Plant Controller

Our manufacturing client in the Hanover, PA area is seeking a Plant Controller will serve as the chief financial leader for the manufacturing facility and play a critical role in the department’s accounting systems rebuild. This position is responsible for overseeing all plant-level financial operations, standard costing, and inventory valuation, while actively leading the plant’s transition during a major ERP system implementation. The ideal candidate will possess extensive experience within a manufacturing environment and a proven track record of upgrading legacy accounting processes, creating scalable workflows, and partnering with operational leadership to drive plant efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

• System & ERP Implementation: Lead the plant-level execution of the ERP system implementation and accounting infrastructure rebuild; manage data cleansing, migration, and mapping for standard costing, Bill of Materials (BOMs), and inventory.

• Process Optimization: Evaluate legacy accounting processes, identify inefficiencies, and design and document updated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) aligned with modern best practices.

• Financial Controls: Establish and enforce robust internal controls around inventory management, cycle counting, scrap tracking, and shipping/receiving workflows.

• Cost Accounting & Variances: Maintain and optimize the plant’s standard costing system; perform deep-dive analysis on labor variances, material usage variances (MUV), and overhead absorption.

• Operational Partnership: Partner closely with the Plant Manager and operations team to provide data-driven insights regarding labor efficiency, scrap reduction, and capacity utilization.

• Financial Reporting & Planning: Oversee the monthly close process for the plant, deliver accurate financial reporting, and lead the annual plant budgeting and monthly forecasting cycles.

• Training & Change Management: Educate plant personnel and non-financial staff on new system protocols and inputs to ensure data integrity at the source.

Qualifications

• Experience: 5–7+ years of progressive accounting and finance experience, with a strict requirement for background in a manufacturing or production environment.

• Technical Expertise: Strong mastery of manufacturing cost accounting, including standard costing, inventory management, and variance analysis.

• Systems Experience: Proven track record of hands-on participation in a major plant-level ERP implementation or system overhaul (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Plex, Epicor).

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field. Professional certifications (CPA, CMA) or an MBA are highly desirable.

• Analytical Skills: Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel; experience utilizing business intelligence tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) for data extraction and analysis during system transitions is preferred.

• Communication: Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with both corporate executives and shop-floor personnel.

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