Lead Specialist, Profitability and Cost Performance

Role Summary:

The Lead Specialist, Profitability & Cost Performance is responsible for leading the company’s profitability and manufacturing cost performance reporting activities across products, customers, production lines, regions, and business segments.

The role acts as a business partner to Commercial, Operations, Production, Quality, and Finance by providing reliable, decision-ready analytics and actionable insights related to:

• Product and customer profitability

• Manufacturing cost performance

• Variance analysis

• RFQ and pricing support

• Sales backlog profitability

• Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)

The position is also responsible for driving reporting governance, improving costing transparency, supervising specialists, and ensuring management dashboards and SAP-based analytics support strategic and operational decision-making.

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Profitability Reporting & Analysis

1. Lead end-to- end monthly profitability reporting using SAP reporting tools.

2. Ensure accurate margin visibility by Customer, Sales order, Product category and Region

3. Analyze profitability trends and identify low-margin or loss-making orders.

4. Review deviations from standard profitability assumptions and recommend corrective actions.

5. Coordinate with SAP FICO/CO consultants to improve profitability reporting structure and data quality.

6. Present profitability insights to Finance and Management teams.

2. Manufacturing Cost Performance & Variance Analysis

1. Lead monthly manufacturing cost performance analysis versus: Standard cost, Budget, Forecast and Prior actual periods

2. Review and challenge major manufacturing cost variances including Yield losses, Cycle time deviations, Variable cost deviations, Fixed cost deviations

3. Coordinate with Operations, Production, Engineering, Planning, and Quality teams to validate operational drivers behind cost movements.

4. Ensure proper analytical reporting of manufacturing KPIs and cost drivers.

3. Sales Backlog & Order Profitability

1. Lead preparation and validation of monthly sales backlog profitability analysis.

2. Ensure backlog reporting provides profitability visibility by Order, by Customer, by Product and by region.

3. Partner with Commercial and Supply Chain teams to validate assumptions and backlog status.

4. Support management in prioritizing high-margin business opportunities.

4. RFQ & Commercial Costing Support

1. Support Commercial team in pricing decisions and RFQ evaluations through profitability simulations and cost analysis.

2. Review costing assumptions including Raw material assumptions, Yield factors, Cycle times, Conversion cost assumptions, Utility rates and Freight & logistics assumptions

3. Ensure costing models reflect current operational and market conditions.

4. Support management in evaluating pricing strategies and margin sustainability.

5. Cost of non-Quality (CNQ)

1. Lead monthly CNQ reporting and analysis.

2. Coordinate with Industrial engineering, Quality and Operations teams to ensure completeness and accuracy of Rework, Downgrades & Scrap, Claims, Re-process losses

3. Identify key operational drivers impacting quality-related costs.

4. Recommend reporting improvements and preventive actions.

6. Dashboarding & Business Intelligence

1. Lead development and continuous improvement of dashboards and reporting tools using SAP, Excel, Power BI, SAC, or other BI solutions.

2. Ensure reporting automation, standardization, and data governance.

3. Improve reporting efficiency and reduce manual intervention.

7. Team Leadership & Governance

1. Su