Senior Product Cost Engineer

• Do you have solid experience with engineering cost modelling, parametric should-cost analysis, and bottom-up cost breakdowns across components, assemblies, and full product platforms?

• Do you thrive on challenging technical assumptions and design decisions with data-driven cost insight?

• Would you like to join a dedicated team where you can translate engineering complexity into transparent cost drivers and tangible product improvements?

Then this role may be the next unique opportunity for you.

Meet Your Future Team

You will join our Project Management organization based at the LKR Innovation House in Østbirk (Denmark). The team consists of highly experienced senior project managers who drive complex product development programs across the VELUX Group.

You will be the first dedicated Senior Cost Engineer in the team, establishing and shaping this capability while working closely with colleagues across engineering, procurement, manufacturing, and finance. Our products are windows and related components, offering a technically diverse environment involving multi-material constructions, structural and sealing systems, glass technologies, and a wide range of manufacturing processes.

In this role, you will act as the technical bridge between product engineering and cost transparency—developing structured cost models, identifying key cost drivers within product architecture, and enabling fact-based decision making across the product lifecycle.

As the first cost specialist in the team, you will help define how we work with engineering-driven cost analysis across the entire value chain—introducing robust cost modelling approaches, building cost transparency from concept phase to industrialization, and influencing design, sourcing, and manufacturing decisions across both our current window portfolio and future product platforms.

To succeed, you combine strong financial and analytical competences with a mechanical engineering understanding of materials, manufacturing technologies, tolerances, and product construction, enabling you to translate technical design choices into clear, actionable cost implications that support engineering decisions and drive meaningful improvements across the business.

More specifically your tasks will be to:

• Define, develop, and maintain robust parametric and bottom-up cost models from component to platform level, ensuring a consistent methodology for calculating and validating technical cost in collaboration with engineering and procurement teams.
• Analyse BOMs (Bill of Materials), product architectures, and assembly structures to identify primary cost drivers across materials, processes, and manufacturing complexity.
• Identify and quantify cost drivers related to product design, material selection, tolerances, joining methods, and manufacturing processes.
• Challenge existing cost assumptions through data-driven analysis of materials, process cycle times, scrap rates, tooling, and manufacturing yield across the full product lifecycle.
• Identify and propose Design-to-Cost, DFM/DFA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly), and design optimization opportunities that reduce cost while maintaining functionality, durability, and performance.
• Translate material choices, manufacturing technologies, automation levels, and process capabilities into clear cost impacts and improvement opportunities.
• Support procurement with fact-based should-cost models and technical cost breakdowns for supplier negotiations and sourcing decisions.
• Promote and embed a cost-engineering mindset within product development teams, strengthening cost awareness during early design phases.
• Develop detailed cost structures and breakdowns at component, module, and system level, including materials, processing, assembly, tooling, and overhead elements.
• Drive and facilitate VA/VE (Value Analysis / Value Engineering) activities, enabling cross-functional teams to systematically remove cost while preserving product value.

What you will bring

You bring strong expertise in engineering cost modelling and should-cost analysis, with the ability to build detailed cost breakdowns at component, subsystem, and platform level. You combine analytical rigor with mechanical engineering insight to interpret complex BOM structures, identify dominant cost drivers, benchmark designs, and challenge assumptions using structured data and technical reasoning.

You hold a technical degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related discipline, ideally complemented by commercial or business education. You are professionally proficient in English, both written and spoken.

You possess a solid understanding of materials engineering, manufacturing processes, and product architecture, including how design decisions influence cost, performance, manufacturability, and supply-chain risk. You work effectively with procurement and finance, providing transparent, technically grounded cost structures that support sourcing strategies, margin improvement, and portfolio competitiveness.

At the core of your contribution is the ability to connect engineering decisions with financial outcomes—embedding a cost-awareness mindset within engineering teams and supporting fact-based decision making throughout the full product lifecycle.

You bring strong business acumen and leadership presence, engaging senior stakeholders and aligning cross-functional teams, often without formal authority.

Experience developing parametric or process-based should-cost models is considered a strong advantage.

You will stand out for your ability to:

• Take ownership and progress work independently, with a proactive and self-driven approach.
• Constructively challenge design assumptions and improve established engineering practices.
• Maintain momentum and resilience when working through complex product structures or organizational resistance.
• Simplify technical and financial complexity into clear cost drivers and measurable engineering outcomes

You are analytical, structured, and curious by nature, combining clarity of thought with openness to new ideas. You build trust through technical credibility and collaborative problem-solving, and you see ideas through from concept to implementation.