Job Overview

Your main tasks:

Business Partnership & Leadership 

Act as the lead finance partner for the manufacturing site. 

Support the Plant Manager and leadership team with financial insights and strategic decision-making. 

Participate in regular operational reviews and continuous improvement initiatives. 

Collaborate with cross-functional leaders across Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, and Production. 

Promote a culture of accountability, performance management, and financial awareness across the plant. 

Financial Planning & Forecasting 

Lead forecasting, annual budgeting, and long-range planning activities. 

Develop volume, labour, overhead, and operating expense forecasts. 

Prepare and maintain plant profit and loss projections. 

Analyse risks and opportunities impacting financial performance. 

Support business partners in understanding actual performance and future outlooks. 

Maintain forecast submissions within corporate planning systems. 

Reporting & Financial Analysis 

Deliver accurate and timely financial reporting to plant and regional leadership. 

Conduct monthly variance analysis against forecast, budget, and prior periods. 

Analyse manufacturing performance, productivity, labour efficiency, and conversion costs. 

Provide actionable recommendations to improve operational and financial performance. 

Support weekly, monthly, and quarterly business reviews through meaningful analysis and presentation materials. 

Manufacturing Costing & Performance Management 

Support product costing, cost simulations, and profitability analysis. 

Maintain and improve standard costing methodologies. 

Lead annual costing reviews including labour rates, manufacturing rates, lot sizes, and scrap assumptions. 

Analyse manufacturing variances and identify root causes. 

Partner with operations teams to drive productivity improvements and cost savings initiatives. 

Inventory & Working Capital Management 

Monitor inventory performance, inventory turns, and days-on-hand metrics. 

Review inventory reserves, excess and obsolete stock, and inventory ageing. 

Perform WIP and inventory valuation analysis. 

Support inventory control activities, including physical inventory counts and reconciliation processes. 

Drive improvements in inventory accuracy and working capital performance.  

Capital Expenditure & Asset Management 

Track capital expenditure performance against approved plans. 

Support investment business cases and capital approval processes. 

Assist with fixed asset management and periodic asset verification. 

Forecast depreciation and support capital planning activities.  

Controls, Compliance & Continuous Improvement 

Ensure compliance with corporate financial policies and internal controls. 

Support audit requirements and finance governance activities. 

Identify opportunities to improve reporting, financial processes, and operational efficiencies. 

Participate in site continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives.  

What your background should look like

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related discipline.  

Minimum 5 years of experience in manufacturing finance, plant controlling, cost accounting, or operations finance. 

Experience supporting manufacturing or industrial operations in a business partnering capacity. 

Proven track record of financial planning, forecasting, and performance analysis.  

Strong SAP experience. (PR2/S4 Hana) 

Experience with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) or equivalent planning and reporting tools. 

Advanced Microsoft Excel skills. 

Strong understanding of standard costing, inventory accounting, and manufacturing finance principles. 

The ideal candidate will be: 

Analytical and detail oriented. 

Commercially focused with strong business acumen. 

A proactive problem solver who challenges the status quo. 

An effective communicator capable of influencing stakeholders at all levels. 

Comfortable operating in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. 

Collaborative and able 

Competencies