Senior Cost Intelligence Data Analyst

Job Description

Overview

The Senior Cost Intelligence Data Analyst provides rigorous and defensible cost intelligence for our major infrastructure client. Working with large and imperfect datasets, the role applies structured analytical reasoning to understand cost behaviour, variability, and uncertainty. The analyst is expected to explain, justify, and defend analytical conclusions in high-scrutiny environments where decisions have material consequences. This is a senior analytical position grounded in mathematics, reasoning, and judgement, rather than reporting.

This position sits within the specialist Cost Data Intelligence and Analytics team who support a variety of complex infrastructure programmes across transport, water, energy, aviation, and defence. Outputs generated by the team inform business cases, comparator schemes, assurance reviews, and investment decisions, and are frequently subject to independent challenge.

Your Role

• Own the analytical integrity of cost intelligence outputs.
• Ensure conclusions reflect data quality, uncertainty, and context, not convenience.
• Shape how cost data is interpreted, challenged, and relied upon by senior stakeholders.
• Set expectations for analytical rigour, proportionality, and governance.
• Analyse large and complex datasets to understand distributions, variance, outliers, and structural drivers.
• Design analytical approaches that are mathematically sound, proportionate, and transparent.
• Challenge assumptions, methodologies, and narratives using evidence and structured reasoning.
• Explain complex analysis, uncertainty, and limitations clearly to senior, non-technical audiences.
• Defend analytical conclusions under challenge, including from assurance reviewers and subject-matter experts.
• Develop analytical outputs and visualisations only where they improve understanding or decision quality.
• Work closely with cost, commercial, and programme teams to ensure analysis aligns with scope maturity and delivery context.
• Contribute to shared analytical frameworks, benchmarks, and standards.
• Promote disciplined approaches to data quality, lineage, and governance.
• Knowledge of governance frameworks such as AACE, IPA, or Green Book guidance.
• Experience with project or cost systems (e.g. EcoSys, P6, CostX, Unifier).

About you

• Intellectually rigorous and sceptical of weak inference.
• Comfortable operating under challenge and defending analytical positions.
• Values clarity and proportionality over false precision.
• Motivated by improving decision quality, not producing volume.
• Exposure to cost, commercial, or capital programme environments.
• Familiarity with benchmarking, comparative analysis, or assurance activity.

Reward & benefits

Explore the rewards and benefits that help you thrive - at every stage of your life and your career. Enjoy competitive salaries, employee rewards and a brilliant range of benefits you can tailor to suit your own health, wellbeing, financial and lifestyle choices. Make the most of a myriad of opportunities for training and professional development to grow your skills and expertise. And combine our hybrid working culture and flexible holiday allowances to balance a great job and fulfilling personal life.

Be rewarded. Find out more.

About AtkinsRéalis

We're AtkinsRéalis , a world-class engineering services and nuclear organization. We connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. Together, with our industry partners and clients, and our global team of consultants, designers, engineers and project managers, we can change the world. We're committed to leading our clients across our various end markets to engineer a better future for our planet and its people.

Find out more.

Additional information

Security clearance

This role may require security clearance and offers of employment will be dependent on obtaining the relevant level of clearance. If this is necessary, it will be discussed with you at interview. The vetting process is delivered by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) and may require candidates to provide proof of residency in the UK of 5 years or longer. If applying to this role please do not make reference to (in conversation) or include in your application or CV, details of any current or previously held security clearance.

We are committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they belong - a place where we can all be ourselves, thrive and develop to be the best we can be. So, we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and employee resource groups to support all employees. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and ability.

Worker Type

Employee

Job Type

Regular

At AtkinsRéalis, we seek to hire individuals with diverse characteristics, backgrounds and perspectives. We strongly believe that world-class talent makes no distinctions based on gender, ethnic or national origin, sexual identity and orientation, age, religion or disability, but enriches itself through these differences.