Senior Cost Analyst

JM Recruiting•Dallas, TX

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Cost Analyst supports the successful development and execution of pipeline and facility projects through project coordination, financial accuracy, and operational efficiency. The role supports financial management and project controls for a portfolio of capital projects, partnering with Project Managers, Accounting, Finance, Procurement, and Operations. The analyst serves as a financial partner to project teams and leadership, translating complex cost data into clear business insight that supports disciplined capital project execution. This is a full-time contract role performed in office. The analyst owns cost tracking and project controls across capital projects, including budgets, forecasts, commitments, accruals, cash flow projections, and final cost reporting. The role analyzes cost performance and variances, leads monthly cost and forecast reviews, supports change management and financial reporting, and helps improve project controls and related processes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience in cost analysis, project controls, project accounting, financial analysis, or a related discipline.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel for cost tracking, forecasting, analysis, and financial reporting.
Strong knowledge of accruals, capital expenditures, budgeting, forecasting, commitments, change management, variance analysis, and financial reporting.
Experience with financial, accounting, project controls, or project management systems.
Experience supporting capital or construction projects and project-based financial reporting.
Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to interpret complex cost data, identify trends, explain variances, and provide practical recommendations.
Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines while proactively improving processes, reporting, forecasting, and controls.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Power BI or similar reporting tools.
Experience with large project portfolios.

Responsibilities

Own cost tracking and project controls activities across a portfolio of capital projects, including budgets, forecasts, commitments, accruals, cash flow projections, and final cost reporting.
Analyze actual costs, budget performance, contingency use, cost trends, and variances; identify financial risks and recommend corrective actions.
Lead monthly project cost and forecast reviews with Project Managers, covering actuals, commitments, forecast updates, risks, scope changes, and expected outcomes.
Prepare and validate monthly accruals and capital cost true-ups to ensure costs are accurately classified and recorded in the appropriate accounting period.
Assess scope, schedule, budget, and forecast changes to determine financial impact and maintain alignment with approved funding and project expectations.
Support and strengthen change management processes, including change orders, change logs, contingency tracking, risk registers, and related financial impacts.
Review invoices, purchase orders, contractor proposals, commitments, supporting documentation, and change requests for coding accuracy, completeness, and contractual alignment.
Research and resolve cost coding issues, discrepancies, unusual transactions, and contractor cost concerns, escalating items as needed.
Maintain weekly and monthly reporting summarizing project costs, KPIs, progress, risks, variances, contractor performance, and portfolio-level financial trends.
Partner with project teams and business stakeholders to provide actionable cost insight, improve forecasting accuracy, and support informed decision-making.
Support procurement, contract administration, month-end, year-end, and project closeout activities related to capital project costs.
Identify opportunities to improve cost tracking, reporting, forecasting, governance, and project controls processes.