Cost AccountantLocation: Onsite - Pleasanton, California
Reporting to: Controller
OverviewThe Cost Accountant builds visibility into the direct and shared costs of delivering STN's cloud and AI infrastructure services, developing unit economics and margin analyses that inform pricing and business decisions.
Key ResponsibilitiesCost Tracking & Allocation- Identify, track, and classify direct costs of delivering services: cloud compute (GPU/CPU), inference costs, storage, data transfer, etc.
- Distinguish between cost types and timing of costs for proper capitalization vs. expensing treatment
- Allocate shared infrastructure costs (data centers, cloud reserved instances, networking) across products, customers, or business units
Unit Economics & Margin Analysis- Develop cost-per-unit metrics: cost per token (input/output), cost per inference request, or cost per active user/seat
- Support pricing strategy by providing margin analysis at the customer, product tier, or usage-based pricing level
- Prepare gross margin analysis by customer, product line, or pricing tier
Budget Analysis & Capitalized Software Costs- Analyze actual vs. budgeted compute costs; investigate spend spikes
- Track capitalized software development costs for internally built AI infrastructure/tools
- Coordinate with technical accounting on amortization schedules for capitalized development costs
Experience & QualificationsRequired- Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance (or equivalent experience)
- 3-5 years of cost accounting or FP&A experience, ideally in a cloud/SaaS or technology environment
- Understanding of cloud infrastructure cost structures (compute, storage, data transfer)
- Strong Excel/data analysis skills; comfortable working with large usage-based datasets
Preferred- Experience building cost-per-unit or unit economics models (e.g., cost per token, cost per transaction)
- Familiarity with capitalized software development cost accounting
- Experience supporting pricing or margin analysis for usage-based products
Soft Skills- Analytical Rigor: Translates complex usage and infrastructure data into clear cost and margin insights
- Business Acumen: Understands how cost structure connects to pricing and profitability decisions
- Cross-Functional Communication: Partners with engineering, FP&A, and technical accounting teams
- Curiosity: Digs into spend anomalies and cost drivers rather than just reporting the numbers
Compensation- Full-Time, Exempt
- $80,000-$110,000/year, DOE
Benefits- Health Coverage - Medical, Dental & Vision
- FSA Health and Dependent Care available
- 401(k) Plan
- Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Observed Holidays Paid
- Cell Phone Allowance
- Collaborative, growth-driven culture
