Cost Analyst

Cost Analyst

The Cost Analyst is an analytical role within the Procurement Innovation unit, responsible for analyzing procurement, sourcing, and cost data to identify cost reduction opportunities, pricing risks, and competitive sourcing opportunities across direct and indirect spend categories.

Operating as part of a centralized Procurement Analytics Center of Excellence, the Cost Analyst supports Commodity Specialist Supervisors, Buyers, and Purchasing Management by proactively identifying sourcing opportunities, analyzing market events, and translating procurement data into clear, actionable insights that enable fact-based decision-making.

The role focuses on reviewing market conditions, analyzing sourcing event outcomes, and identifying areas where deeper should-cost analysis or strategic investigation is required. Insights generated by the Cost Analyst feed into the spend cube analysis, cost modeling, and strategic recommendations developed by the Senior Cost Analyst.

This role is well-suited for a highly curious, resourceful analyst who actively seeks opportunities, adapts quickly as priorities evolve, and takes ownership of uncovering insights that improve sourcing competitiveness.

Responsibilities

Opportunity Identification & Insight Generation

• Proactively mine procurement and sourcing data to uncover cost reduction, competitiveness, and performance improvement opportunities.
• Develop comparative analyses across suppliers, regions, and sourcing scenarios to highlight pricing variances and competitive positioning.
• Prepare opportunity briefs and analytical summaries that support sourcing strategy discussions and prioritization.
• Demonstrate strong ownership mindset by continuously seeking new questions, insights, and improvement ideas from available data.

Cost & Pricing Analysis

• Analyze supplier pricing, RFQ responses, and historical cost data to identify pricing inconsistencies, risks, and cost reduction opportunities.
• Evaluate cost drivers using existing cost models, benchmarks, and standardized methodologies developed by the Senior Cost Analyst.
• Identify areas where should-cost analysis or deeper cost investigation is warranted and formally recommend those opportunities.
• Support total cost of ownership (TCO) evaluations by analyzing logistics, commercial terms, and non-labor cost components.

Sourcing Event Preparation & Analysis

• Support the setup and administration of sourcing events within the eRFQ platform, including supplier participation and data organization.
• Analyze sourcing event results to identify pricing competitiveness, supplier positioning, and potential savings opportunities.
• Prepare structured event summaries highlighting pricing insights, risks, and follow-up opportunities.
• Identify scenarios where additional supplier participation or re-bidding may improve competitiveness.

Procurement Data Analytics & Reporting

• Analyze procurement, sourcing, and cost data extracted from ERP systems and approved analytical sources.
• Support the development and maintenance of standardized reports and dashboards used by Purchasing Management.
• Ensure analytical outputs are accurate, well-documented, and aligned with established analytical standards.

Market Intelligence & Supply Base Analysis

• Monitor market conditions, commodity trends, and supplier landscape changes relevant to Yamaha's procurement categories.
• Review supply base competitiveness and identify opportunities to introduce additional suppliers into sourcing events.
• Conduct preliminary supplier discovery and benchmarking research to expand the competitive sourcing pool.

Collaboration & Cross-Functional Support

• Provide analytical support to Commodity Specialist Supervisors across categories on a shared-services basis.
• Collaborate with the Senior Cost Analyst by compiling sourcing event results, market insights, and analytical findings into structured inputs for deeper cost modeling, spend cube analysis, and strategic recommendations.
• Partner with Product Development (PD) to help identify new parts, components, or projects that may benefit from market testing or cost analysis.
• Clearly communicate insights to non-technical stakeholders through effective data visualization and concise summaries.

Profile / Fit

• Highly resourceful and self-directed with a strong ownership mindset.
• Able to pivot quickly as sourcing priorities and analytical needs evolve.
• Naturally curious and motivated to proactively uncover opportunities rather than waiting for assignments.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and generating insights from incomplete information.
• Strong analytical thinker with an interest in market behavior and supplier competitiveness.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business, Finance, Engineering, Supply Chain, or related field required.
• 24 years of experience in cost analysis, procurement analytics, finance, or sourcing analytics.
• Manufacturing or supply-chain environment experience preferred.

Required Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Ability to translate data into clear, actionable insights that support sourcing decisions.
• Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

The above declarations are not intended to be an all-inclusive list of the duties and responsibilities of this job, nor are they intended to be such a listing of the skills and abilities required to do the job. Rather, the above is intended only to describe the general nature of the job.

Management retains discretion to add or change duties of this position at any time.

Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corporation of America is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, sexual orientation, age, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Where required by state law and/or city ordinance; this employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with information from each new employee's Form I-9 to confirm work authorization.