Pricing- Sr. Cost Manager

Position Purpose Summary:The Senior Cost Manager is responsible for overseeing vendor cost changes, assessing financial impact, and minimizing margin loss through disciplined analysis, pricing actions, and cross‑functional coordination. This role serves as the central owner of cost change governance, ensuring cost increases are accurately evaluated, communicated, and implemented while protecting profitability and enforcing pricing discipline.Key Tasks/Responsibilities:

Own and oversee the end‑to‑end vendor cost change process, including intake, validation, impact assessment, and executionAnalyze vendor cost increases to quantify margin impact at the SKU, category, customer, branch, and regional levelsPartner with Pricing, Category Management, Sales, and Finance to ensure timely and effective margin recovery actionsDevelop and maintain cost change tracking tools and dashboards to monitor approved, pending, and implemented cost changesIdentify, quantify, and report margin leakage resulting from delayed, incomplete, or waived cost recovery actionsEstablish standard methodologies for evaluating cost change impact, including gross margin, price realization, and override behaviorProvide pricing guidance and recommendations to support margin preservation following cost increasesMonitor post‑implementation performance to validate margin recovery and identify gaps or corrective actionsInvestigate and escalate risks related to excessive discounts, overrides, or non‑compliance with cost change pricing guidanceServe as a subject matter expert on vendor cost dynamics, cost inflation trends, and category‑level margin exposureBuild executive‑ready reporting and insights on cost change impact, margin erosion, and recovery effectivenessSupport continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen cost governance, pricing discipline, and margin accountabilityCollaborate with data and analytics resources to enhance automation, scalability, and visibility of cost change reportingMentor and guide analysts or junior team members supporting cost and margin analysis efforts

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex cost data into actionable insightsAdvanced proficiency in Excel and experience working with pricing, ERP, or analytics toolsProven ability to manage cross‑functional processes and influence without direct authorityExperience in distribution, manufacturing, or materials‑based industriesFamiliarity with pricing governance, approval workflows, and margin compliance controlsExperience building or enhancing cost change and margin tracking toolsBackground in supporting large SKU counts and multi‑region pricing environmentsStrong communication skills with comfort presenting to senior leadership