Position LocationStennis Space Center, MS
Job OverviewThe Lead Financial Analyst / Technical Manager provides technical leadership for the COSMIC contract finance organization and is responsible for ensuring the accuracy, consistency, timeliness, and traceability of financial products supporting NASA and program management.
This position serves as the technical lead for financial analysts and finance personnel responsible for recurring contract financial reporting, forecasting, billing support, cost analysis, and customer deliverables. The position is not necessarily the direct personnel supervisor for all finance employees but provides day-to-day technical direction, establishes standards and processes, coordinates workload, and ensures financial products receive appropriate review before release.
The position will initially play a significant role in the COSMIC finance recovery effort, including strengthening financial controls, validating source-to-report processes, documenting procedures, and improving integration and automation of financial data.
ResponsibilitiesEssential Job Duties:- Provide technical leadership and day-to-day direction to the COSMIC finance team.
- Coordinate and balance finance-team workload across recurring weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual requirements.
- Lead preparation, review, and quality control of NASA financial deliverables, including 533 reporting, cost files, core variance reporting, weekly financial checkbooks, forecasts, cost allocations, and other contract-required financial products.
- Ensure financial information is accurate, traceable to authoritative source data, and appropriately reconciled before submission.
- Establish and maintain documented financial processes, operating procedures, review requirements, and product ownership.
- Support validation of the financial data chain from employee timekeeping and charge coding through ERP posting, general ledger reporting, and final customer financial products.
- Lead analysis of actual costs, budgets, forecasts, Estimate-at-Completion projections, funding requirements, labor utilization, and financial variances.
- Identify financial discrepancies, determine root causes, coordinate corrective actions, and track issues through closure.
- Establish appropriate preparation, peer-review, management-review, and approval controls for financial deliverables.
- Support monthly financial close and reconciliation activities.
- Work closely with Program Management, Contracts, Operations, Procurement, Human Resources, corporate finance, and other functional organizations.
- Provide financial analysis and recommendations to the General Manager, Deputy General Manager, and program leadership.
- Participate in meetings with NASA financial and contracting personnel and clearly communicate financial status, variances, risks, corrective actions, and unresolved issues.
- Coordinate with subject-matter experts when additional technical detail is required and ensure customer questions receive accurate and timely responses.
- Develop and maintain financial operating manuals, desk procedures, cross-training materials, and other documentation to reduce dependence on individual personnel.
- Support development of automated and repeatable financial reporting processes using Oracle data, Excel, Power BI, SQL, and other available tools.
- Work with systems and data personnel to reduce manual manipulation of financial information and improve data integrity and reporting efficiency.
- Support implementation and evaluation of financial reporting tools and applications.
- Promote continuous improvement, configuration control, disciplined financial reporting, and a culture of accountability within the finance organization.
Job RequirementsMandatory:- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related discipline required.
- Five or more years of progressively responsible financial analysis, program finance, government contracting, or related experience.
- Experience supporting federal government contracts, preferably NASA or another major federal agency.
- Demonstrated experience with budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial reporting, and Estimate-at-Completion development.
- Knowledge of fixed-price and cost-type government contracts.
- Working knowledge of general ledger concepts, accruals, cost accounting, financial reconciliation, and contract financial reporting.
- Strong Excel and financial-modeling skills.
- Experience with ERP and financial information systems; Oracle experience preferred.
- Experience with data visualization or analytical tools such as Power BI, Tableau, SQL, or similar technologies preferred.
- Ability to provide technical leadership to a multidisciplinary finance team without relying solely on formal supervisory authority.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to interact effectively with government customers, program leadership, and corporate organizations.
- Ability to work independently in a remote environment while maintaining frequent and effective engagement with an on-site team.
- Demonstrated judgment, accountability, attention to detail, and willingness to identify and communicate financial issues before they affect customer deliverables.
- Must be a U.S. Citizen to obtain required NASA badge.
- Must be able to provide a certified Birth Certificate (with state seal), Passport, or INS Citizenship documents on date of hire.
- Must be able to communicate effectively in the English language, both verbal and written.
- Must have, and maintain, a valid driver's license.
- Prior knowledge of a NASA site or experience with working on government installations preferred.
- Must possess exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Organizational skills to balance and prioritize work.
- Analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Utilizes resourcefulness in researching various documents and databases, as well as gathering various types of information or other resources.
Physical Requirements:- Must be able to lift and carry up to 50 lbs.
- Dexterity to operate office equipment as required by the position.
