Accounting Manager

Why This Role Matters

"The majority of the team in finance has been with us since the beginning. There's a couple that have changed out over time, and so that's one of the reasons that she gets emotional about it, is she's had a hand in the development of every person."

This role exists because one person outgrew two jobs. The current supervisor was the first hire at this division in 2018. Accountant, then supervisor, now carrying accounting and HR together. The division is splitting the seats. Nothing is broken. "The train is absolutely running well," she said. The team is intact, the books close, the audits pass. What is missing is a second leader so she can be one thing instead of two.

The stakes are the team. The Controller said handing them off is "kind of like giving your children over to somebody a little bit." The Accounting Manager who succeeds here inherits a finance team that was built by hand over eight years and treats that inheritance with the care it deserves. The one who fails treats it as a department.

The Mission

Take the accounting supervisor seat so cleanly that the current supervisor can hand it over and not look back. Keep the finance team whole and growing. Close the books, pass the audits, and find the cost improvements a steel mill is leaving on the table. Build the relationships in the plant that let an accountant see a problem before it shows up in a variance. And become the person the Controller can leave the division to for a week without worrying, because the Company JD says it plainly and the Conversation implied it: this seat is the path to Controller.

Performance Objectives

Measurement language for most objectives is VHS translation; the Conversation set the direction, not the metrics.

1. Own the accounting supervisor function within 90 days so the current supervisor is back to a single seat (HR) and no accounting decision routes through her. Measured by her own answer to "is anything still landing on your desk?" (Conversation.)
   
2. Close the books on time every month in year one with zero late submissions to corporate and zero material post-close adjustments. (Company JD; outcome framing is VHS.)
   
3. Pass internal and external audits with no significant control findings in the first full audit cycle. (Company JD; outcome framing is VHS.)
   
4. Keep the finance team intact and growing. Zero regretted attrition in year one and a written development plan for every teammate by day 90. Measured by retention and by scope each person owns at month 12 versus today. (Conversation: "she's had a hand in the development of every person.")
   
5. Identify and quantify cost improvement opportunities worth a defined dollar target in year one, working from costing files and plant relationships, not from the office. Target to be set with the Controller. (Company JD: "drive continuous cost improvements across all aspects of the business.")
   
6. Be ready to serve as Controller backup within 12 months, measured by the Controller's confidence to hand off the division's financial close and corporate reporting during an absence. (Company JD: "Serve as backup to Controller" and "aptitude to become a Controller.")
   

Fit Traits

Team-First Supervisor. Signal: "the number one job of a supervisor is to make the team." The finance team is the asset. The hire develops it, protects it, and does not treat it as a staffing pool. A candidate who leads with technical accounting and never mentions the people is a mismatch.

Fits a Tight Partnership. Signal: "working together for eight years, having somebody that can come in and fit in with us and kind of find their groove." The hire joins a partnership with eight years of shorthand. Low ego, patient, able to earn trust from two people who already trust each other completely.

Goes to the Floor. Signal: "While the accounting department doesn't have as much interaction as the HR department, it's still very important to build relationships, regardless of if it's other people that are here in the office or if it is our production friends." Cost accounting in a mill is done on the floor as much as in the ledger. A candidate who sees the plant as the place the numbers come from will understand this.

Steady and Local. Signal: "If you know your career, you don't want to be a number." The team has been there since 2018. These leaders hire for tenure. A resume-building two-year stop is a placement risk.

Controller Potential. Signal (Company JD): "Desire mobility and aptitude to become a Controller." The Controller's own path was three divisions in 18 years. This company develops controllers from manager seats. The right candidate wants that and says so.

Who You'll Work For

The Controller is about to mark 18 years with the company, and this is her third division. Her whole background is accounting. She came to this site in 2018 while the mill was still under construction. She has worked in the mill itself and she has worked beside the current supervisor the entire time.

The supervisor was the first hire at this division. Accountant, then supervisor, now holding both accounting and HR. She developed every person on the finance team and she got emotional on camera talking about handing them off. If the hire takes the accounting seat, this is whose team it was.

What they value is plain: fit, people first, and getting out of the office to build relationships. They built this division from a construction site and they hire people who will still be there in ten years.

"We like to cut up together. We can sit and discuss a lot of things together."

Why Veterans Succeed Here

If you ran a finance office, a budget shop, or a comptroller section where the money had to reconcile every month and an IG or audit team could show up any quarter, you have done the core of this job. This is a scrap-in, steel-out mill with a finance team that must close the books, hold the controls, and tell the plant where the cost is hiding. Objectives 2 and 3 are the disciplines a 36B or 6F0X1 senior NCO already lives by. Objective 5 is where a working capital fund or depot cost accountant will feel at home: the numbers come from the floor, and the person who walks the floor finds them first.

The leaders here built the division from a construction site and have kept the same team for eight years. That is a plank-owner culture with a bias for tenure and development. The Controller's own career, three divisions in 18 years and a tour in the mill itself, is this company's model: learn the operation, then run the books for it. The mill is a short drive from a major Air Force base, and the supervisor named it on camera as a reason a transitioning airman should look here.

VHS matched this role because the performance objectives, the Controller track, and the small-team accountability align with transitioning financial management NCOs at E-7 and above, company-grade finance and comptroller officers, and military spouses with an accounting degree and supervisory tenure who want to stop moving.

Requirements

Requirements

Must have served in the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Reserves, or U.S. National Guard. (VHS sourcing requirement for this search.)

Minimum qualifications from the Company JD. Military translation is VHS.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business with an accounting emphasis | Military equivalent: none substitutes for the degree. Finance officers (Army 36A, Air Force 65F, Navy Supply Corps, Marine 3404) and senior financial management NCOs commonly hold it. Screen for it on the first call. | Maps to: Objectives 2, 3
  
• Experience with financial reporting systems and analysis tools | Military equivalent: GFEBS, DEAMS, DAI, STANFINS, Navy ERP, or any DoD general ledger and reporting environment; Excel at an analyst level | Maps to: Objectives 2, 5
  

Preferences (Company JD) and their military equivalents:

• Minimum 5 years accounting/finance experience | Army 36B (Financial Management Technician), Air Force 6F0X1 (Financial Management and Comptroller), Navy PS/LS with disbursing or budget scope, Marine 3451 (Finance Technician) or 3432 (Finance Officer), Coast Guard comptroller staff; resource management or budget officer billets | Maps to: Objectives 2, 3
  
• Manufacturing and cost accounting experience | Depot-level maintenance cost centers, shipyard or arsenal budget roles, working capital fund activities (AWCF, NWCF, DWCF) | Maps to: Objective 5
  
• Leadership/supervisory experience | E-6 and above with rated subordinates; any officer with a section | Maps to: Objectives 1, 4
  
• Desire and aptitude to become a Controller | Comptroller track, resource management officer, or an NCO who ran a finance office in the absence of the officer | Maps to: Objective 6
  

Hard disqualifiers (Company JD): must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.; no visa sponsorship now or in the future; drug-free workplace.

Benefits

• Base: $123,600 to $150,000
  
• Bonus: Eligible for the company's ROA bonus. Structure, target percentage, and payout timing were not provided. Confirm before sourcing.
  
• Profit Sharing: Company-funded, about 10 cents of every pre-tax dollar the company earns, about 20% paid in cash and the balance into trust. Immediately 100% vested on first deposit. Must start on or before December 1 to qualify for the current plan year. (Benefits summary.)
  
• 401(k): Match on the first 7% contributed. Eligible first of the month after 30 days.
  
• Stock: Employee stock purchase plan through payroll deduction, company adds 10 cents per employee dollar, eligible at six months.
  
• Medical/Dental/Vision: Company self-funded plan, no deductible, 67% in-network coinsurance, out-of-pocket cap of 7% of annual earnings. Employee medical premium $27.12 per week, reduced $10 per week with the company health assessment. Spouse $43.44 per week, each child $27.84 per week. Two dental tiers, vision plan. Enroll after 30 days.
  
• PTO: 120 hours vacation after six months (hired before July 1) or the following year; 160 hours at 10 years. One personal day after 90 days. Ten paid holidays after 30 days.
  
• Leave: Salary continuation up to 13 weeks. Paid parental leave, 12 weeks birth parent and 4 weeks non-birth parent. 12 weeks paid adoption leave at six months.
  
• Education: Up to $5,250 per year tuition reimbursement. Scholarships for children up to $5,000 per year for four years. Spouse education up to $2,625 per year for two years.
  
• Insurance: Basic life at 1x earnings free, up to $150,000. Optional tiers to 6x. Voluntary LTD at 50% or 60% of earnings.