Senior Manager, Cost Accounting

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Oversee all cost accounting activities, including annual budgeting and standard cost development, month-end close, variance analysis, and forecasting; ensure strong financial controls and clear insights into key performance drivers.
• Publish weekly performance dashboards that highlight key trends, risks, and recommended actions to support operational decision-making.
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to maintain a robust cycle count program, reinforcing accountability for inventory accuracy and supporting audit requirements.
• Lead inventory reserve reviews, clearly communicating drivers of changes and ensuring alignment with business conditions.
• Partner with Operations to evaluate performance against the capital expenditure (CapEx) plan, support investment decisions, and reinforce accountability for results; ensure accurate fixed asset accounting in coordination with General Accounting.
• Analyze labor, material, and overhead costs to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, and recommend actions to improve performance.
• Partner cross-functionally to identify and implement efficiency and cost improvement initiatives.
• Continuously improve costing methodologies, systems, and controls.
• Maintain and enhance financial processes and procedures to support accuracy, efficiency, and scalability.

People Leader Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop the cost accounting team by setting clear expectations and fostering a culture of accountability and ownership.
• Build trust and engagement within the team through consistent communication, feedback, and support.
• Conduct performance reviews and proactively manage individual performance and development.
• Organize training and development opportunities for direct reports.
• Recommend personnel actions.
• Communicate personnel actions following HR and department head approval.
• Ensure safety and quality standards are upheld by the team.
• Partner with Human Resources to recruit, interview, and onboard talent.

Required Qualifications

• Education & Experience:
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting or related field.
• 12 years’ professional experience in cost accounting, supply chain finance, or similar function.
• 6 years’ professional management and leadership experience.
• Prior manufacturing industry experience.
• Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (KSAs):
• Thorough understanding of all generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) cost accounting concepts (e.g., Period vs. inventoriable costs, E+O, LCM).
• Strong leadership, analytical, attention to detail, organization, prioritization, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Strong enterprise resource planning (ERP) system knowledge including understanding of the interdependency of various subledgers/modules (e.g., order entry, production planning, perpetual inventory, accounts payable/receivable, general ledger, fixed assets).
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office including Excel, Word, and Outlook.
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry.
• Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
• Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, with internal staff and management.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.
• Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the public.
• Ability to demonstrate practical problem solving and trouble shooting skills.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or graduate degree in a related field.
• Accounting certification (CPA, CMA, etc.).
• ERP implementation experience.