Cost Accountant

Allen Control Systems•Austin, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Allen Control Systems (ACS) is increasing the production of Bullfrog, their autonomous counter-drone weapon station, from initial units to hundreds of systems per year. They are looking for a Cost Accountant to establish the cost accounting infrastructure from scratch, including standard costs, variance analysis, inventory valuation, and the manufacturing costing module of their ERP system. This is a mid-to-senior individual contributor role, reporting to the Corporate Controller. The successful candidate will be deeply involved in the financial operations of the factory, collaborating with operations, supply chain, and engineering to accurately determine the true cost of each unit built and every contract priced.

Requirements

Hands-on experience building or running cost accounting at a company that physically manufactures hardware; not software COGS, not services.
Proficiency with standard costing systems: setting standards, running cost rolls, analyzing variances, and explaining them to non-finance audiences.
Direct experience implementing or heavily using the manufacturing/costing module of an ERP system such as NetSuite, SAP, Epicor, or similar.
Solid understanding of inventory accounting across raw materials, WIP, and finished goods, including the journal entries that move between them.
Background at a scaled, engineering-driven manufacturer in defense, aerospace, robotics, industrial hardware, or an adjacent field; someone who has seen production ramp and understands what that does to unit economics.
Able to work cross-functionally with engineering and operations; you are a partner to the people building the product, not a back-office function.
On-site in Austin, TX.

Nice To Haves

Experience with government progress payments and the inventory and billing mechanics that accompany them.
Familiarity with DCAA audit processes and incurred cost submissions.
Has worked through a significant production ramp from LRIP to full-rate production and understands how cost structures shift at scale.
Experience with multi-level BOM costing for electromechanical assemblies.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain standard costs for Bullfrog and future product lines: BOM costing at the component level, direct labor rates by operation, and overhead allocation methodology.
Own variance analysis across material price, purchase price, labor efficiency, and overhead absorption; deliver clear explanations to operations and leadership.
Lead the manufacturing and costing module implementation within the ERP; define costing structure, work centers, routings, and cost rollups.
Maintain inventory costing and valuation across raw materials, WIP, and finished goods; ensure accuracy of physical inventory counts and cycle counts.
Partner with supply chain on component cost changes and their P&L impact; flag BOM and engineering change orders with cost implications before they hit the books.
Support DCAA indirect cost rate development across fringe, manufacturing overhead, and G&A; ensure cost pools are structured correctly for government contract compliance.
Provide cost buildups for new contract proposals and pricing decisions; model cost-to-produce at various volume scenarios as production scales.
Support month-end close including inventory reconciliation, WIP roll-forward, COGS recognition, and manufacturing variance journals; build reporting that gives operations real-time visibility into cost performance.