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Salary: USD 198,500 - 233,000 / annual
Oura is seeking a Staff Product Cost Engineer to establish and lead product cost engineering as a strategic capability within Product Sourcing. This is a hands-on, highly influential individual-contributor role operating at the level of a technical and commercial authority.
You will own the cost and value perspective across the full product lifecycle, from early architecture and concept development through NPI, DVT/PVT, ramp, mass production, and sustaining. You will build the fact base behind product cost decisions, translate product and manufacturing choices into transparent cost models, and partner with Engineering, Product, Finance, Quality, Supply Chain, and EMS partners to deliver products that meet Oura's performance, quality, schedule, and cost objectives.
Key responsibilities include:
**Own product cost targets and cost visibility:** Define target costs and cost architectures for new products, major subsystems, and key components. Maintain and reinforce cost models for complete products and assemblies, including electronic components, PCBA, mechanical parts, batteries, sensors, tooling, test, labor, yield, overhead, EMS value-add, logistics, tariffs, and other landed-cost elements. Create a consistent cost taxonomy, modeling methodology, and set of assumptions across Engineering, Sourcing, Finance, and suppliers. Track target, quoted, negotiated, and actual costs across the product lifecycle; identify variances, cost risks, and optimization opportunities. Develop scenario models for volume, geography, sourcing strategy, supplier footprint, capacity, make-versus-buy, and design alternatives.
**Drive design-to-cost and value engineering:** Engage early in product architecture, concept, and design reviews to influence cost before designs are frozen. Translate product requirements, BOMs, CAD, drawings, stack-ups, specifications, and manufacturing flows into cost and value implications. Lead value-engineering workshops with mechanical, electrical, industrial design, reliability, quality, and manufacturing teams. Identify opportunities involving component selection, architecture, tolerances, materials, finishes, part consolidation, test strategy, automation, cycle time, yield, packaging, and assembly flow. Quantify cost, quality, schedule, reliability, and supply trade-offs so leaders can make informed decisions. Partner with Engineering and NPI teams to ensure cost is considered at EVT, DVT, PVT, ramp, and sustaining milestones.
**Connect cost engineering to supply chain execution:** Drive cost bridge over multiple program generations. Assess the cost impact of manufacturing readiness, line balance, automation, labor content, cycle time, tooling utilization, yield, scrap, rework, and capacity constraints. Support factory build reviews and cost learning during prototype, validation, and production builds. Work with EMS and logistics partners to separate material, conversion, NRE, capital, transportation, and margin elements transparently. Incorporate actual production performance into cost models and use the learning to improve future estimates and negotiations.
**Build the capability and influence decisions:** Create scalable templates, databases, dashboards, and governance for product cost engineering. Establish cost-review mechanisms and clear ownership across Sourcing, Engineering, Finance, Operations, and Program Management. Present product-level cost analyses, recommendations, risks, and decisions to senior leadership with clarity and precision. Mentor peers and raise the organization's fluency in cost drivers, design-to-cost, supplier economics, and manufacturing trade-offs.
The role is hybrid, requiring 3 days per week onsite at the San Francisco office.
**Requirements:**
- 10–12+ years of experience in product cost engineering, should-cost analysis, value engineering, manufacturing engineering, strategic sourcing, supply-chain engineering, or a closely related discipline
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, or a related technical field; advanced degree is a plus
- Demonstrated experience costing complex, high-volume consumer electronics or wearable products across both electronic and mechanical domains
- Strong understanding of BOM structures, engineering drawings, tolerances, specifications, manufacturing processes, tooling, test, yield, labor, overhead, and supplier commercial models
- Experience developing bottom-up cost models and using them to set targets, evaluate design alternatives, challenge supplier quotes, and drive negotiations
- Practical knowledge of electronics and PCBA cost drivers, including component pricing, PCB fabrication, SMT placement, soldering, programming, inspection, ICT, functional test, and yield
- Practical knowledge of mechanical cost drivers, including plastics, metals, machining, stamping, die casting, overmolding, cosmetic finishing, adhesives, gaskets, and assembly
- Experience working directly with contract manufacturers, ODMs, component suppliers, and international manufacturing teams
- Ability to move between detailed technical analysis and executive-level recommendations without losing rigor
- Advanced Excel and data-modeling skills; familiarity with ERP, PLM, business-intelligence, or cost-engineering tools
- Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills
- Willingness to travel internationally to suppliers and manufacturing sites as needed
**Nice to have:**
- Experience with wearable technology, miniaturized electronics, sensors, batteries, RF systems, or other highly integrated consumer products
- Experience with early-phase product architecture, DFM/DFA, tolerance analysis, reliability, and NPI build phases
- Experience modeling total landed cost, including freight, duties, tariffs, inventory, working capital, and regional supply-chain scenarios
- Experience with capital equipment, automation, test infrastructure, tooling amortization, and manufacturing capacity economics
- Experience creating cost databases, parametric models, automated reporting, or decision-support dashboards
- Familiarity with SQL, Python, Power BI, Tableau, or similar analytical tools
- Experience leading cross-functional cost-down portfolios with measurable annualized savings
- MBA, master's degree, or equivalent experience in engineering, operations, finance, or supply chain
