Assistant Operations Controller (Plant Controller)

Location: Central California. Please note, this is an on-site role with relocation assistance offered to candidates needing to relocate.

The Opportunity

An established and growing PE backed food manufacturing business is looking to appoint an experienced Plant Controller to take ownership of financial performance across its manufacturing operations.

Working closely with senior finance and plant leadership, this is a highly operational finance position, offering the opportunity to influence business performance, improve cost visibility and support key commercial and operational decisions.

The successful candidate will act as a key business partner to manufacturing leadership, ensuring financial information is accurate, meaningful and translated into practical actions that improve efficiency, profitability and overall plant performance.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys being close to operations rather than working purely within a traditional accounting environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the plant's financial performance, providing clear visibility of costs, margins, profitability and operational expenditure.

• Lead the monthly financial close process, ensuring accurate reporting, reconciliations and timely submission of financial results.

• Oversee standard costing, product costing and inventory valuation across manufacturing operations.

• Analyse manufacturing variances, including raw material usage, labour efficiency, production yields, waste and overhead absorption.

• Work closely with Plant Management and Operations teams to identify cost-saving opportunities and improve manufacturing performance.

• Lead the annual budgeting process and ongoing financial forecasting, working collaboratively with operational stakeholders.

• Develop and maintain meaningful financial reporting, dashboards and operational KPIs to support decision-making.

• Monitor inventory accuracy, stock movements, cycle counts and physical inventory processes.

• Support capital investment decisions, providing financial modelling, business cases and post-investment analysis.

• Maintain robust financial controls, accounting procedures and compliance with relevant financial reporting standards.

• Identify opportunities to improve financial processes, systems and reporting capabilities.

• Lead, develop and support the site finance/accounting team.

Experience & Background

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or a related discipline.

• Previous experience in a Plant Controller, Site Controller or Manufacturing Finance leadership position.

• Strong background in food manufacturing, food processing, beverage or another inventory-intensive manufacturing environment.

• Extensive understanding of manufacturing cost accounting, standard costing and inventory management.

• Experience analysing production costs, material variances, labour performance, yields and manufacturing overheads.

• Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and month-end close.

• Experience partnering with Plant Managers and operational leadership teams.

• Strong ERP experience, with SAP or equivalent systems advantageous.

• Proven ability to lead and develop finance teams.

• Excellent analytical, communication and business partnering skills.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a commercially minded finance professional who understands how manufacturing businesses operate and can connect financial performance with what is happening on the production floor.

Someone who is comfortable challenging operational assumptions, identifying opportunities to improve profitability and working alongside plant leadership to deliver measurable results.