Cost Accountant

Unusual Machines is a U.S.-based drone and drone parts company focused on the small and First-Person View (FPV) segments of the drone market. Our brands - Rotor Riot, Fat Shark, Rotor Lab and - coming soon - Upgrade Energy - are some of the most respected names in FPV and have helped shape the industry through e-commerce, product development, and a deep connection with the pilot community.

We’re expanding into enterprise and defense - bringing our obsessive attention to performance, design, and U.S.-based manufacturing into high-stakes environments like search and rescue and military innovation. With several of our products already approved by the Defense Innovation Unit, we’re solving procurement issues for customers who demand speed, agility, and compliance.

If you love working at the intersection of community, content, and cutting-edge technology, you’ll feel right at home here.

Cost Accountant

 

Position Summary

 

The Cost Accountant will be responsible for inventory and manufacturing cost accounting across Unusual Machines' growing operations. Reporting to the Corporate Controller, this role will partner closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Engineering, FP&A, and the broader Accounting team to ensure inventory, product costs, COGS, and manufacturing activity are accurately reflected in the financial statements.

 

This is a hands-on role for an experienced cost accountant who can operate between the general ledger and the factory floor. The successful candidate will understand not only how costs are calculated, but what operational activity is driving the numbers and why.

 

What You'll Do

• Own inventory and manufacturing-related accounting activities, including raw materials, work-in-process (WIP), finished goods, inventory in transit, COGS, and related reconciliations.
• Maintain and improve product costing, including standard costs, BOMs, labor and overhead rates, landed cost, and other manufacturing cost inputs.
• Analyze purchase price, material usage, labor, overhead/absorption, scrap, production, and other manufacturing variances and communicate the underlying business drivers.
• Reconcile inventory systems and physical inventory activity to NetSuite and the general ledger; investigate discrepancies and drive timely resolution.
• Develop and maintain excess and obsolete (E&O) inventory, inventory aging, and other reserve analyses in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
• Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, and Engineering on BOM accuracy, engineering changes, purchasing activity, inventory movements, production issues, cycle counts, and physical inventories.
• Establish and improve accounting for landed costs, including freight, tariffs, duties, customs, and other applicable inventory acquisition costs.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close, including inventory and COGS journal entries, reconciliations, roll-forwards, variance analysis, and audit-ready supporting schedules.
• Develop reporting and analytics for inventory, product costs, manufacturing variances, scrap, E&O, COGS, and gross-margin drivers.
• Partner with FP&A and Operations to improve product-cost and margin visibility and support budgeting, forecasting, sourcing, and other business decisions.
• Help strengthen NetSuite manufacturing and inventory processes, master data, reporting, controls, and automation.
• Establish scalable cost-accounting policies, procedures, and internal controls and support SOX readiness, external audits, and physical inventory observations.
• Support accounting and operational integration of acquired businesses, including inventory valuation, product costing, accounting processes, and systems.
• Identify root causes of recurring cost and inventory issues and work cross-functionally to implement sustainable process improvements.

 

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• 8+ years of progressive accounting experience, including meaningful manufacturing cost and inventory accounting experience.
• Strong understanding of inventory valuation, COGS, raw materials, WIP, finished goods, standard costing, BOMs, labor, overhead, landed cost, and manufacturing variances.
• Experience reconciling inventory subledgers or operational systems to the general ledger and investigating inventory discrepancies.
• Experience with cycle counts, physical inventories, E&O reserves, inventory adjustments, and manufacturing close processes.
• Strong understanding of U.S. GAAP as it relates to inventory and manufacturing accounting.
• Strong ERP experience; hands-on NetSuite experience strongly preferred.
• Advanced Excel and data-analysis skills with the ability to work effectively with large datasets.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate manufacturing activity into financial impact.
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Engineering, Finance, and Accounting.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-growing environment where systems, processes, and organizational structures continue to evolve

 

 

 

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA or CMA preferred, but not required.
• Manufacturing, aerospace, defense, electronics, hardware, components, or other inventory-intensive industry experience.
• Experience with standard-cost development and manufacturing ERP environments.
• Experience with NetSuite manufacturing, inventory, and costing functionality.
• Public-company, SOX, and external-audit experience.
• Experience improving or implementing cost-accounting systems and processes.
• Experience supporting acquisitions or manufacturing integration.

What Will Make You Successful

You are a cost accountant who can tell the story behind the numbers. You do more than calculate a variance, you understand whether it was caused by purchasing, material usage, scrap, production activity, labor, overhead, freight, tariffs, inventory movements, or underlying master data.

 

You are comfortable working between Finance and Operations, tracing an issue from the factory floor through the ERP and ultimately to the financial statements. You investigate root causes rather than repeatedly correcting problems through journal entries.

 

You bring structure and discipline to inventory and costing while remaining practical in a rapidly growing manufacturing environment. Success in this role means helping UMAC achieve accurate inventory, reliable product costs, greater margin visibility, stronger controls, and scalable manufacturing accounting processes.

 

Compensation – $95,000 – $115,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications, plus equity participation and benefits in accordance with the Company's compensation programs

Benefits

• Equity 
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Benefits
• 401(k)
• Generous PTO
• Paid Holidays
• Daily Catered Lunches

We are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.

Unusual Machines participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.

Candidates must be a US Citizen or permanent resident to be eligible for employment