Cost Analyst – Manufacturing

Agent Interview Group · Grand rapids, United States

A growing Grand Rapids, Michigan manufacturer is seeking a Cost Analyst to join its finance team and support product costing, quoting, pricing, margin analysis, and profitability.

This role is ideal for a finance or accounting professional with hands-on manufacturing experience who understands how materials, labor, overhead, tooling, freight, and other manufacturing costs impact product and customer profitability.

You’ll work closely with Finance, Operations, Sales, Quoting, Engineering, and Supply Chain to evaluate costs, strengthen quoting assumptions, identify margin opportunities, and provide financial insight that supports better business decisions.

Manufacturing experience and experience with product or standard costing are required.

What You'll Do

• Analyze product and customer costs, margins, and profitability.
• Review customer quotes and evaluate expected profitability and margin impact.
• Validate cost assumptions including materials, labor, overhead, tooling, freight, and other manufacturing costs .
• Perform product and standard cost analysis and identify cost or margin variances.
• Identify margin gaps, cost inconsistencies, quote risks, and opportunities to improve profitability.
• Support pricing decisions for new and existing business through financial analysis and recommendations.
• Monitor existing business for margin erosion, cost changes, and pricing misalignment.
• Compare quoted and standard cost assumptions against actual manufacturing performance.
• Analyze the financial performance of new product launches against expected costs and margins.
• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, Quoting, and Finance to understand cost drivers and improve financial visibility.
• Help improve costing, quoting, pricing, and margin-analysis processes across the organization.
• Translate financial and operational data into clear recommendations for both financial and non-financial stakeholders.
• Support reporting and analysis using ERP and financial data, including situations where information may be incomplete or require additional investigation.

What We're Looking For

• 1–5+ years of experience in manufacturing finance, cost accounting, cost analysis, product costing, or a related role.
• Manufacturing experience required.
• Hands-on experience with product costing and/or standard costing required.
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field preferred.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing cost components, including materials, labor, overhead, tooling, and freight .
• Experience analyzing margins, variances, product profitability, pricing, or customer profitability.
• Strong Excel and financial/data-analysis skills.
• Experience working with ERP systems and manufacturing financial data.
• Ability to investigate incomplete or inconsistent data, identify what is missing, and determine the right questions to ask.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain financial information to Operations, Sales, Engineering, and other non-finance partners.
• Collaborative approach and willingness to seek input when additional context or expertise is needed.
• Experience with Power BI, CRM platforms, quoting systems, or similar reporting tools is a plus.

What Success Looks Like

During the first several months, you'll learn the organization's manufacturing operations, cost structure, quoting process, margin methodology, systems, and key business relationships.

From there, you'll help strengthen product costing, quote analysis, margin visibility, and pricing decisions while identifying opportunities to improve profitability and financial consistency.

Over time, you'll help connect quoted and standard costs to actual manufacturing performance , identify margin leakage and changing cost drivers, and give Finance and Commercial leadership better information for decision-making.

This is an opportunity for someone who enjoys getting into the details of manufacturing costs and profitability while working cross-functionally to turn financial analysis into meaningful business decisions.