Senior Cost Estimator/Analyst, Commodity Subject Matter Experts (six areas)

This position supports a potential Department of the Air Force opportunity and is contingent upon contract award, final Government requirements, and candidate qualification and clearance verification. This posting does not represent an offer of employment and does not imply that a contract has been awarded or that any offeror has been selected.

IDS is identifying senior cost estimators with deep commodity expertise to support targeted cost studies, schedule analyses, benchmarks, and data mapping across Air Force and Space Force weapon systems. Six commodity areas are required: Aircraft; Space and Launch Systems; Tactical Missiles and Munitions; Ballistic Missiles; Software; and Operations and Support. One individual may qualify for more than one area.

These experts may be full-time staff or on-call experts who can be onboarded within the timeframe a task requires. The commodity mix can change year to year.

Location: Remote or hybrid, United States. Occasional travel to the National Capital Region.
Clearance Type: Active Secret required at hire. Top Secret with SCI eligibility strongly preferred.

IDS is identifying senior cost estimators with deep commodity expertise to support targeted cost studies, schedule analyses, benchmarks, and data mapping across Air Force and Space Force weapon systems. Six commodity areas are required: Aircraft; Space and Launch Systems; Tactical Missiles and Munitions; Ballistic Missiles; Software; and Operations and Support. One individual may qualify for more than one area.

These experts may be full-time staff or on-call experts who can be onboarded within the timeframe a task requires. The commodity mix can change year to year.

Essential responsibilities

• Lead or support targeted cost, schedule, and technical studies in the assigned commodity, including data collection, normalization, and analysis.


• Identify system specific programmatic and technical cost drivers across the acquisition and operating and support phases.


• Develop and review cost, schedule, and technical estimating relationships and benchmarks for the commodity.


• Advise data scientists on mapping commodity data into the enterprise data environment, including work breakdown structure alignment.


• Confirm that study results are usable by working cost estimators in the commodity.

Required qualifications

• Minimum ten years of cost analysis experience.


• Minimum seven years of progressive Department of War experience, for example with the Air Force, Space Force, Intelligence Community, Navy, Army, Missile Defense Agency, or other defense organizations.


• Demonstrated expertise in Air Force weapon systems and their system specific programmatic and technical cost drivers across acquisition and operating and support.


• Demonstrated expertise collecting and normalizing cost, technical, and programmatic data from government entities, including the Defense Cost and Resource Center data collection process, cost and software data reports, integrated program management reports or contract performance reports, and operating and support cost systems such as Air Force Total Ownership Cost.


• Demonstrated ability to lead cost research project teams and to analyze data and develop cost estimating methods and tools.


• Active Secret clearance. United States citizenship required.

Preferred qualifications

• Air Force, Space Force, or Intelligence Community experience.


• Acquisition category I threshold level cost analysis experience in the specific commodity: aircraft; space and launch systems; tactical missiles and munitions; ballistic missiles; software programs; or acquisition program operating and support.


• Experience with C4ISR or cyber systems, which the announcement also lists among required domains.

This position is expected to pay $150,000 to $190,000 annually; depending on experience, education, and any certifications that are directly related to the position

IDS is committed to providing superior work in the fields of science, engineering, data analytics and technology to government agencies. We offer competitive compensation packages, including comprehensive nationwide Medical/Dental/Vision insurance programs, life insurance, matching 401k contribution and Educational/Training support.