Costing Assistant Manager

The Costing Assistant Manager will play a key role in building and maintaining a robust, driver-based costing framework across MDLBEAST’s diverse operations, including events, venues & hospitality, and music/label activities. The role will focus on Activity-Based Costing (ABC), profitability analysis, cost optimization, and supporting commercial decision-making through accurate and transparent cost insights.

Duties will include (but not limited to):

• Design, implement, and maintain an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) model, including definition of cost pools, activity drivers, allocation logic, and governance.
• Build a standardized cost structure across key activities (production, venues/hospitality operations, and music/label operations) to enable consistent margin reporting.
• Develop cost driver libraries and data collection routines (labor hours, equipment usage, headcount, venue utilization, marketing activities, distribution services, etc.).
• Own cost allocation processes (overheads, shared services, and operational support costs) and ensure transparency, audit trail, and periodic validation.
• Produce profitability and unit economics reporting (per event/project, per release/artist/product).
• Identify and quantify cost optimization opportunities (supplier savings, process efficiency, utilization improvements, waste reduction, and policy enforcement) and track benefits.
• For F&B operations: maintain and review recipe/menu costing, yield and wastage assumptions, portion control variances, and supplier price movements impacting COGS.
• For F&B operations: strengthen stock count governance and inventory valuation controls, including cycle counts, slow-moving/wastage treatment, and variance root-cause analysis.
• For music operations: support label/project costing by tracking A&R spend, production, marketing, distribution/service fees, and ensuring correct capitalization/expensing rules.
• For music operations: support profitability analysis by release/artist, including linkage of costs to revenue streams (label services, distribution, licensing) and reconciliation to statements.
• Partner with Pricing/Commercial teams to support pricing, deal evaluation, and margin improvement initiatives using ABC insights and scenario analysis.
• Support budgeting and forecasting by providing driver-based cost assumptions, standards, and sensitivity analysis; monitor actuals and provide corrective recommendations.
• Ensure costing master data quality in the ERP (cost centers, activity types, allocation keys, BOM/recipes where applicable) and document costing policies and procedures.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, industrial engineering, or a related discipline (CMA is a plus).
• 7 - 10 years of experience in costing, management accounting, or FP&A with demonstrated cost-structure building and optimization exposure.
• Strong practical experience in Activity-Based Costing (ABC): cost pools, drivers, allocations, and profitability analysis.
• Experience with ERP and costing tools (SAP / Odoo or equivalent) and advanced Excel skills; BI tools are a plus.
• Ability to partner with operations teams to capture accurate inputs (quantities, drivers, routings/recipes, service activities, and overhead consumption).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with attention to detail and a control mindset.