Project Financial Advisor

WSP • Denver, CO

1d • $77,100 - $122,700

About The Position

The Project Financial Advisor (PFA) partners with project delivery teams to align financial outcomes with enterprise objectives throughout the project lifecycle. The role provides financial stewardship and analysis across project budget setup, revenue recognition, and ongoing financial reviews. PFAs advise on profitability, working capital, compliance, project risks, and decision-making across a portfolio of medium- to high-complexity projects, and serve as a subject-matter expert or escalation point for simpler or recurring matters.

The PFA supports project setup, contract execution, forecasting, financial performance management, audit responses, and cross-functional issue resolution. The position works closely with Project Managers and finance, procurement, billing, collections, and business teams to help maintain accurate project structures and forecasts, support revenue recognition and contract compliance, identify financial risks and variances, and contribute to improved project and business performance.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business, or a closely related discipline, or demonstrated equivalent experience.
• 5–7 years of relevant post-education experience in project finance or commercial finance in engineering, construction, or professional services.
• Mostly practiced or advanced proficiency in areas including translation of financial concepts, project-related critical thinking, contract lifecycle management, escalation management, relationship building, and business acumen.
• Solid understanding of project accounting, financial reporting, EAC/ETC forecasting processes, and margin analysis.
• Experience in commercial support, such as project integration, contracts, WIP, and revenue recognition.
• Demonstrated experience supporting a multi-project portfolio with hands-on forecasting and reporting accountability.
• Advanced Excel skills and proficiency with MS Office and ERP tools.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as a self-starter.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities.
• Strong stakeholder relationship management and engagement skills, including the ability to influence delivery, commercial, and finance leadership.
• Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, including the ability to draw conclusions from data collation, documentation, and statistical analysis and identify effective, economical, and logical solutions.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to express ideas professionally to accounting and non-accounting audiences.
• Strong planning, prioritization, time-management, analytical, and problem-solving abilities, with a focus on actionable insights.

Nice To Haves

• Oracle ERP experience is preferred.
• Experience with Power BI or other data visualization tools is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Project Managers to support sound project financial management and adherence to contractual obligations and financial terms.
• Guide initial project setup, including Work Breakdown Structure development, budgeting, rate selection, and inputs to pricing tools.
• Advise on project financial planning, risk identification, project funding, billing methods, and rates.
• Review category rates and labor structures, including non-billable time, cap rates, and labor breakage, to identify opportunities for rate optimization, recoverability, and margin improvement.
• Communicate margin observations and cost-to-serve considerations and assess the financial impact of subcontracts.
• Monitor customer contract execution for financial terms such as fee types, caps, retentions, deliverable-based triggers, scheduled billing, milestones, and CPFF arrangements.
• Review and validate project structures in Project Portfolio Management systems, including WBS, funding, billing methods, rates, tax, revenue method, and project and contract master data.
• Ensure compliance with financial policies, delegations of authority, and revenue recognition standards.
• Coordinate and review DBE, WBE, and other business-enterprise reporting requirements as applicable to the region.
• Calculate margin and financial impacts and help identify reasons for project margin variability.
• Monitor the project-level forecast cycle for assigned projects to support accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with FP&A targets.
• Review project budgets and forecasts with Project Managers to validate assumptions and financial accuracy.
• Monitor mitigation action plans as directed by Project Managers and report progress to the PFA Manager.
• Perform revenue accruals and advise on other financial adjustments when required.
• Manage subcontracting activities, including requisitions and purchase orders in coordination with Procurement, supplier and subcontractor invoice processing, and coordination with PFO Managers on AP payment requests.
• Analyze and comment on project performance indicators, including forecast accuracy, working capital, revenue recognition, and change control.
• Review financial measures and tracking, including client-specific reporting requests.
• Monitor KPIs, promptly flag variances to Finance Business Partners, and recommend corrective actions.
• Participate in Project Manager review meetings and provide actionable insights on performance drivers, risks, and decisions.
• Investigate recurring financial variances and escalate findings to the PFA Manager.
• Validate contract setup controls to support revenue recognition in accordance with company policies.
• Monitor Work at Risk, including tracking, business impact assessment, reporting, and follow-up to support timely contract execution and compliance.
• Guide Project Managers on closeout when specific contractual requirements apply, such as retainage or final payment confirmation.
• Respond to customer audit requests and coordinate evidence and formal responses with Controllership and Delivery.
• Collaborate with project teams on finance-specific responses to internal and external audit requests.
• Maintain audit-ready records, calculations, and decision logs in accordance with policy.
• Collaborate with PFOs, Billing, Collections, Cash App, FP&A, Controllership, and business teams to resolve escalations.
• Escalate recurring issues through management to contribute to process improvement initiatives.
• Identify and assign time and cost transfers and allocations, and review and adjust project costs as needed.
• Promote consistent understanding and application of corporate financial governance and controls across the business.
• Identify and escalate financial exceptions to the PFA Manager for resolution at their source.
• Support Operations and Business Finance initiatives aimed at improving efficiency and financial performance.
• Support project financial performance monitoring and documentation, and assist the PFA Manager and Finance Business Partners in explaining variances and P&L impacts.
• Help identify future cost pressures and potentially loss-making projects, and ensure the business is informed and mitigation actions are implemented.

Benefits

• Medical coverage
• Dental coverage
• Vision coverage
• Disability coverage
• Life coverage
• Retirement savings
• Paid sick leave
• Paid vacation or other personal time
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off for bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level