Controller​/Accountant in Chester, Maryland

Assistant Controller / #2 to the CFO
- High Growth Manufacturing
- Chester, MD

John Evans Recruiting is conducting a confidential search for a hands-on, operations-minded Assistant Controller to serve as the #2 accounting leader for a rapidly expanding manufacturing company headquartered in Chester, Maryland. This is a rare opportunity to partner directly with an exceptional CFO, step into meaningful leadership, and help build the financial infrastructure of a business experiencing sustained growth.

The Opportunity

The Assistant Controller will own day-to-day accounting operations, strengthen financial processes, and ensure accurate, timely reporting across a multi-site manufacturing environment. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, roll-up-your-sleeves culture and wants to grow into a broader leadership role as the company scales.

• Lead daily accounting operations including GL, AP/AR, inventory accounting, and month-end close
• Prepare and review financial statements, management reporting, and variance analysis
• Partner closely with the CFO on budgeting, forecasting, and cash management
• Strengthen internal controls, accounting policies, and process discipline
• Support cost accounting, production reporting, and margin analysis
• Assist with system improvements, automation, and scaling accounting processes
• Provide leadership, mentorship, and structure to a small but growing accounting team
• Collaborate cross-functionally with operations, supply chain, and plant leadership
• Support audits, tax compliance, and external reporting requirements

Accounts Payable, Costing, WIP & Analysis Focus

This role will play a critical part in tightening financial accuracy across the production lifecycle - from vendor spend to finished-goods costing.

• Oversee full-cycle AP, ensuring timely and accurate processing of high-volume vendor invoices
• Implement stronger 2-way/3-way match controls tied to POs, receiving, and production activity
• Improve AP workflows, approval routing, and vendor communication standards
• Partner with operations and procurement to validate pricing, terms, and spend accuracy
• Drive AP aging discipline, cash-flow visibility, and payment-run optimization

• Maintain and refine standard costs, BOM accuracy, and labor/overhead allocations
• Analyze production variances, scrap, rework, and yield to support operational decision-making
• Partner with plant leadership to validate production reporting and throughput metrics
• Support margin analysis, product-line profitability, and cost-to-serve insights
• Ensure accurate inventory valuation across raw materials, WIP, and finished goods

• Strengthen WIP tracking processes to ensure real-time visibility into job status and cost accumulation
• Reconcile WIP balances monthly and investigate discrepancies with operations
• Build reporting that ties production activity to financial outcomes, improving forecasting accuracy

• Develop dashboards and KPIs that highlight cost drivers, trends, and operational performance
• Provide actionable insights to the CFO and leadership team to support strategic decisions
• Identify opportunities for process automation, system enhancements, and data integrity improvements

• Strong accounting foundation; CPA preferred
• 5-10+ years of progressive accounting experience, ideally in manufacturing or product-based environments
• Experience with cost accounting, inventory, WIP, and multi-entity or multi-location operations
• Demonstrated success improving processes, tightening controls, and driving operational accuracy
• Hands-on, detail-oriented, and comfortable working in a fast-growth environment
• Strong communication skills and the ability to partner effectively with a high-caliber CFO