Plant Controller

Nichols Farms is one of the top processors of pistachios in the United States. For more than two decades, Nichols Farms has maintained superior quality and exceptional service in supplying pistachio and almond products to major retail and wholesale clients domestically and internationally. Nichols Farms maintains a state-of-the-art processing facility at their corporate headquarters in Hanford, California, employing over four hundred employees.

Join the Nichols Farms Team in their objective of continued growth. Nichols Farms possesses a strong employee-oriented environment dedicated to training and growth of team members.

The Nichols Farms Mission and Vision supports a culture of striving for mutual success of our employees, suppliers and customers through operational excellence and educational development.

The Plant Controller is responsible for driving efficient and accurate plant-related finance and accounting processes, systems, and policies; ensuring procedures comply with U.S. GAAP and is expected to own and continually improve our accounting processes, including review and reconciliation of balance sheet accounts, production and cost accounting, and management of depreciation and amortization. The ideal candidate will be an integral leader within the Nichols Pistachio team, expected to provide financial and accounting leadership, communicate effectively with senior management and mentor and develop other Finance & Accounting team members.

This role is also responsible for financial planning, reporting, forecasting, and strategic projects. A qualified candidate will be expected to conduct financial analyses to identify and understand business drivers, then communicate insights and recommendations to senior management.

• Oversee financial operations at the plant level, including budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
• Collaborate with plant management to analyze and optimize manufacturing processes, identify cost-reduction opportunities, and enhance profitability.
• Manage the preparation and dissemination of plant-level financial statements, ensuring compliance with GAAP.
• Conduct comprehensive analysis of production costs, material consumption, and inventory levels.
• Facilitate and support, from a plant perspective, internal and external audits.
• Continually assess and seek to improve ERP and associated information systems, with a focus on improved integration.
• Partner with cost center owners to ensure transaction accounting provides data necessary to monitor and analyze monthly operating results and explain variances against budget in actionable terms.
• Review all month-end, plant related close activities including general ledger maintenance, balance sheet reconciliations, cost allocations, and financial statements.
• Drive key performance indicators and ongoing process improvement opportunities throughout the organization.
• Understand and articulate department-level financials with variance analysis and explanations, department-level forecasting and budgeting, and assessment of key business metrics and drivers.
• Efficiently compile, organize, and analyze complex financial information and raw data; interpret data to explain past financial performance and project future results.
• Understand financial operations of the business and educate others inside and outside the Finance/Accounting group about the financial performance of their respective areas.
• Independently manage other responsibilities, including ad-hoc analytical and strategic projects, and any other tasks as required.
• Collaborate with plant-wide budget owners to ensure good financial decision-making, and to understand drivers and trends impacting their budgets.
• Take large quantities of financial data and analytic results and condense them into a coherent story with clear, easy-to-understand conclusions and implications.

• Leadership:
  Ability to influence others to perform their jobs effectively and to be responsible for making decisions.
• Adaptability:
  Ability to adapt to changes in the workplace. Capable of functioning in a fast-paced entrepreneurial corporate setting.
• People development:
  Ability to develop and coach team, and to identify team member opportunities and strengths.
• Detail oriented:
  Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Interpersonal:
  Ability to effectively build relationships with co-workers and external customers.
• Communication:
  Excellent verbal and written skills.
• Prioritization:
  Ability to quickly prioritize among numerous pressing tasks and manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Initiative:
  Ability to perform in a fast-paced, ever-changing work environment.
• Goal orientation:
  Attention to establishing and achieving goals and objectives for self and team on a continuous basis.
• Motivation:
  Ability to be self-motivated and independently driven. Ability to lead and encourage team by inspiring and guiding toward goal achievement.
• Team involvement:
  Works effectively with teams and work groups.…