Financial Controller

Location: St. Louis

About Ostara

Ostara is passionate about changing the way the Ag and T&O industry thinks about phosphate management. Our continuing mission is, and will remain, "Feeding the World While Protecting It."

We believe that passionate people can make a real difference and we are building a culture around innovation, sustainability, efficiency, nimbleness, honesty, compliance, and a sense of urgency to make a positive difference and create real value. Ostara's Crystal Green® fertilizers are the first granular phosphate fertilizers to release nutrients in response to plant demand. Using Crop Driven Release™, Crystal Green is proven to increase yields, enhance soil health and significantly reduce phosphate tie-up and runoff, thereby improving food security while protecting local waterways from nutrient pollution.

Position summary

The Financial Controller is a senior finance leader responsible for end-to-end financial control, compliance, and operational accounting oversight across Ostara's operations. This role owns the integrity of the financial statements, internal controls, and manufacturing cost structure, while serving as a key business partner across the organization, partnering closely with FP&A and senior leadership on financial governance and performance. This role ensures operational execution and financial performance are tightly aligned through disciplined cost control and actionable insight.

The Financial Controller translates strategy into disciplined execution - ensuring accurate reporting, strong controls, scalable processes, and actionable financial insight - while enabling growth in a complex, asset-intensive manufacturing environment. This role provides leadership, governance, and final accountability for accounting and manufacturing finance processes, with execution carried out by the Accounting Manager and supported by the Cost Analyst in partnership with FP&A.

Essential functions

Financial Reporting and Close:

• Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close process, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of financial statements
• Review and approve journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and reserves, including payroll, bonus, vacation, inventory, and manufacturing-related accruals

• Prepare executive-level financial reporting packages, operating reports, and variance analyses for senior leadership
• Ensure accurate intercompany accounting and consolidation across entities

Manufacturing Accounting & Cost Control:

• Own product costing, inventory valuation, and manufacturing cost of goods sold, ensuring accuracy and compliance with GAAP/IFRS
• Oversee inventory accounting for raw materials, WIP, finished goods, off-spec, and spare parts across plant and municipal sites
• Lead review and oversight of cost, usage, yield, and efficiency variances, leveraging analysis prepared by the Cost Analyst; partner with Operations to identify root causes and corrective actions

Budget Support, Payroll & SG&A Governance:

• Provide leadership and governance over the annual payroll and SG&A budgeting process, including validation of assumptions, reconciliation to headcount and operating plans, and oversight of variance analysis, in partnership with FP&A and department leaders
• Ensure payroll-related accruals, forecasts, and reporting align with approved budgets and organizational plans
• Support department leaders with financial insight and discipline while maintaining clear separation between budget support and final approval authority

Cash, Treasury & Working Capital:

• Oversee cash reporting, working capital metrics, and liquidity visibility, including AR, AP, inventory, and payroll impacts
• Partner with FP&A and leadership on cash flow forecasting, funding needs, and risk awareness

Internal Controls, Compliance & Audit:

• Design, implement, and maintain robust internal controls, including documentation, testing, and remediation of key controls and process flows
• Ensure compliance with accounting standards, tax requirements, and statutory reporting obligations
• Serve as a key point of contact for external audits, coordinating schedules, deliverables, and responses in partnership with the director of finance
• Oversee finance review of contracts and agreements to assess accounting and reporting implications

Leadership, Systems & Process Improvement:

• Lead and develop the accounting team, setting clear expectations, timelines, and accountability
• Directly manages the Accounting Manager and their team (including AP/AR and staff accounting), providing oversight of the monthly close, inventory accounting, and review of manufacturing costing outputs in partnership with FP&A
• Drive continuous improvement in accounting processes, internal controls, and financial systems, including ERP optimization (Sage X3); leveraging automation and scalable reporting solutions
• Act as a trusted finance partner throughout the organization, providing proactive insight and guidance

Additional Requirements:

• Strong communication and partnership skills
• Ability to engage with internal and…