Plant Controller

We are working with a leading, privately owned further processed poultry manufacturer experiencing significant growth across its manufacturing and distribution operations. As the business continues to expand, they are seeking an experienced Plant Controller to take ownership of critical plant-level financial controls, cost accounting and operational finance activities.

This is a highly visible position working directly with Plant Managers, Operations leadership, Continuous Improvement and senior executives, providing an opportunity for an experienced manufacturing finance professional to make an immediate impact while helping build the financial infrastructure of a growing operation.

Key Responsibilities

• Own plant-level cost accounting, inventory control and financial analysis across a complex poultry manufacturing environment.
• Lead physical inventory reconciliation, cycle count procedures and inventory controls.
• Establish, maintain and evaluate standard costing methodologies and production standards.
• Analyze manufacturing variances across labor, yield, materials, packaging, efficiency and production performance.
• Partner closely with Plant Managers and Operations teams to understand and resolve financial and operational variances.
• Perform plant-level testing to validate the accuracy and effectiveness of operational and financial processes.
• Identify discrepancies and investigate the underlying operational causes rather than simply reporting the financial result.
• Develop and recommend internal controls and process improvements around inventory management and plant operations.
• Support periodic inventory accounting and month-end close activities.
• Work alongside Continuous Improvement leadership to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, yield, costing and operational performance.
• Provide clear, timely financial insight to plant leadership and senior management.
• Support the financial requirements of a rapidly expanding manufacturing footprint.

The Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will be an experienced plant finance or cost accounting professional who understands the realities of a high-volume manufacturing environment.

We are particularly interested in individuals who have:

• Strong cost accounting experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on experience with standard costing and manufacturing variance analysis.
• Strong understanding of inventory accounting, reconciliation and physical inventory controls.
• Experience working directly with plant and operations leadership.
• Exposure to plant-level testing, controls or operational auditing.
• A naturally analytical approach and the confidence to challenge results that do not make sense.
• The ability to investigate problems back to the underlying process and determine the root cause.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to operate effectively between Finance and Operations.
• Experience within food, poultry, meat, consumer packaged goods or another high-volume manufacturing environment would be highly advantageous.
• Experience with Canopy or another manufacturing ERP system would be beneficial.

Why This Opportunity?

High Visibility: Work directly with Plant Leadership, Operations, senior Finance leadership and the executive team, with the opportunity to make an immediate impact.

Broad Manufacturing Exposure: Rather than being restricted to one area of plant finance, this role will have ownership across cost accounting, inventory, controls, costing and operational finance.

Build & Improve: The business is looking for someone who can help establish robust processes, strengthen controls and build the plant finance function for continued growth.

Significant Growth: With a recently expanded manufacturing footprint and continued investment in further processing, this is an opportunity to join a business at an important stage of its growth journey.

Career Development: The successful individual will have substantial exposure to senior leadership and the wider business, creating significant scope for future progression as the organization continues to expand.