Job Title: Product Cost Manager Duration: 4 months (possibility of extension) Location: Austin, TX or Reading, MA
Overview We are seeking a Product Cost Manager to own bill of material cost for our advanced robotic platforms from first prototype through high volume production. This role owns the number. You will build the should-cost foundation that explains what a robot costs today, why it costs that, and the commodity-by-commodity path to the production cost target. You will work upstream with design and engineering while geometry and process intent are still being set, because that is where cost is decided, and downstream with sourcing and manufacturing to convert cost strategy into awarded parts at target. You will be the single voice of truth on product cost to senior leadership, and you will be expected to defend it line by line.
Key responsibilities
BOM Cost Ownership: Own total product cost at the BOM line level across all robotic platforms, maintaining a single auditable source of truth from prototype through high volume production.
Should-Cost Modeling: Build and maintain bottom-up should-cost models by commodity covering material price, process, machine rate, labor, overhead, and yield at real production volume, and use them to set negotiation targets rather than accepting supplier quotes as the baseline.
Cost Roadmap to Target: Define and drive the commodity level roadmap from current actual cost to the production cost target, with named owners, dated milestones, and quantified savings per lever.
Design for Cost Influence: Partner with design and manufacturing engineering during concept and development to influence material selection, process selection, part consolidation, and tolerancing before designs are released, when cost reduction is still free.
Make Versus Buy Analysis: Lead make versus buy and vertical integration analysis on the highest cost content, quantifying capital, tooling, yield, and volume breakeven to support investment decisions at the executive level.
Cost Transparency and Reporting: Deliver cost roll-ups to program and senior leadership that distinguish quoted content from placeholder content, surface data gaps explicitly rather than smoothing them over, and tie every cost movement to a root cause.
Supplier Cost Negotiation Support: Arm commodity owners with should-cost analysis, teardown benchmarks, and cost breakdown requirements ahead of negotiation, and audit supplier cost submissions for material, labor, overhead, and margin build-up.
Cost Governance: Establish the mechanisms that keep cost honest, including engineering change cost impact review, volume price improvement documentation on every award, and variance analysis between quoted, awarded, and actual cost.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Influence design, manufacturing, finance, and sourcing organizations without direct authority, and mentor commodity managers and sourcing engineers on cost methodology.
About the team We are building a robotics platform from the ground up, from pilot builds through a purpose-built high volume factory. Supply Chain owns sourcing, cost, and material readiness across the program. This team is small, early, and moves fast. Cost ownership here is not a reporting function. It is a decision-making function that shapes the product.
Basic qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
10+ years of experience in product cost, cost engineering, should-cost analysis, or technical commodity sourcing in high volume manufacturing
Demonstrated ownership of bill of material cost for a complex multi-commodity product through a full development cycle
Experience building bottom-up should-cost models from manufacturing process fundamentals, including machine rate and yield assumptions
Experience reading and interpreting engineering drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing process specifications
Experience leading and influencing cross-functional engineering and sourcing teams
Preferred qualifications
Master's degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering, or a related field
Experience taking a product from prototype cost to a high-volume cost target with a documented order of magnitude reduction
Hands-on process knowledge across machining, casting, forging, powder metal, injection molding, stamping, and electronics assembly
Experience with teardown and competitive benchmarking methodology
Experience auditing supplier cost breakdowns and negotiating on a cost-plus or open-book basis
Experience in automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, or robotics new product introduction
Advanced analytical and modeling capability, including large BOM data sets and cost variance analysis
Track record of mentoring cost or sourcing professionals
Applicant Notices & Disclaimers
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At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws.This position's pay range is $70.00/hr - $80.00/hr.
