Consultant (Financial Analyst)

Department: Consulting, Rail Operations

Reports to: Principal

Location: New York City, or Washington, D.C. or Sacramento, CA (In-person)

The Financial Analyst will support economic, financial, and business analyses across transportation, rail, transit, and infrastructure projects. The position is not assigned to a single client or program and may support multiple projects as well as internal business needs. The role contributes to cost estimating, financial planning, affordability assessments, business case development, funding analyses, and strategic recommendations for public- and private-sector clients.

The position requires strong analytical capabilities, proficiency in financial modeling and data analysis, and the ability to translate complex findings into clear, practical recommendations for technical and non-technical audiences. The analyst will work independently and as part of multidisciplinary project teams in a consulting environment where assignments, clients, and priorities may vary over time.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Support economic, financial, and business case analyses for transportation, rail, transit, and infrastructure projects.
• Develop and maintain cost estimates, financial models, forecasts, affordability assessments, and scenario analyses.
• Conduct life-cycle cost, sensitivity, risk, and investment analyses to support project and management decisions.
• Collect, validate, clean, and analyze financial, operational, market, and project-related data from diverse sources.
• Perform quality checks on models, calculations, assumptions, and source data to support reliable and defensible analysis.
• Prepare analytical inputs for grant applications, funding proposals, financing strategies, and investment plans.
• Conduct market research, benchmarking, and comparative analyses relevant to transportation and infrastructure programs.
• Create tables, charts, dashboards, visualizations and associated descriptive text to communicate analytical results clearly.
• Contribute to reports, presentations, business cases, proposals, and briefings for clients and internal stakeholders.
• Support project financial monitoring, including budgets, forecasts, variances, and management reporting, as required.
• Support internal commercial analyses, including project budgets, fee estimates, utilization, profitability considerations, and related management reporting, as required.
• Develop and improve analytical tools, models, templates, databases, and methodologies.
• Document assumptions, data sources, methodologies, limitations, and recommendations in a clear and traceable manner.
• Collaborate with internal teams and client stakeholders.
• Manage assigned analyses independently, prioritize competing tasks, and deliver high-quality work within agreed schedules.

Requirements:

• Masters degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, Accounting, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field or Bachelor's degree with 3+ years of relevant professional experience or graduate degree.
• Demonstrated quantitative, analytical, and data modeling skills through professional experience and/or academic coursework.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including financial modeling, data analysis, and structured documentation of assumptions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including PowerPoint and Word.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present analytical findings to varied audiences.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple assignments.
• Self-directed, dependable, and able to work independently with limited supervision while contributing effectively to a team.

Preferred skills and experience:

• Cost estimating, financial modeling, forecasting, budgeting, or business case development.
• Public transportation, rail, transit, infrastructure, engineering, or management consulting.
• Public-sector projects, transportation agencies, infrastructure owners, or public funding programs.
• Procurement, pricing, grants, funding, financing, or commercial analysis.
• Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, R, and/or other data analytics and visualization tools.
• Working with multidisciplinary teams and preparing client-facing deliverables.

Working Conditions and Travel:  

Minimal overnight travel by land and air. 

Physical Requirements, with or without a reasonable accommodation: 

• Ability to work at a computer workstation for periods up to 4 hours at a time 
• Ability to speak on the telephone for a total of up to 3 hours per day 
• Ability to sit for up to 3 hours without breaks at meetings 
• Ability to walk and stand for up to 4 hours without breaks at program site visits and meetings 

 We offer an annual gross salary between $98,000 and $113,000 + bonus (USD) for full-time employment, depending on professional qualifications and experience.