Senior Should-Cost Engineer

Aston Carter; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 94,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision

401(k) Retirement Plan

Life Insurance

Paid Time Off

Job summary

Aston Carter is seeking a cost engineering leader to develop and refine should-cost models for materials, components, and equipment. You will benchmark costs, influence supplier negotiations, and embed cost as a design input across engineering and manufacturing teams.

You will build the cost engineering function, establish data structures, and drive early cost transparency to support strategic sourcing decisions in a fast-moving manufacturing environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in cost engineering, finance, manufacturing engineering, or strategic sourcing with should-cost modeling and supplier negotiation.
• Experience building or scaling cost engineering capability.
• Fluency in activity-based costing, parametric cost modeling, and BOM/drawing Analysis.
• Track record of using cost models to influence supplier negotiations and design outcomes.
• Comfort building estimation methods where data is limited in a novel setting.

Responsibilities

• Lead should-cost strategy and modeling for raw materials, components, and capital equipment.
• Benchmark cost structures against industry practices and track trends to inform sourcing and design decisions.
• Use cost models to evaluate supplier quotations and support high-stakes negotiations with Global Supply Managers.
• Influence design-to-cost by feeding cost outputs back into product and process feedback.
• Provide cross-functional cost visibility to Finance and leadership for unit economics at volume scale.
• Build and lead a cost engineering function, establishing tools and data structures.

Skills

Cost engineering leadership

Should-cost modeling

Supplier cost negotiation

Activity-based costing

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, industrial, or materials engineering

Tools

Cost modeling tools

Job description

Aston Carter is seeking a cost engineering leader to develop and refine should-cost models for materials, components, and equipment. You will benchmark costs, influence supplier negotiations, and embed cost as a design input across engineering and manufacturing teams.

You will build the cost engineering function, establish data structures, and drive early cost transparency to support strategic sourcing decisions in a fast-moving manufacturing environment.