Finance Manager - Operations

Finance Manager – Operations

Contract Type:
Permanent

Job Location:

USA - Columbus

As the Finance Manager for Operations, you are the senior finance business partner for the plant leadership team. You bring rigorous cost and performance management, translate operational drivers into financial outcomes, and actively challenge decisions to improve results. You own the plant’s controlling rhythm: forecasting, performance reviews, and month‑end close—grounded in strong standard costing fundamentals and close day‑to‑day partnership with manufacturing and supply chain.

This role is for a proactive, growth‑minded controller who combines strong technical skills with an finance business partner mindset. It is for someone who is hungry to drive impact, raise performance standards, and build scalable plant controlling practices.

• Business partnering & performance steering
  • Act as the primary finance partner to Plant Leadership (Plant Manager and operations/supply chain leaders), enabling fact‑based decisions and strong accountability.
  • Lead the plant performance management cadence (weekly/monthly): KPI visibility, variance bridges, root‑cause analysis, and follow‑through on corrective actions.
  • Provide clear financial narratives: what happened, why it happened, and what actions will close gaps.
  • Challenge assumptions constructively and influence stakeholders to improve cost, service, and working capital outcomes.
• Cost controlling (standard costing environment)
  • Own and explain manufacturing results: absorption, production variances, PPV, usage/mix, labor efficiency, scrap/rework, yield, and manufacturing overheads.
  • Drive robust standard cost and variance processes: cost rollups, variance reporting/analysis, and continuous improvement of cost transparency.
  • Partner with operations and supply chain to quantify and track productivity, waste reduction, and cost‑to‑serve initiatives.
  • Strengthen inventory performance: accuracy, cycle counts, reserves/provisions (excess/obsolete), and root‑cause reduction of adjustments.
• Planning, forecasting & investment support
  • Own the plant forecast process (monthly/quarterly per company cadence): manufacturing outlook, OpEx, key provisions, and working capital signals.
  • Support annual budget and long‑range planning with driver‑based modeling tied to operational inputs (volume, labor, yields, mix, etc.).
  • Provide financial evaluation for operational decisions and investments (business cases for capex, make/buy, footprint, and process changes).
• Month‑end close & reporting
  • Lead plant controlling activities in the close: accruals/provisions, inventory entries, variance analysis, and management reporting.
  • Ensure timely, accurate reporting with strong documentation and clear executive‑ready commentary.
• Governance & internal controls
  • Ensure plant controlling topics comply with applicable accounting standards and internal policies.
  • Maintain a strong internal control mindset; partner effectively with internal/external audit as applicable.
  • Improve data quality and reporting effectiveness in ERP and analytics (Excel‑heavy today; Power BI/Tableau is a plus).

• 5 – 7 years of experience in plant finance, manufacturing controlling, or cost accounting (strong standard costing and variance analysis background).
• Demonstrated business partnering capability—able to influence operations leaders and drive accountability through facts and follow‑through.
• Strong analytical and modelling skills (advanced Excel); ability to turn complexity into clear actions.
• ERP experience required (SAP preferred) and comfort working with imperfect data while improving the system over time.
• Practical, hands‑on approach: comfortable on the shop floor and in the…