EY Government Public Sector - Cost Estimating Pricing Associate Director 

United States, Virginia, Arlington 

963285303

Government and Public Sector – Cost Estimating and Pricing Associate Director

The Government and Public Sector (“GPS”) Cost Estimating and Pricing Director will report to the GPS Pricing Director.

In this role you’ll lead the development of proposals for EY GPS prioritized strategic pursuits. These may take the form of any type of Federal of state contract (FAR Part 15 or commercial), including those with substantial emerging technology and innovation content. Additionally, you will lead the development of compliant and competitive proposal pricing and rate development for Federal Supply Schedules and GWACs. You will ensure compliance with Federal and state regulations and balance profitability and competitiveness. You will become a trusted advisor to key stakeholders across GPS, including GPS Sector Leaders, Product/Solutions Leaders, Opportunity Pursuit Leaders, Business Development, Contracts, Purchasing, Legal, Talent and IT. This role will coach Pricing team members at more junior levels and play a key role in elevating financial literacy throughout the proposal life cycle.

Your key responsibilities

• Work across the Pricing organization to ensure adequate staffing and support for GPS must-win opportunities.
• Monitor and leverage regulatory updates, agency actions and market options to inform prioritization of schedule and vehicle pursuits.
• Analyze and be able to articulate the likely financial success and alignment of deals with long term strategic plans
• Lead the strategy and interlock of opportunity business model and EY contract structure
• Lead EY’s pricing strategy and execution across the largest, most complex opportunity pursuits – including accountability for cost development and profitability within a range of price points and sensitivity analysis across the full spectrum of potential business models and contracting arrangements
• Provide strategic and tactical monetization guidance / support to pursuit teams – perceived by stakeholders as contributing to the mitigation of EY and client risk, improvement of win probability and optimization of EY profitability on complex and/or strategic opportunities
• Identify financial risk and minimize EY’s risk exposure in order to deliver the targeted return for EY
• Act as a thought partner to EY leadership, proactively helping the business explore and understand opportunities to grow commercial returns from new and existing service offerings, developing progressive pricing strategies for new product and service propositions and offerings
• Recognize and ensure commercial terms and conditions appropriate to the business model, contract vehicle type and risks of the arrangement are included as appropriate during the selling and contract drafting phases of the pursuit
• Contribute proactive insights to Negotiation team members that improve EY’s price confidence and negotiating position, including strategic consideration of GPS’s indirect rate structure.
• Lead the transfer of the pricing knowledge to engagement delivery team and markets finance to ensure the ongoing management of the financial aspects of contracts and alignment with point-of-sale deal economics
• Lead the development of pricing for contracting vehicles and schedules, both Federal and state.
• Develop all proposals and schedules in accordance with EY’s DCAA approved cost estimating system policies and procedures. Ensure supporting documentation is properly stored, trackable and available for audit.
• Collaborate with Product/Solution FP&A to incorporate the cost-to-serve of products, solutions, services and transactions – including the development of data-based cost optimization analysis and insights that positively influence decision-making during pursuits
• Provide pricing guidance for products and as-a-Service solutions in an emerging business environment.
• Play a key role in elevating literacy within the GPS practice of costing and pricing within a CAS compliant environment.
• Work with FP&A and GPS Products/Solutions teams to develop and/or assess pricing strategies for both services and products/solutions.
• Lead the development of proposal practices and tools for technology products and solutions.
• Assess and recommend strategies in the context of re-seller transactions.
• Monitor pricing performance for competitiveness and business performance, and escalate problems that may impact competitiveness, performance, or execution.
• If overseeing the work of others, assess staffing needs and ensure workloads are balanced, enabling all team members to experience well-being while also meeting the needs of the business and pursuing cost efficiency.
• Responsible to uphold pricing controls, policies and procedures compliant with US government regulatory (FAR, DFARS, CAS) requirements and EY GPS policies and procedures.
• Participate in government reviews of EY Estimating System and contract pricing audits.
• Implement tools and processes to drive efficiency and excellence in the GPS Pricing organization.

Skills and attributes for success

• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate confidently and effectively with all levels of management and external auditors
• Exceptional attention to detail, able to synthesize insights that will impact GPS financially at a macro level
• Passion for driving to recommendations using financial data and insights
• Demonstrated ability to advise the business on levers that optimize revenue and profit during opportunity pursuit
• Willingness to make recommendations that will ‘set in stone’ GPS financial pricing parameters for long periods of time, with confidence based on multi-faceted analysis.
• Strong relationship builder, able to gain trust quickly

To qualify you must have

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Economics or related field
• A minimum of 12 years of relevant (e.g., finance, pricing, business development) experience in a government contracting environment
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance, if necessary
• Experience developing competitive and commercial item price proposals for all US federal government contract types
• Experience developing pricing for products, solutions and as-a Service opportunities in both commercial item and FAR Part 15 contexts
• Experience and flexibility to either lead a team of pricing professionals or serve as an individual contributor, depending on the needs of the business
• Experience with all aspects of price and cost proposal preparation, including pricing strategies, compliance and estimating practices for US Federal and State governments
• Experience with design/configuration, and management of complex services and software pricing tools
• Experience developing complex pricing strategy and delivering presentations to executives
• Demonstrated success in improving stakeholder financial literacy on complex pricing topics.
• Experience working in a Big 4 firm, or other highly matrixed environment requiring a high degree of adeptness at balancing the needs of numerous equivalent stakeholders
• Experienced leader with expertise in Pricing in a government contracting environment and preferably in a technology focused firm
• Working knowledge of a variety of pricing tools and methods
• High degree of proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel and Power Point

• Continuous learning: You’ll develop the mindset and skills to navigate whatever comes next.
• Success as defined by you: We’ll provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way.
• Transformative leadership: We’ll give you the insights, coaching and confidence to be the leader the world needs.
• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs.