Director of Cost Accounting (Build & Standardize Across 35 Sites)

Director of Cost Accounting

Company: American bath Group (ABG)

Location: Irving, TX

Reporting to: Brent Korb, CFO

If you have personally owned standard cost, BOM accuracy, and variance control across multiple manufacturing sites and have wanted the opportunity to build it the right way across an entire enterprise, this role was built for you.

About American Bath Group

American Bath Group (ABG) is a leading North American manufacturer of showers, bathtubs, spas, and related bathware products serving residential, multifamily, hospitality, and e-commerce channels. With more than 35 manufacturing facilities and 15 distribution locations, ABG has grown rapidly through both organic expansion and over twenty acquisitions.

ABG is a founder-led business and a portfolio company of Centerbridge Partners. The company operates with a culture defined by speed, simplicity, and consistency - translating strategy into measurable execution across its national manufacturing footprint.

The Opportunity

ABG is seeking a Director of Cost Accounting to build and lead a centralized cost accounting function across the company’s U.S. manufacturing operations.

Today, cost accounting capability exists across plants but is fragmented and inconsistently led. Cost structures derived from bills of materials vary by site, SKU-level profitability visibility is limited at the enterprise level, and costing data does not consistently support executive decision-making.

This role is responsible for standing up a structured, enterprise cost accounting capability that delivers reliable cost structures derived from BOMs, enterprise SKU profitability visibility, capital spend oversight, and decision-grade financial insight for operations and executive leadership.

This is not a maintenance role. It is a build mandate inside a complex, multi-site manufacturing environment.

Success in Year One (Executive Summary)

Within the first 12 months, the Director of Cost Accounting will establish an enterprise cost accounting capability delivering:

• Enterprise BOM variance monitoring and remediation processes active across all U.S. manufacturing sites
• SKU-level profitability reporting operational across business units
• A centralized cost accounting organization designed and largely staffed
• Capital expenditure tracking and ROI discipline installed
• Reliable costing data integrated into FP&A planning and forecasting processes

The Mandate

Within the first year, the Director of Cost Accounting will stand up a high-functioning cost accounting organization capable of delivering:

• Financially accurate cost structures derived from bills of materials across all U.S. manufacturing sites
• Enterprise SKU-level profitability visibility for operational and pricing decision-making
• A centralized cost accounting organization aligned with plant operations and business units
• Structured capital spend tracking and ROI discipline
• Reliable costing data integrated with financial planning and forecasting processes

The role requires both architectural thinking and operational execution - designing systems while simultaneously driving deployment across plants.

Year One Critical Outcomes

1. BOM Variance Governance and Cost Structure Accuracy

• Implement an enterprise BOM variance monitoring framework across U.S. operations
• Establish a formal monthly variance reporting cadence tied to cost accuracy governance
• Implement trigger mechanisms that flag cost variance signals indicating potential BOM inaccuracies
• Establish clear ownership for BOM review and correction by plant and business unit leaders in partnership with Engineering and Operations
• Deliver transparent remediation reporting to Finance and operational leadership

The first 90 days will focus on establishing a baseline variance and cost accuracy starting point across plants.

2. Enterprise SKU-Level Profitability Visibility

• Implement SKU-level profitability reporting across all U.S. business units
• Establish recurring review cadences with Business Unit Leaders and Plant Managers
• Identify bottom-tier SKUs and categorize profitability drivers
• Implement structured action tracking for pricing, operational, or portfolio improvement actions
• Integrate SKU profitability insights into pricing, operational, and portfolio decisions

3. Build the Cost Accounting Organization

• Design and implement the centralized cost accounting structure
• Define plant and business-unit coverage models
• Recruit and onboard 60–80% of required team capacity within the first year
• Establish role clarity, accountability structures, and operating rhythms
• Implement structured onboarding and capability development for new hires

The organization currently consists of a small number of cost accountants with no centralized leadership structure.

4. Capital Spend Oversight and ROI Discipline

• Implement enterprise CapEx tracking mechanisms (actual vs. plan)
• Establish a structured ROI evaluation framework for capital investments
• Install review cadences with Finance and Enterprise Operations leadership
• Implement post-investment performance reviews and capital project post-mortems

5. FP&A Integration and Planning Accuracy

• Improve costing inputs feeding financial planning cycles
• Establish recurring coordination cadences with FP&A
• Create auditable linkage between costing assumptions and financial forecasts
• Reduce financial volatility driven by inconsistent cost visibility

Six-Month Execution Milestones

By Month 6, the Director of Cost Accounting should demonstrate measurable progress including:

• BOM variance review and correction loops actively operating with Engineering and Operations
• Early SKU profitability reviews influencing operational and pricing discussions
• Cost accounting organizational structure designed and partially staffed
• Established working partnerships with Engineering, Operations, and Plant leadership
• A clearly communicated 12-month deployment roadmap

Why This Role Is Hard

This role operates in a complex manufacturing environment with fragmented costing infrastructure.

Key challenges include:

• Multiple manufacturing sites with inconsistent costing practices
• Limited historical SKU-level profitability visibility
• Variability in cost structures derived from BOMs
• Multi-system ERP environments
• The need to influence plant leadership, engineering, and operations without direct authority

The successful leader must be comfortable building systems while operating inside imperfect environments.

Leadership Profile

The successful candidate will operate as an Operator–Architect - a leader capable of designing systems while simultaneously driving execution inside complex manufacturing environments.

This leader typically:

• Has implemented costing structures in multi-site manufacturing environments
• Is comfortable building systems where mature processes do not yet exist
• Drives execution with urgency and measurable progress
• Influences plant leadership and engineering teams without formal authority
• Communicates effectively from the plant floor to the CFO level

Experience Requirements

• 10+ years of cost accounting experience within manufacturing environments
• Demonstrated expertise in BOM variance governance and cost accuracy management in partnership with engineering and operations
• Experience supporting multi-site manufacturing operations
• Exposure to organizational build-outs or system implementations
• Ability to operate effectively in complex or transitional environments

ERP experience is helpful but not gating. Exposure to Microsoft Dynamics 365 or comparable ERP systems is advantageous.

Why a Builder Will Be Excited About This Role

This role represents a rare opportunity to design and deploy the cost accounting architecture of a national manufacturing platform.

For the right leader, the opportunity includes:

• Building a centralized cost accounting capability from an early-stage baseline
• Establishing the enterprise standards for cost visibility and profitability analysis
• Influencing operational, pricing, and capital allocation decisions across the business
• Partnering closely with executive leadership to improve financial visibility across a growing manufacturing organization

Why This Role Matters

Cost visibility is foundational to operational and financial performance in a multi-site manufacturing organization.

This role will build the financial infrastructure that enables ABG’s leadership team to make better decisions about pricing, product portfolio, capital investment, and operational performance across the enterprise.

For the right leader, this represents an opportunity to design and deploy the cost accounting architecture supporting ABG’s national manufacturing platform.