Manager, Costing

About the Role

This position serves as the global leader for apparel costing, setting enterprise-wide standards, influencing sourcing strategies, and ensuring margin goals are met throughout the product development cycle. The role demands oversight of comprehensive costing activities across a worldwide sourcing portfolio to guarantee accuracy, transparency, and alignment with brand margin objectives.

The Manager is responsible for delivering consistent global costing by embedding enterprise costing frameworks into rigorous regional execution. This is achieved through strong leadership, mentoring, and coaching of Senior Costing Engineers stationed in key manufacturing regions.

This role requires close collaboration with teams across Sourcing Development, Engineering, Product Supply Enablement, Brand Planning, Product Development, Design, and Merchandising to enhance margin performance, reinforce cost discipline, and support decision-making based on data-driven insights.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end costing delivery by managing FOB validation, consolidation, and submission aligned with all go-to-market milestones.
• Ensure cost data is accurate, complete, and meets margin expectations while providing clear visibility into FOB changes, risks, and variances.
• Maintain strict milestone tracking, forecast precision, and readiness for purchase activities.
• Establish and enforce global costing standards, frameworks, and processes to maintain uniformity in methodologies and tools worldwide.
• Govern cost adjustments, exceptions, and approval workflows to foster accountability and transparency.
• Direct regional costing execution through Senior Costing Engineers in strategic sourcing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, setting expectations and monitoring performance.
• Align regional execution with global costing strategies and escalate risks that could impact cost outcomes or market readiness.
• Lead vendor negotiations and cost engineering initiatives to identify margin improvement opportunities across materials, construction techniques, and manufacturing efficiencies.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Sourcing, and Product teams to balance cost, quality, and product design intent.
• Support sourcing allocation choices by providing competitive cost insights.
• Work cross-functionally with Product Development, Merchandising, Sourcing, PSE, and Finance teams to synchronize cost targets and ensure margin achievement.
• Offer economic trend analysis, cost driver reviews, trade impact assessments, and regional market insights to guide decision-making.
• Drive integrated planning and cost forecasting discussions.
• Lead structured communication of costing outputs at key milestones and consolidate regional data into clear global insights, highlighting risks and recommended actions.
• Build and enhance costing capabilities across regions by coaching Senior Costing Engineers, promoting discipline in fundamentals, analytical analysis, and stakeholder communication.

Competency Requirements

• Excellent commercial insight, connecting product costing with sourcing tactics, margin outcomes, and overall business performance.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to convert data into actionable recommendations.
• Proficient at influencing and creating alignment among diverse cross-functional teams in complex environments.
• Demonstrated leadership with experience in team development, accountability, and promoting continuous improvement.
• Results-driven mindset capable of delivering within fast-moving, milestone-oriented settings.
• Effective communication skills to simplify complex issues and influence decision-making through compelling business narratives.
• Proven ability to drive change by standardizing processes, governance, and embracing new working methodologies.
• Advocate for digital innovation and continuous improvement, leveraging data and technology to boost performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Textile Engineering, Apparel Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, or closely related disciplines.
• More than six years of experience in apparel sourcing, manufacturing, costing, cost engineering or supply chain within multinational sourcing contexts.
• In-depth knowledge of apparel costing, garment construction, manufacturing workflow, material cost factors, and vendor economics.
• Proven success in cost optimization, engineering, and vendor negotiation initiatives that enhance margins.
• Experience with FOB calculation, cost forecasting, margin management, and governance of costing procedures.
• Advanced skills in analytics and financial modeling, including proficiency with Excel and specialized costing tools.
• Awareness of global sourcing environments, trade laws, tariffs, and competitive regional manufacturing conditions.
• Experience navigating global matrix organizations and managing cross-functional stakeholder relationships.