About RS Group
Across the industrial design, manufacturing and maintenance worlds, we’re the digital destination for product and service solutions to help our customers with the maintenance, repair and operation of their businesses. We provide global access to an unrivalled range of over 750,000 stocked industrial products. Each day our team of experts deliver solutions to resolve our customer’s challenges across design, procurement, inventory and maintenance. We consistently strive to deliver the best possible service to all of our customers and challenge ourselves to provide a seamless procurement experience.
We are one team. We deliver brilliantly. We do the right thing. We make every day better. These are our values. They unite our c.9,000 global colleagues and differentiate us from our competition. They are a mix of how we work today and how we must step up for the future. Most importantly, it is one set of values shaped by our people, for our people.
Together, we can make great things happen. Aim for amazing and beyond.
The Cost Analyst role sits within the Pricing & Procurement organization, a core commercial function responsible for protecting margin, enabling competitive positioning, and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of cost and pricing data across the Americas. The team operates at the center of supplier cost changes, contract driven pricing obligations, and commercial decision making—making it a high impact area with direct visibility to leadership.
Cost Analysis is a strong place to build a career because the team works with real time market data, evolving supplier dynamics, and complex cost structures. Team members gain exposure to strategic pricing decisions, supplier negotiations, system upgrades, and enterprise-wide process improvements.
Examples of the team’s work include:
- Translating supplier cost files into standardized formats used across legacy and modernized systems.
- Executing cost updates that directly influence margin performance and go to market pricing.
- Driving continuous improvement initiatives that reduce cycle time and operational risk across the cost update workflow.
This environment is well suited for individuals who want to develop strong analytical skills, influence commercial outcomes, and contribute to cross functional operational excellence.
About the Role
Role Purpose
The Cost Analyst ensures accurate, timely, and financially sound implementation of supplier cost updates into RS Americas systems. The role safeguards margin performance by validating supplier data, assessing business impact, and coordinating cross functionally to execute material cost and resale price updates.
Responsibilities
- Review, validate, and process vendor cost files—including tariff related updates—into standardized upload formats for legacy systems.
- Update material costs and adjust resale pricing to maintain margin targets.
- Identify data discrepancies, required corrections, and structural adjustments within large datasets.
- Analyze and communicate financial impacts of cost changes to stakeholders.
- Coordinate with Product Management, Supply Chain, and Pricing to ensure accuracy and timely execution of cost updates.
- Maintain organized, proactive communication across functional teams.
- Drive continuous improvement to enhance process efficiency, data quality, and processing speed.
- Manage workload prioritization to meet tight timelines across both project work and daily activities.
- Monitor supplier cost increase submissions, analyze underlying drivers, and identify opportunities to challenge unjustified increases using data, contracts, and market benchmarks.
- Conduct contract compliance checks to confirm supplier cost files align with agreed notice periods, pricing terms, escalation mechanisms, and index-based adjustments.
- Track commodity indices relevant to assigned product categories and proactively recommend cost reduction requests to supplier managers.
- Respond to queries from internal stakeholders, validating cost/margin questions with clear, accurate, data driven explanations.
Future Evolution of the Function
The Cost Analyst function is undergoing a strategic transformation driven by automation, data intelligence, and stronger supplier challenge capabilities. As automated cost conversion workflows mature, the role will shift from manual file processing to higher value commercial analysis, supplier engagement, and contract compliance oversight. Future Cost Analysts will spend more time analyzing supplier behavior, market conditions, and margin risks—and less time formatting data. Analysts who can interpret basic code to understand workflow logic, and identify points of failure in the automation process will be the most successful in this evolving environment.
How I make a difference in this role
- Safeguard RS Americas profitability by ensuring accurate cost data flow into systems and timely price updates.
- Increase organizational responsiveness to supplier driven cost changes.
- Reduce operational risk by policing material cost accuracy and enforcing data quality standards.
- Strengthen cross functional alignment through consistent, fact-based communication of cost impacts.
- Improve process performance through disciplined use of technology and process improvement methodologies.
- Enable the organization’s long term automation strategy by serving as the first line of detection for automation script failures, ensuring conversion logic remains aligned with evolving supplier data structures.
- Improve commercial outcomes by identifying when supplier increases can be challenged, using data and contract terms to protect RS Americas margins.
- Strengthen compliance and reduce financial risk by verifying that all supplier cost submissions align with contractual obligations and notice requirements.
- Increase organizational visibility into market cost drivers by monitoring commodity trends and recommending proactive supplier negotiations based on raw material movements.
- Enhance Sales effectiveness by providing fast, accurate validation of cost and margin inquiries.
Candidate Requirements
Essential Skills & Experience
- Advanced data analysis capability, including the ability to detect corrections and structural issues within large datasets.
- Strong data extraction and manipulation skills.
- Advanced Excel capability with strong command of VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, data modeling, and analytical functions.
- Ability to reformat varied supplier cost inputs into standardized, system ready structures.
- Strong focus on data quality, process rigor, and operational accuracy.
- Excellent communication skills with an inquisitive, problem-solving mindset.
- Demonstrated ability to constructively challenge existing processes.
- High level of self-motivation; able to operate independently without micromanagement.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities across recurring tasks and project-based work.
- Ability to read and interpret code (e.g., Python or similar) at the basic level to understand workflow logic and identify failure points in automated cost conversion processes.
- Ability to leverage Copilot and other AI tools effectively; comfortable querying AI systems to accelerate analysis, check logic, and identify anomalies.
Desirable Skills & Experience
- Familiarity with Power BI for data visualization and dashboard consumption.
- Previous experience with PriceFX or similar pricing, costing, or CPQ tools is preferred.
- Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams).
- Background in pricing, cost management, procurement, or supply chain analytics.
- Familiarity with cost modeling, margin analysis, or ERP driven cost workflows.
- Ability to consolidate complex data inputs into unified reporting or system formats.
Essential Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Data Analytics, Business, Finance, Supply Chain, Economics, or equivalent experience.
Equal Employment Opportunity
RS Americas is an equal opportunity employer and maintains policies and practices that are designed to prevent and prohibit unlawful discrimination against any qualified employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, military/veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other unlawful classification to the extent protected by law. This policy of non-discrimination applies to all employment practices, including hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, training and termination. Employees who engage in unlawful discrimination will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
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