Cost Accounting Manager

Tensor is an American Physical AI company dedicated to building agentic products that empower people. Our flagship product, the Tensor Robocar, is the world’s first personal Robocar and the first AI agentic vehicle — fully autonomous, automotive-grade, and built for private ownership at scale. Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, Tensor is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices in Barcelona, Singapore, and Dubai.

About the role

We are seeking a Cost Accounting Manager to build and own Tensor's cost accounting function as we scale vehicle and hardware production. This is a foundational role: you will establish standard costing, inventory accounting, and manufacturing cost controls across our vehicle, LiDAR, and compute hardware programs, and ensure our product costs are accurate, auditable, and decision-ready.

Location: San Jose, California, US

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and own the standard cost system for vehicles, sensors, and hardware components, including material, labor, and overhead rates, and periodic cost roll-ups.
• Own all inventory accounting: raw materials, WIP, finished goods, in-transit, and consigned inventory across contract manufacturers and suppliers, including cycle count and physical inventory programs.
• Establish and maintain reserves for excess and obsolete inventory, lower of cost or net realizable value (ASC 330), warranty, and firm purchase commitment losses, with audit-ready methodologies.
• Analyze and report manufacturing variances (purchase price, usage, absorption, scrap, rework) and drive root-cause resolution with supply chain and manufacturing engineering.
• Build BOM cost-accuracy processes with engineering and supply chain; govern ECO-driven cost changes and should-cost analyses.
• Own month-end close for inventory and cost of revenue, including journal entries, reconciliations, and gross margin flux analysis, on the corporate close calendar.
• Capitalize appropriate costs (tooling, pre-production, NRE) in line with US GAAP and coordinate with technical accounting on policy decisions.
• Design audit-ready controls over the inventory and costing cycle and support the external audit with schedules and walkthroughs.
• Partner with FP&A on product cost forecasts, margin bridges, and cost-down roadmaps.
• Support ERP costing module design, implementation, and data governance (item master, routings, cost centers).

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• 8+ years of progressive cost accounting experience, including 3+ years in a lead or management role, in automotive, hardware, EV, robotics, or similar discrete manufacturing environments.
• Deep command of US GAAP for inventory and cost of revenue (ASC 330), standard costing, overhead absorption, and variance analysis.
• Hands-on experience with ERP manufacturing/costing modules (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite Advanced Manufacturing, Plex) and strong Excel skills.
• Experience operating with contract manufacturers and multi-site or international supply chains.
• Demonstrated ability to build processes from scratch in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills with engineering, supply chain, and operations partners.

Preferences

• CPA and/or CMA.
• Experience at a company through public-company readiness or a first-year SOX implementation.
• Experience with new product introduction (NPI) costing and pre-production accounting for vehicles or complex hardware.
• Public accounting foundation with manufacturing clients.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package.
• Opportunities for professional growth.
• Participation in a discretionary equity incentive plan.
• Access to a comprehensive company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.