Senior Cost Analyst

Senior Cost Analyst

The Senior Cost Analyst is a key individual contributor responsible for maintaining cost accuracy, supporting operational and commercial decision-making, and providing financial insight across manufacturing and shared services operations. This role partners closely with Operations, Sales, and Finance leadership to ensure cost integrity, margin visibility, and data-driven decisions.

Essential duties and responsibilities include the following. Assists with other duties as assigned.

Cost Structure Stewardship & Standard Cost Integrity

• Ensures the organization's cost structure remains accurate, reliable, and aligned with GAAP by maintaining the integrity of standard costs and underlying drivers. This includes overseeing cost components such as materials, labor, and overhead to provide a solid foundation for financial reporting and operational decision-making.

Operational & Financial Performance Analysis

• Delivers proactive insights into plant and departmental performance by analyzing budget-to-actual variances, efficiency trends, and key operational metrics. Identifies issues and opportunities, communicates implications to leadership, and helps guide corrective actions that strengthen operational outcomes.

Inventory Accuracy & Financial Alignment

• Provides independent oversight of inventory processes to ensure physical counts and system records remain aligned. Works closely with manufacturing and logistics teams to validate inventory levels, protect asset accuracy, and support reliable financial reporting outcomes.

Strategic Support for Planning, Budgeting & Month-End Close

• Plays a key role in financial planning cycles by supporting month-end close, budgeting, forecasting, and pricing activities. Primary point of contact to ensure costs are accurately reflected in the budget and to closely coordinate with Sales on required pricing actions. Ensures operational leaders have clear, accurate financial information that supports informed decision-making and continuous improvement.

Capital Project & Special Analysis Leadership

• Conducts feasibility studies and project evaluations to assess cost structure impacts, ROI potential, and alignment with organizational objectives. Supports capital budgeting by validating assumptions, ensuring compliance with policy, and enhancing the quality of investment decisions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Cost Communication

• Primary point of contact for Sales on costing inquiries, providing insight into fixed versus variable cost impacts on margin to enable optimal business decisions. Serves as a strategic partner to plant management and cross-functional teams by translating cost data into meaningful insights. Educates stakeholders on cost drivers, financial impacts, and trends, strengthening understanding and accountability across the organization.

Core Competencies

• Detail Oriented - Consistently checks and rechecks work product for accuracy. Able to manage multiple tasks while accurately performing essential job functions. Prepares accurate and thorough reports, emails, and data as required by the position.
• Oral Communication and Written Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and gets clarification; writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; able to read and interpret written information. Ability to communicate with clients or customers.
• Job Knowledge - Competent in required job skills and knowledge; exhibits ability to learn and apply new skills; keeps abreast of current developments; requires minimal supervision; displays understanding of how job relates to others; uses resources effectively.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Business Acumen - Understands business implications of decisions; displays orientation to profitability; demonstrates knowledge of market and competition; aligns work with strategic goals.

The position does not have any regular responsibility for overseeing or supervising the work of other team members.

The work environment is a typical office environment. The employee must complete their work satisfactorily in an environment where there are significant distractions, including staff, clients, and vendors walking through and conversing, telephones ringing, conversations carrying over, loud noises, and interruptions to answer questions from others. The physical demands described here represent those that an employee must meet to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. In many cases, reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and stand for a prolonged period of time and use hands to handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee frequently is required to talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and should do so in a sound and safe manner. This job's specific vision abilities include close vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. May be required to work irregular hours, nights and weekends or holidays and may be required to work on-call activities.

Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance options, Company Sponsored Life Insurance and AD&D, Voluntary Life Insurance and AD&D 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with 6% Company Match with options to utilize the match through the Thrive program for student loan or emergency savings plans, Paid Time Off Accrual, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Tuition and Certifications Reimbursement Programs, Eight (8) Paid Holidays Annually, One (1) Floating Holiday Annually