Product Cost Engineering Manager

It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing! We're committed to bringing passion and customer focus to the business. Peter Millar was founded in 2001 with a single cashmere sweater offered in 24 colors. Based in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, the American lifestyle brand has grown to include luxury performance sportswear, seasonal resort and country club apparel, sophisticated classics, casually refined tailored clothing and sartorial accessories.

We strive to capture timeless style upgraded with signature innovations, in designs that are in tune with modern life. We embrace working hard, being kind and doing right by our customers, aiming to set a higher standard for the apparel industry.

The Product Cost Engineering Manager is a key technical and commercial partner responsible for driving product costing strategy and execution across Apparel, Footwear and Accessories. This role serves as the organization’s central cost authority, combining deep costing expertise with hands‑on analysis, modeling and vendor collaboration to protect margin, inform pricing decisions and enable commercially viable product development.

This individual will build and maintain advanced cost models, analyze BOMs and material yields, and partner closely with Merchandising, Design, Product Development, Sourcing, Supply Chain and Finance to ensure costing accuracy and alignment from concept through production.

Lead margin and IMU strategy across Apparel, Footwear and Accessories, developing scenario-based cost models (fabric, construction, MOQ, COO, vendor changes) to evaluate profitability and risk. Serve as the organization’s central cost authority, partnering with Merchandising and Finance on pricing architecture, margin trade-offs, forecasting and long-range planning.

Own style-level costing from concept through bulk production, ensuring costs align with target margins at every stage of the product lifecycle. Build and maintain detailed cost models covering materials, trims, labor, construction, overhead, freight, duty, tariffs and COO. Analyse BOMs, material yields and construction methods to identify simplification, efficiency and value-engineering opportunities without compromising quality or aesthetics. Track estimated vs. actual costs, analyse variances and identify root causes to drive continuous improvement in cost accuracy and execution.

Lead pre-costing analysis and support bulk negotiations using data-driven insights, ensuring vendor cost breakdowns are accurate, comparable and transparent. Audit and validate vendor costing structures to ensure integrity and alignment with internal cost standards. Standardise cost templates and methodologies to enable consistency across vendors, categories and regions. Partner directly with factories and mills to validate costing assumptions, resolve discrepancies and strengthen supplier relationships.

Travel as needed to support development, resolve cost issues and maintain alignment across the supply base.

Ensure alignment between PLM systems, negotiated costs and financial reporting, maintaining consistent and accurate costing data across platforms. Develop advanced Excel-based models and dashboards to provide leadership with visibility into margin performance, risks and opportunities. Establish and maintain costing SOPs and governance processes to ensure consistency, accuracy and scalability. Continuously improve costing tools, templates and workflows to increase efficiency and enhance decision-making.

Act as the go-to cost expert…