Budget & payroll analyst, maritime administration (marad)

This is a remote position.

Summary:

Job Title: Budget & Payroll Analyst

Security Clearance: Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust determination required

Work Location Type: Remote

Work Type: Full-time

Program Name: MARAD CFO Budget & Financial Support Services

Contract term: September 30, 2026 - September 29, 2031 (base year plus four option years)

Start Date: October 2026

Reports to: Budget Execution & Accounting Lead; program direction from the Senior Contractor Program Manager / CFO Strategic Advisor

BizFirst is assisting our client with recruiting a Budget & Payroll Analyst to support the Maritime Administration (MARAD) CFO Budget & Financial Support Services program. This is a full-time role on an awarded task order, with an October 2026 start date.

Our client is a boutique consulting firm that employs consultants and professionals with unique skill sets to support the federal government with strategic execution, financial process enablement, IT systems, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software implementation.

What will you do

Our client is seeking a budget execution and payroll analyst to track MARAD’s funds from apportionment through outlay, and to keep payroll charges reconciled to the funding that carries them.

The role pairs two cycles. On the budget side you link apportionments and funding controls to commitments, obligations, expenditures and available balances, and build forecasts from reconciled actuals. On the payroll side you reconcile authorized payroll records to labor distributions and accounting at each pay-period cutoff, and project compensation costs with the assumptions stated. Both feed the same exception process: anything that threatens a deadline or a funding limit reaches the Senior PM with the decision it needs.

Responsibilities:

• Link apportionments and funding controls to commitments, obligations, expenditures, outlays and available balances by fund and period.
• Build execution forecasts from reconciled actuals and estimated remaining activity, using approved plans, award milestones, payroll assumptions and reimbursable information.
• Compare actual to forecast each cycle, separating timing shifts from changed requirements or assumptions before recommending rescheduling or addressing funding gaps.
• Prepare exception briefs identifying affected funding, amount, timing, cause and recommended action.
• Escalate potential over-obligation or Anti-Deficiency Act risk immediately through the Senior PM to designated Government officials, without making the determination yourself.
• Reconcile authorized payroll records to labor distributions, funding and accounting at each available pay-period cutoff.
• Test for incorrect charging, distribution changes, unusual trends, missing or duplicate activity and timing differences, and prepare correction requests for independent review.
• Project payroll and compensation costs, retaining compensation, staffing, vacancy and effective-date assumptions, and explain actual results against the prior forecast.
• Support formulation with execution trends and documented compensation and reimbursable assumptions for requested funding estimates.
• Supply validated payroll and execution source data to the Budget Execution and Payroll dashboards, applying role-based access so employee detail is protected and executive products use appropriate aggregation.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business or a related field.
• Four or more years of federal financial management experience, including budget execution or funds control.
• Working knowledge of apportionments, allotments, commitments, obligations, unliquidated obligations and available balances.
• Experience with federal payroll or labor cost data, including reconciling labor distribution to accounting records.
• Working knowledge of the U.S. Standard General Ledger and funds control concepts, including Anti-Deficiency Act risk indicators.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust determination.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a civilian agency CFO office, particularly within the Department of Transportation.
• Hands-on use of Oracle Federal Financials, particularly DOT’s Delphi.
• Experience preparing or analyzing SF-132 apportionments and SF-133 budget execution reports.
• Experience building execution forecasts or payroll cost models that leadership relies on.
• Familiarity with federal payroll providers and labor distribution structures.
• CGFM, CPA or CDFM credential.

Work Authorization / Clearance:

Public Trust determination required; work may begin on interim suitability approval where the Government grants it. Candidates who have served in the federal government will be asked to confirm that no post-government employment restriction applies to this work, and to share any separation ethics guidance they received. Our client will complete its own review before an offer is finalized.

Government-furnished laptop, VPN and system access provided.