Cost Recovery Analyst

Role Responsibilities

Are you a detail-oriented financial professional who thrives on complex analysis and wants your work to make a meaningful impact? As a Cost Recovery Analyst with Forestry Division, you will play an important role in protecting public resources and strengthening financial accountability by helping recover eligible wildfire management costs. This is a unique opportunity to combine financial expertise, analytical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving in support of Alberta’s wildfire management program.

Reporting to the Forestry Business Support Manager, the Cost Recovery Analyst provides specialized financial and cost recovery expertise for wildfire-related expenditures. You will coordinate complex recovery files from initial identification through billing, collection, reconciliation, and closure, ensuring expenditures are accurately identified, appropriately supported, and defensible.

Working across Forestry Division and with financial services, wildfire operations and investigators, legal and collection partners, other governments, municipalities, Indigenous organizations, industry, utilities, and responsible parties, you will serve as a central point of expertise for consistent and effective cost recovery practices. The position also provides specialized financial support for wildfire investigations and potential legal proceedings by compiling, analyzing, reconciling, and documenting wildfire suppression and management costs.

Your key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Coordinating complex cost recovery files involving responsible-party wildfires, mutual aid, resource exports, federal and First Nations agreements, and other recoverable expenditures.

• Compiling, analyzing, and reconciling financial and operational information across 1GX, FIRES, aviation, contracts, and other source records to substantiate eligible expenditures.

• Assessing expenditures for eligibility and completeness of supporting documentation, resolving discrepancies and escalating issues as required.

• Preparing invoices, reimbursement claims, financial schedules, forecasts, accruals, and reports related to expenditures, recoveries, receivables, and file status.

• Monitoring invoices, payments, outstanding receivables, collection activity, and applicable financial, agreement, and legal deadlines to support timely recovery.

• Maintaining accurate, complete, and auditable cost recovery, prevention, and enforcement information within FIRES and related financial and operational systems.

• Compiling and reconciling financial and operational information to support wildfire investigations, enforcement activities, disclosure requirements, and legal proceedings.

• Maintaining sensitive investigation and enforcement records in accordance with applicable confidentiality, security, and information-management requirements.

• Providing guidance to Forest Areas and provincial programs on cost recovery requirements, financial documentation, coding, reconciliation, and reporting.

• Collaborating with internal and external partners to ensure recovery activities are timely, consistent, accurate, and appropriately documented.

• Identifying trends, data-quality concerns, recurring issues, and opportunities to strengthen cost recovery processes, controls, systems, and tools.

The Job Description is provided for further details on this position.

APS Competencies

Competencies are behaviors that are essential to reach our goals in serving Albertans. We encourage you to have an in depth understanding of the competencies that are required for this opportunity and to be prepared to demonstrate them during the recruitment process.

• Agility: Adapts readily to changing priorities and proactively incorporates change to improve processes and outcomes.
• Drive for Results: Proactively addresses challenges, removes barriers, and delivers results aligned with organizational goals.
• Build Collaborative Environments: Builds positive relationships by engaging diverse perspectives and working collaboratively to achieve shared outcomes.
• Systems Thinking: Takes a holistic, long-term approach by considering broader impacts and aligning decisions with organizational objectives.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

A University degree in business or a related field; no experience required; or equivalent as described below.

Equivalency: 

Directly related education or experience considered on the basis of:

 1 year of education for 1 year of experience; or

 1 year of experience for 1 year of education.
 

Assets:

• Experience supporting investigation, enforcement, disclosure, audit, or legal files through financial analysis and documentation.
• Experience using Government of Alberta financial and operational systems, including 1GX and FIRES.
• Experience collaborating with financial services, legal professionals, investigators, government partners, municipalities, Indigenous organizations, industry, utilities, and other external stakeholders.

Minimum recruitment standards outline the minimum education and experience required for appointment to a job classification.

Notes

This is a permanent, full-time position for 36.25 hours a week, Monday to Friday. The successful candidate may be required to work overtime to support operational requirements, including periods of increased wildfire activity.

Final candidates will be required to undergo a criminal records check (CRC).

Any costs associated with obtaining the required documents/checks as noted or interview travel expenses, will be the responsibility of the candidate. Out-of-province applicants can obtain the required documents/checks from the province they currently reside in.

Links and information on what we have to offer:

• Working for the Alberta Public Service.
• Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP)  
• Alberta Public Service Benefit Information.
• Professional learning and development.
• Research Alberta Public Service Careers tool.
• Positive workplace culture and work-life balance.