Senior Financial Operations Analyst at Appian in McLean, VA

Job description

Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together. Location: McLean/Tysons, VA | Work Model: On-site Are you an operationally minded professional who excels at maximizing resource utilization, strategic staffing allocation, and driving operational efficiency within an elite consulting ecosystem? Optimize the delivery of enterprise transformations. ABOUT THE TEAM Appian Customer Success is obsessed with delivering exceptional customer outcomes and driving high-velocity, mission-critical business impact. This team operates with significant autonomy and direct visibility into executive leadership, owning the financial and operational infrastructure that enables Customer Success to scale impact across enterprise accounts worldwide. THE OPPORTUNITY This role exists to bring financial rigor, forecasting precision, and strategic insight to a high-growth environment where your analysis directly influences resource allocation, project profitability, and organizational planning. You will partner with Directors, Project Managers, and VPs to transform complex project data into actionable intelligence that drives both customer outcomes and business performance. WHAT YOU'LL DO Support, advise, and educate Directors, Project Managers, and VPs on project and organizational budgeting, forecasting, and Estimate-at-Completion (EAC) processes. Track, report, and analyze program spend against funding and contract values. Conduct detailed planning, reporting, and analysis on key Customer Success performance metrics. Provide data-driven recommendations and advisory to supervisors and stakeholders, developing analytical tools as needed. Partner with key stakeholders across Customer Success and other departments to manage financial and operational processes for projects and business areas. Develop and maintain accurate pipeline forecasts, analyze pipeline trends, and provide insights to improve sales effectiveness and revenue predictability. Lead the development of essential financial processes and reporting for Customer Success operations. Manage financial reporting and analysis, revenue and profit forecasting, utilization analysis, and other business management tasks. Lead and assist with program financial duties, including project labor costing, SOW analysis, bill rate analysis, and FFP percentage of completion revenue recognition. Serve as Project Leader/Manager for medium to high-complexity special projects and operational initiatives, handling requirements gathering, stakeholder alignment, schedule management, and reporting. Develop and implement best practices on budgeting, forecasting, timesheet compliance, and other relevant best practices for new managers. Able to work with high-level, ambiguous business challenges and transform them into clear, structured financial models. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS 4+ years in financial analysis, project finance, project control, finance operations, or corporate finance within a professional services/consulting organization. Demonstrated leadership abilities through proactive communication and effective support of stakeholders at various organizational levels and functional domains. Stakeholder Collaboration: Exceptional communication skills with a track record of successfully navigating conflict resolution and balancing competing business demands. Strong analytical skills with proven experience in developing financial reporting and analysis. Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, and/or a related field. Expert in Excel / Googlesheets, knowledge of Tableau and CRM systems (Salesforce) Fast learner capable of working independently with minimal di