CACost/Schedule Analyst
CA
Career

Cost/Schedule Analyst

By the numbers
Typical pay
$102,320 / yr
Education to start
Bachelor's degree
Future demand
+5.6% by 2034
People in this job
1.1M
Figures shown for ·closest of 3 O*NET occupations
The work
A day, hour by hour
08:00
Data pull & triage

Pull overnight actuals from the system; flag anything that looks off.

08:30
Schedule update

Load new progress into Primavera P6; watch the critical path shift.

09:15
Project standup

Sit in the PM's standup and translate what the numbers actually mean.

09:45
Variance hunt

Dig through spreadsheets to find exactly where the budget bled this week.

11:00
EVM analysis

Run earned value calcs — CPI is slipping; decide whether to escalate now.

13:00
Forecast build

Model what the project will cost to finish — honest numbers, not optimistic ones.

14:30
Status report

Turn messy data into a clean one-pager leadership can actually act on.

15:30
Stakeholder briefing

Walk the project manager through the overrun; it's not a timing blip.

16:15
Risk log & wrap

Log the new schedule risk, set tomorrow's flags, close out the day.

Things you do
  • Track whether a project is spending too much or falling behind schedule.
  • Run earned value calculations to measure real project health.
  • Spot cost overruns early and flag them before they spiral.
  • Build forecasts predicting what a project will cost to finish.
  • Write reports translating messy numbers into clear takeaways for managers.
Decisions you’ll make
  • Is this cost overrun a real problem, or just a timing blip I can explain away?
  • Should I flag this schedule risk now, or wait until I have more data to back it up?
  • Does my forecast tell the honest story, even if it's not what the project manager wants to hear?
  • Is this variance worth escalating to leadership, or can the team correct it on their own?
  • Are the numbers I was given accurate enough to trust, or do I need to push back and verify?
Education Pathways · how you get there
87 in 100 went the college route · 13 in 100 found another way in None, typically
Education mapped from O*NET:
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