate-review boards.
· Produce monthly cost allocation outputs by the
5th business day, tying cleanly to source financial systems, with zero critical
formula or logic errors. Build scenario and sensitivity analysis tools capable
of responding to Government what-if requests within five business days.
· Author methodology and assumptions documentation
that fully justifies every cost driver and allocation basis, delivered 15
business days before each rate-setting cycle. Parallel-run modernized model
components against legacy outputs before cutover; reconcile and disposition
every variance.
· Support billing reconciliation, audit response,
and customer (OA) billing-dispute analysis with model-based evidence.
· Security Clearance: Public Trust or the ability
to obtain one; or a higher Security clearance.
· Candidates whose experience is limited to
advisory, strategic, or conceptual consulting will not meet this program's bar.
The client explicitly requires demonstrated, hands-on implementation experience
— deployed cost models, executed billing cycles, delivered automations, and
operational financial products.
· Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance,
Economics, or Data Analytics.
· 8+ years of specialized experience with federal
Working Capital Funds (or comparable revolving/fee-for-service funds), federal
cost accounting standards (SFFAS), and the construction of cost-recovery or
chargeback methodologies.
· Demonstrated implementation record: cost models
you personally built or modernized that were deployed into production and used
for actual rate-setting or billing.
· Advanced Excel modeling proficiency, including
structured, documented, auditable workbook design.
· CPA, CGFM, or CDFM certification, or an advanced
degree in a relevant field.
· Experience costing IT shared services
specifically (service catalogs, consumption drivers, chargeback/showback);
familiarity with Technology Business Management (TBM) concepts.
· Experience with Oracle Federal Financials-based
environments and BI tools (Power BI or similar) as model input/output layers.
· Experience presenting methodology to auditors or
defending rates to skeptical customer organizations.
· Family Health Care (54% cost covered for the
entire family)
· Family Dental (54% cost covered for the entire
family)
· Family Vision (54% cost covered for the entire
family)
· Flexible Spending Account
· Overutilization bonuses for Time and Materials
(T&M) contracts
· Lifetime Event Bonuses (e.g., child, marriage)
· Profit-sharing arrangement for any work brought
into the company
· Unlimited Leave with Approval
· 401k 100% employer match on first 4% invested
· $1,000 training budget