Cost Accounting Manager

Kinder's • Walnut Creek, CA

12h • $120,000 - $133,000

About The Position

We are seeking a Cost Accounting Manager to own the end-to-end costing process for co-manufactured products. This role is responsible for building and maintaining accurate standard costs, auditing co-manufacturer charges, and delivering insights that support financial accuracy and operational decision-making.
While this position requires deep product costing expertise, it is far more than assembling bills of materials. The ideal candidate brings strong analytical instincts and the ability to understand cost drivers, model cost sensitivities, and offer sound recommendations when inputs are incomplete or evolving. In an environment where product specifications can shift rapidly, this individual must operate confidently in ambiguity, building cost estimates based on best-known assumptions, identifying key variables, and flagging the true impact of potential changes on financial decisions.
Success in this role requires a blend of technical excellence in cost accounting, clear and proactive communication across departments and with co-manufacturing partners, collaboration and influence to align stakeholders, and most critically, mental agility - the ability to find clarity amid complexity and support Kinder’s decision-making even when the path forward isn’t fully defined.
This is also a highly impactful role for someone who wants to own meaningful financial processes and contribute to a fast-growing business. It is also a role that requires comfort with ambiguity and proactive problem-solving. You’ll thrive in this role if:
You enjoy solving problems in fast-moving, sometimes ambiguous environments
You’re comfortable working with incomplete information and can build credible estimates based on what’s known today while flagging what might change tomorrow
You bring strong technical fundamentals in cost accounting and have the mental agility to go beyond inputs and think in terms of cost drivers, sensitivities, and decision impact
You can collaborate cross-functionally with clarity, patience, and influence, whether it’s with finance, procurement, operations, or external partners
You’re energized by owning your work, building scalable processes, and improving things as you go
This is not the right role for someone who needs all inputs finalized before moving forward or who prefers highly structured environments with little ambiguity. Kinder’s moves fast. Some cost inputs won’t be perfect. But your ability to create clarity, offer insight, and take ownership is exactly what will make you successful - and satisfied - here.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field; CPA or CMA preferred
• 5–8+ years of experience in cost accounting, ideally in a CPG or food production environment
• Experience working with co-manufacturers and auditing cost structures or contractual pass-throughs preferred.
• Proficiency in SAP (product costing, BOMs, inventory transactions)
• Proven ability to operate independently while building relationships across departments
• Demonstrated success in scaling or improving cost accounting practices in a growth company

Responsibilities

• Standard Cost Development, Governance & Maintenance
• Own the end-to-end standard costing process for all co-manufactured SKUs, including methodology, assumptions, and update cadence
• Build, review, and approve standard costs using BOMs and recipes, incorporating raw and packaging inputs, co-manufacturer tolling and processing fees, inbound freight, warehousing, and logistics costs
• Establish and maintain costing governance, including documentation standards, change logs, and approval workflows
• Partner closely with Procurement, Operations, and internal and external Co-Man teams to align on cost inputs, validate assumptions, and ensure timely updates as specifications and inputs evolve
• Inventory Costing Coordination & Audit Support
• Own cost accuracy and valuation support for inventory held at Kinder’s 3PL warehouses, ensuring consistent costing treatment and strong financial controls
• Partner with inventory managers to validate costing-related inventory positions and ensure audit-ready support packages
• Lead cost-related support for internal and external inventory audits, including issue resolution and coordination of required documentation
• Cost Analysis, Variance Leadership & Margin Reporting
• Lead product-level variance analysis, including material usage variances, co-manufacturer performance variances, and key driver diagnostics
• Provide accurate and decision-ready product costing insights to support pricing, customer strategy, and promotional investment decisions
• Partner with FP&A to support gross margin analysis by customer and channel, including drivers, risks, and forward-looking cost implications
• Budgeting, Forecasting & Strategic Planning Support
• Own costing inputs into COGS budgeting and forecasting processes, ensuring assumptions are accurate, explainable, and aligned with operational realities
• Monitor cost trends across materials, co-manufacturing, and logistics, proactively identifying margin risks and recommending mitigation actions
• Support scenario modeling and cost sensitivity analysis to inform decision-making when inputs are incomplete or changing
• Co-Manufacturer Financial Partnership & Performance Management
• Serve as the finance business partner for co-manufacturing cost performance, providing visibility into cost drivers, trends, and operational impacts
• Collaborate with internal Co-Man teams to validate production cost assumptions, performance metrics, and continuous improvement opportunities
• Communicate cost changes clearly and proactively, ensuring stakeholders understand business impact and tradeoffs
• Co-Manufacturer Charge Audit, Compliance & Escalation Ownership
• Own the review and audit of co-manufacturer invoices for contractual compliance, accuracy, and pass-through cost reasonableness
• Lead investigations into discrepancies, drive root cause resolution, and escalate recurring issues through internal and external stakeholder channels
• Maintain a structured approach to tracking issues, recovering value where applicable, and reducing repeat exceptions
• Month-End Close Ownership & Financial Reporting Support
• Own month-end costing-related close deliverables, including journal entries, reconciliations, and variance explanations for COGS and inventory
• Review supporting schedules and workpapers to ensure completeness, accuracy, and audit readiness
• Provide cost and margin reporting to finance leadership, including clear narratives on drivers and changes
• SAP Costing Ownership & Process Improvement
• Own costing structures and master data integrity within SAP, including product costing setup and ongoing maintenance standards
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve SAP costing workflows, strengthen controls, and automate recurring reporting where feasible
• Partner cross-functionally to improve data accuracy upstream (inputs) and reliability downstream (reporting and decision support)
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Stakeholder Alignment
• Act as a cross-functional leader to align Finance, Procurement, Operations, Sales Ops, and external co-mans on costing assumptions and outcomes
• Drive clarity, accountability, and decision support across stakeholders, particularly in fast-moving environments with evolving inputs
• Build scalable processes that improve cost visibility and support Kinder’s growth

Benefits

• We offer a range of total rewards that may include paid time off, 401k, bonus / incentive eligibility, equity grants, competitive health benefits, and other family-friendly benefits, including parental leave.
• Kinder’s benefits vary based on eligibility and can be reviewed in more detail during the interview process.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level