Cost Accountant

In this critical role, you will be responsible for managing end-to-end cost accounting for product lines, identifying cost improvement opportunities, supporting bid pricing, and driving analytical insights to enhance financial and operational performance. Your main focus will involve working closely with cross-functional teams, including production, engineering, and sales. Your key responsibilities will include: - Conducting detailed product and project-level costing, encompassing direct and indirect cost elements. - Performing margin analysis across products and contracts to identify cost levers for improvement. - Reconciling budgeted costs with actual costs and conducting root-cause variance analysis. - Collaborating with operations teams to assess production bottlenecks and resource constraints impacting cost or output. - Recommending process or sourcing changes to reduce idle time and improve throughput. - Providing support for sales during bid evaluations to ensure pricing aligns with cost structure and target margins. - Running sensitivity analysis for large deals and product customizations. - Leading the preparation of cost and margin dashboards, supporting budget planning, and contributing to performance forecasting using cost and efficiency metrics. - Ensuring accurate inventory and Work in Progress (WIP) valuation in line with internal policies and cost standards. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for this role will include: - Accuracy of product costing and margin projections. - Reduction in cost variances and operational inefficiencies. - Increase in win-rate for price-sensitive bids. - Improvement in cost-to-output ratios. - Timely delivery of reports to internal stakeholders. Requirements: Must-Have Skills: - At least 6-9 years of experience in cost accounting within manufacturing or engineering-heavy industries, with exposure to project-based or contract manufacturing costing being preferable. - Strong command of standard costing, inventory accounting, and variance analysis. - Familiarity with ERP systems. - Understanding of Theory of Constraints (TOC) or throughput thinking. - Hands-on experience supporting pricing or bid processes. - Strong analytical and cross-functional communication skills. Qualifications: - CMA or equivalent qualification (CA Inter with costing specialization also acceptable). - Additional coursework or certification in operations finance is preferred. Interested candidates are encouraged to share their resumes with recruitment3@zentechnologies.com, preferably those with experience in the Manufacturing industry.,