Ariat International, founded in 1993, is a worldwide leader in high performance footwear and apparel for equestrian athletes. Ariat is driven by world class design, innovation and technology all focused on delivering the highest quality, authentic Western and English footwear, apparel and accessories to our customers. We are a fast-paced, growing and profitable company dedicated to finding and developing the best people to continue to grow with our company. In return, we aim to make sure that our employees are happy and motivated by offering them a challenging, fun and financially rewarding working environment.
Costing Analyst
Work with factories, developers, category teams and Ariat China costing team to review and interpret factory cost breakdowns and their impact on the total weighted margin. Help Category teams to achieve gross pricing margin goals by identifying the margin implications of category business decisions, providing ad hoc margin analysis reports, and help to identify solutions that meet the needs of all business partners. Also utilize understanding of prior season data elements to actively interpret financial results and identify opportunities for improvement.
Responsibilities:
Collect, understand, organize and present all footwear costs, inclusive of raw materials, production and packaging costs as it relates to seasonal gross margin targets.
Receive, post and verify all FOB costs from Asia (China costing lead) and Mexico contract factories to ensure SAP, seasonal catalogs, other designated databases and reports are updated with most accurate FOB costs.
Maintain updated library of components, materials and other related shoe and boot items utilizing, SAP, Access, Excel, SoftShoe and other software. Continually review information and footwear data for accuracy, discrepancies and share information with Ariat China costing manager and other members of the planning, product merchandising, development and production teams as needed.
Track, review and communicate initial sample pricing, raw materials and best case revisions to hit target margin and product brief.
Coordinate leather and other footwear related material pricing for members of the planning, product merchandising, development and production teams.
Review and validate assumptions and logic used for bi-annual rerolling of standard cost for footwear products.
Support product creation team through analysis of all aspects of footwear costs.
Track on-going seasonal weighted margin report (key dates being seasonal brief / line planning, proto review, line close and sales meeting margin analysis).
Lead flow of costing information throughout the development and manufacturing process.
Scope of the position will expand with knowledge gained in responding to suggestions of how Ariat could improve product performance. This will be accomplished through bench-marking competitor products, raw materials used and sourcing resources. This knowledge will build as knowledge of each product category and construction type is expanded.
Occasional travel to Asia and Mexico sourcing may be required.
Qualifications:
College degree or equivalent required.
2-3 years footwear costing experience required, accounting or financial studies helpful.
Organized and detail oriented.
Basic understanding of footwear manufacturing process (vulcanized, welted, San Crispino, opanka, direct injection & cement constructions) desired.
Strong communication skills.
Flexible, positive and reliable.
Strong knowledge of SAP, Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Power Point.
