Director, Product Cost Strategy and Forecasting

Job Summary

Kairos Power is seeking a Director of Product Cost Strategy and Forecasting to lead the development and execution of the company’s product cost architecture and forecasting systems. This leader will own the methodologies, tools, and processes that enable Kairos Power to estimate and forecast the cost of its reactor systems, fuel, salt, and supporting infrastructure with accuracy, transparency, and consistency. These cost insights will directly inform corporate forecasting, pricing, contracting, and investment decisions as the company transitions from demonstration to commercial deployment.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, the Director of Product Cost Strategy and Forecasting will collaborate closely with the Director of FP&A, Cost Accounting Manager, and technical leaders across Engineering, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain. The role requires exceptional cross-functional coordination and the ability to bridge technical, financial, and operational disciplines. The successful candidate will combine strong analytical capability with a practical understanding of engineered systems and manufacturing economics to drive predictable, competitive, and continuously improving product costs across Kairos Power’s programs.

Responsibilities

Forecasting and Methodology

• In close collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders, support and coach the relevant technology teams and cost owners in the development of an enterprise-wide cost forecasting framework that integrates engineering, manufacturing, and financial data to inform planning, pricing, and contracting decisions
• Develop and maintain parameterized cost models across major domains—including salt, fuel, reactor hardware, construction, and shared infrastructure—ensuring transparency, traceability, and consistency in assumptions and data sources.
• Define and document cost estimation methodologies, inputs, and governance processes to ensure alignment with corporate forecasting and investor-facing financial models.
• Establish and manage a regular forecasting cadence synchronized with company planning cycles, enabling leadership to make data-driven investment, pricing, and contracting decisions.
• Work closely with Engineering and other technical cost owners to ensure assumptions are well-documented, realistic, and consistently applied across systems, serving as both a coach and partner in developing cost maturity.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Finance, Accounting, and FP&A to ensure cost forecasts directly inform budgeting, scenario analysis, and long-range financial planning.
• Work with the Cost Accounting Manager to reconcile forecasts against actuals, perform root-cause variance analyses, and refine assumptions based on observed performance.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing teams to identify and track cost drivers, anticipate future cost impacts, and inform design and sourcing decisions.
• Coordinate with the Strategy team and FP&A to align product cost models with corporate pro forma, techno-economic, and investor-facing analyses.
• Foster strong communication and data-sharing practices across disciplines to ensure a unified understanding of cost structure, risk, and opportunity.

Insights and Decision Support

• Develop learning-curve and scaling frameworks that quantify expected cost improvements across successive product generations and manufacturing expansions.
• Conduct sensitivity and scenario analyses to assess the impact of design changes, production scaling, introduction of new capabilities, and supply-chain dynamics on total cost.
• Analyze cost trends, anomalies, and one-time events to distinguish between structural and transient cost drivers.
• Provide data-driven recommendations to drive cost reduction, operational effici