Industrial Cost Control Competency Leader

Established in 1978 in the North of France, KIABI revolutionised off-the-peg fashion with the introduction of low-cost fashion for the whole family, a concept which had never been seen before. With a network of over 505 shops across the world, KIABI boasts a turnover of 2 billion euros (2019) and 2.4% growth. As a symbol of simplicity, universality and joie de vivre, KIABI proposes ranges that are created in France by an in-house team of 56 fashion designers. KIABI is France’s leading prêt-à-porter retailer with over 10,000 employees of 60 different nationalities. Kiabi is aware of the environmental footprint of its activity and is reaffirming its Social and Environmental Responsibility via the KIABI HUMAN programme, by developing ranges of ecologically designed products and a transparent supply chain, and training its staff and stakeholders in the human and environmental impact of its business. The company encourages the personal development of employees in their place of work and the promotion of ethical local initiatives.

Here at Kiabi, we reap the benefits of having a culture of happiness amongst our employees!

We are a Great Place to Work comprising people who are talented, individual, passionate about fashion and bursting with energy, to make every day fun!  If your dream company involves hands-on management, committed teams and an enterprising culture built upon audacity and trust; if your dream job means you are free to express your own ideas, use your initiative and meet challenges... come and join us!

International Trading Fashion & Apparel Services Limited (ITFAS), the local trading office of Kiabi has been awarded the "Great Place To Work" and "Caring Company Logo". We are looking for high caliber candidates to support our dynamic and fast growing operations in Hong Kong.

Role Mission

• The Industrial Cost Expert is the catalyst for shifting the company from a traditional purchasing model ("market-driven quote negotiation") into a fact-based, transparent Industrial Purchasing model.

• The core mission is two-fold: upskilling and coaching operational Merchandisers and factory management teams in minute purchasing methodologies, and auditing factory floors to ensure exact price-to-make calculations while detecting and preventing unethical negotiation behaviours.

Key Responsibilities & Activities

1. Team Empowerment & Capability Building

• Cross-Functional Training: Design and deliver interactive training workshops and roundtables for operational Merchandisers and factory managers on the principles of Minute Purchasing and Cost Per Minute (CPM).
• Driving a Fact-Based Culture: Transition purchasing teams away from short-term, opportunistic commercial negotiations toward long-term, collaborative, and facts-based partnerships.
• On-Site Coaching: Mentor teams directly on the factory floor, teaching them how to gather reliable financial statements, establish clear production perimeters, and run diagnostic time-studies

2. Shop-Floor Industrial Cost Management

• Deploy, monitor, and audit the standard industrial costing framework across production lines:

• SAM / SMV (Standard Allowed Minutes / Value): Validate and audit standard time-measurements per product. Guide factories in implementing Line Balancing and Quick Change-Over (SMED) to eliminate production bottlenecks.
• CPM (Cost Per Minute) Auditing: Calculate and verify a site’s actual operating costs (Direct/Indirect Labor, Factory Overhead, General Expenses) relative to total working minutes—strictly keeping the Bill of Materials (BOM) outside of the CPM calculation.
• Efficiency Improvement: Partner with plant managers to identify and weaponize the 8 Industrial Wastages ($muda$: overproduction, defects, waiting, excess motion) to lift line efficiency and structurally drive down the manufacturing cost.
• Material Consumption Optimization: Audit marker efficiency, fabric consumption, and wastage percentages to ensure the company only pays for the exact raw materials utilized.

3. PPM Governance & Perimeter Controls

• Calculation vs. Negotiation: Enforce the operational golden rule: "Calculate a CPM, negotiate a PPM" (where the Price Per Minute equals CPM + negotiated factory profit).
• Perimeter Compliance: Define and audit the production field dedicated to the company's orders, ensuring the business adheres strictly to the principle of "I pay for what I use".

4. Risk Mitigation & Compliance (Anti-Corruption)

• Utilize objective manufacturing data and mathematical should-cost models as a structural shield against operational corruption and non-ethical behavior:
• Price Anomaly Detection: Run systematic compliance reviews on Open Costing sheets. Red-flag and investigate final product quotes accepted by Merchandisers that deviate from calculated industrial benchmarks.
• Forensic Cost Audits: Detect hidden margins or collusive pricing setups, such as artificially depressed factory efficiency rates, inflated material scrap-loss calculations, or unverified overhead markups and inconsistencies with agreed budgeted or planned volumes.
• Order Allocation Oversight: Monitor order-steering habits; flag instances where a Merchandiser actively bypasses standard digital costing parameters or demonstrates resistance to transferring volumes to cheaper, fully compliant, and highly efficient alternate factories.

• Degree: Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Textile Engineering, Manufacturing Systems, or Industrial Management Accounting.
• Experience: 10+ years of practical experience inside a manufacturing plant environment (ideal backgrounds include apparel/textile sourcing, footwear, or FMCG contract manufacturing), focusing heavily on Lean Manufacturing, work studies, and product costing.
• Industrial Engineering: Expert mastery of Standard Allowed Minute (SAM) engineering, line capacity mapping, and value stream analysis.
• Factory Finance: Clear understanding of industrial profit-and-loss (P&L) structures, activity-based costing, overhead allocations, and macro-economic factors (labor wage spikes, currency shifts).
• Data Competency: Advanced proficiency in data-driven costing systems, including GSD, spreadsheet modelling tools and vendor cost repositories.
• PLM Knowledge: Previous experience using a system like SAP, Centric or Trade Beyond.
• Pedagogical Posture: Strong communication and coaching skills; an authentic ability to break down complex manufacturing metrics for non-technical merchandising teams and diverse overseas suppliers.
• Objective Skepticism & Courage: A strict reliance on data, physical facts, and market metrics over personal relationships. Uncompromising ethical standards with the professional courage to challenge data and practices, escalate fraudulent behaviors or compliance red flags directly to internal audit teams.

KIABI is an inclusive company and is committed to considering all applications on an equal basis.  

To find out more about KIABI, please visit our careers site here.

At Kiabi, we support each and every one of our employees so that they can enjoy a rich, human experience based on sharing. With us, geographical mobility is a plus, and your talent will be recognized and developed to make your job a real springboard for the future.