Cost Management Lead

Job Description

Principal, Costing Engineer | Schneider Electric

The Tone:
This is a full-time role at Schneider Electric, located in Karnataka, India. Schneider Electric is a global company focused on electrification, automation, and digitization, with EUR40 billion in global revenue. This Principal, Costing Engineer role is critical for ensuring that new products are developed and launched with competitive cost structures that meet market expectations and achieve target margins. The position drives cost competitiveness and financial viability of new offers from concept through industrialization, supporting sustainable business growth.

The TL;DR
• Role: Senior/Principal
• Type: Full-time
• Location: In-person, Karnataka, India

• Team: Serves as a single point of ownership, collaborating cross-functionally
• Mission: To ensure all new offers are developed, industrialized, and launched with competitive cost structures that meet market expectations, achieve target margins, and support sustainable business growth through disciplined cost management and value engineering.
• Tech Stack: SAP, Power BI, Advanced Excel, Cost Modeling Tools, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Systems, AI tools for costing

What You’ll Actually Do
• Target Cost Management: Define target costs based on market, margin, and business strategy; establish cost objectives at product, subsystem, and component levels; track cost performance; and drive cost accountability across cross-functional teams.
• New Offer Cost Development: Develop detailed product cost models during concept, design, and industrialization phases, analyze BOM, manufacturing, logistics, and overhead costs, create should-cost models, and support pricing and business case development.
• Value Engineering & Cost Optimization: Identify and execute cost reduction opportunities, facilitate Design-to-Cost, challenge design decisions impacting product costs, benchmark costs against competitors, and lead optimization initiatives before product launch.
• Supply Chain & Procurement Collaboration: Partner with Procurement to establish sourcing strategies aligned with target costs, evaluate supplier quotations, negotiate cost improvement opportunities, participate in supplier selection and localization, and support make-versus-buy decisions through financial analysis.
• Manufacturing Cost Assessment: Evaluate manufacturing processes and conversion costs, support industrialization teams in identifying productivity improvements, analyze labor content, machine utilization, tooling, and capex requirements, and drive manufacturing cost competitiveness across plants.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering/Finance/Cost Accounting.
• Experience: 18–20 years experience in Product Costing, Cost Engineering, Industrialization, Manufacturing Finance, or NEW Product/Offer Development.
• Skills: Target Costing, Product Costing, Design-to-Cost, Should-Cost Modelling, Lifecycle Costing, BOM Cost Analysis, Manufacturing Process Costing, Supplier Cost Analysis, Analytical problem-solving, Strategic cost management.
• Bonus: Preferred MBA (Finance/Operations), Cost Management Certification, Lean Six Sigma Certification. Experience in industrial, electrical distribution, busway, switchgear, automation, automotive, or manufacturing environments.