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Salary: USD 100,000 - 135,000 / annual
Chariot Defense is a defense technology company designing and manufacturing power products for the U.S. military and its allies. The company is seeking a Cost Accountant to join the Finance team, reporting to the Head of Operations. This role sits at the intersection of Finance, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain, with responsibility for ensuring accurate product and program costing as the company scales hardware production.
Key responsibilities include:
• Building and maintaining standard costs, bills of materials (BOM) costing, and routings for power products; performing periodic standard cost roll-ups and revaluations.
• Owning accounting for raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP), and finished goods, including cycle count reconciliations, physical inventory support, and excess & obsolete reserve analysis.
• Preparing cost-related journal entries, accruals, and reconciliations (inventory, COGS, WIP, overhead) to support timely, accurate month-end close under U.S. GAAP.
• Analyzing and explaining purchase price, labor, material usage, and overhead variances; translating findings into actionable insights for Operations and leadership.
• Developing and maintaining overhead allocation methodologies and indirect rate pools (fringe, overhead, G&A) consistent with FAR Part 31 and CAS requirements.
• Tracking costs by program and contract, supporting estimates-at-completion (EACs), and providing cost data for pricing proposals and milestone-based revenue recognition (ASC 606).
• Maintaining DCAA-compliant timekeeping and job-costing practices; preparing schedules and documentation for financial audits and DCAA/DCMA reviews.
• Improving cost accounting workflows in the ERP/MRP system (e.g., NetSuite), including item costing, work orders, and assembly builds; identifying opportunities to automate manual reporting.
• Working closely with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Engineering to understand production flows, validate BOM accuracy, and support make-vs-buy and margin analyses.
The ideal candidate is detail-driven, conscientious, and comfortable both on the shop floor and in the ERP system. This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to help build cost accounting processes from the ground up in a fast-paced, early-stage environment.
Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance.
• 2–5 years of cost or inventory accounting experience at a hardware, defense, aerospace, automotive, or industrial manufacturing company.
• Solid understanding of U.S. GAAP, standard costing, inventory valuation, and overhead absorption.
• Familiarity with government contracting cost principles (FAR Part 31, CAS, DCAA) and job/program costing.
• Hands-on experience with an ERP/MRP system such as NetSuite (preferred), Costpoint, SAP, or similar.
• Advanced Excel skills (lookups, pivot tables, building cost models).
• Willingness to work onsite in San Bruno, CA, 5 days per week, as well as extended and weekend hours when necessary (e.g., during close or physical inventory).
Preferred qualifications include CPA, CMA, or progress toward either; experience supporting indirect rate development, incurred cost submissions, or DCAA audits; exposure to ASC 606 revenue recognition on milestone-based hardware contracts; and experience in an early-stage or high-growth company where processes were built from scratch.
