Financial Analyst, Data & AI

American Electric Power•Columbus, OH

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Financial Analyst, Data & AI leads financial forecasting and controls across large programs and portfolios. The role covers budget development, monthly forecasts and accruals, variance analysis, capital and O&M tracking, vendor spend monitoring, and providing executives with accurate, timely visibility into program costs. The analyst guides program teams through monthly actuals-versus-budget cycles, including close deadlines, forecast updates, variance explanations, and accruals, while maintaining consistent schedules and standards across programs. The position manages vendor invoices from receipt through payment, verifies charges against statements of work, purchase orders, and approved timesheets, and works with vendors to ensure correct time coding and capital/O&M classification. It owns day-to-day financial control across large portfolios, including project-code setup, contract-balance tracking, portfolio-level financial rollups, and coordination with Finance, Procurement, and program leads to maintain budget compliance and audit-ready records. The broader role also involves business and data analysis, requirements elicitation, process mapping and improvement, data modeling, database review, and translating business requirements into data models and basic system configuration. It supports the full lifecycle of IT investments and portfolio planning, advises senior business and IT leaders on priorities, risks, and benefits, analyzes portfolio performance, and recommends investment changes to meet organizational goals. The role may provide training, mentoring, and work direction to others.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, business, or a related field; or an associate's degree in computer science or a related field plus 2 years of relevant work experience; or a high school diploma/GED plus 4 years of relevant work experience.
7 years of relevant work experience, in addition to any experience required to satisfy the education alternative.
Experience with business-analysis techniques and tools, including use-case modeling, data modeling, and process mapping.
Ability to learn new domains and collaborate with business and technical teams using established methodologies.
Advanced facilitation and process-improvement skills.
Technical aptitude, including use of querying tools and understanding of relational databases.
Ability to provide feedback on database designs and identify data issues and resolutions.
Ability to translate business requirements into conceptual, logical, and physical data models and basic system configuration.

Responsibilities

Lead budget development, financial forecasting, monthly forecasts and accruals, variance analysis, capital and O&M tracking, and vendor-spend monitoring for large programs.
Guide program teams through monthly actuals-versus-budget cycles, including close deadlines, forecast updates, variance explanations, and accruals.
Maintain consistent financial schedules and standards across programs so portfolio numbers are complete, accurate, and comparable.
Manage vendor invoices from receipt through payment and validate hours, rates, and amounts against statements of work, purchase orders, and approved timesheets.
Coordinate with vendors to ensure contractors use correct time codes and capital and O&M work is classified correctly.
Set up project codes, track remaining contract balances, and roll program financials up to the portfolio level.
Partner with Finance, Procurement, and program leads to keep spending within budget and records audit-ready.
Organize analysis to understand stakeholder needs and create business cases and project scopes.
Use business-analysis methods and tools for use-case modeling, data modeling, process mapping, requirements elicitation, and documentation.
Create analysis work plans and estimates, facilitate workshops, establish business capabilities, and organize and refine analysis assets.
Review database designs, identify data issues and resolutions, and translate business requirements into conceptual, logical, and physical data models and basic system configuration.
Provide process redesign and support, including answering user questions, diagnosing problems, troubleshooting, tracking resolutions, and identifying process improvements.
Plan and monitor expenditures, and manage assets and resources from a financial perspective to meet organizational objectives and compliance requirements.
Oversee the lifecycle of IT investments for a large business unit or major corporate initiative, including investment mix, portfolio structure, portfolio planning, and implementation of actionable items.
Advise senior business and IT leaders and governance groups on how enterprise priorities link to technology investments and on the risks and benefits of portfolio activities.
Direct IT and other stakeholders in developing, prioritizing, and executing the information technology and business portfolio plan.
Analyze portfolio performance and drive changes in investment mix to achieve goals.
Identify opportunities to improve strategic position, lower cost of ownership, and provide competitive advantage.
Mentor business analysts and may provide training, mentoring, and work direction to team members.