Plant Controller - Finance

Position Summary
The Plant Controller is responsible for leading all financial activities within the manufacturing facility, ensuring strong financial governance, operational performance visibility, cost control, and compliance with corporate and customer requirements. The role partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Commercial, and Program Management teams to support profitable growth, operational excellence, and continuous improvement initiatives within a high-volume automotive manufacturing environment.
The Plant Controller acts as a strategic business partner to plant leadership by driving financial transparency, supporting capital investment decisions, improving manufacturing efficiencies, and ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting in accordance with corporate policies and accounting standards.

Key Responsibilities
Financial Leadership & Reporting
• Lead all plant financial activities including budgeting, forecasting, month-end close, financial analysis, and reporting.
• Prepare and analyze weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements and operational performance metrics.
• Ensure accuracy and integrity of plant financial data in compliance with corporate accounting standards, GAAP, and internal controls.
• Support preparation of annual business plans, strategic plans, and long-range financial forecasts.
• Present financial performance reviews to plant leadership and corporate management.
Cost Management & Manufacturing Finance
• Monitor and analyze manufacturing costs including labor, overhead, scrap, logistics, tooling, and material variances.
• Drive cost reduction initiatives through detailed operational and financial analysis.
• Lead standard costing activities, BOM validation, labor and overhead rate calculations, and inventory valuation.
• Analyze production efficiencies, downtime, utilization, OEE, and throughput impacts on financial performance.
• Support quoting and program profitability analysis for new business awards and engineering changes.
• Partner with operations teams to improve EBITDA performance and manufacturing productivity.
Budgeting & Forecasting
• Develop annual operating budgets and rolling forecasts aligned with plant operational targets.
• Monitor actual performance versus budget and identify financial risks and opportunities.
• Provide variance analysis with actionable recommendations to leadership teams.
• Support scenario planning and financial modeling for production volumes, labor planning, and capital investments.
Internal Controls & Compliance
• Ensure compliance with corporate financial policies, SOX/internal control requirements, and audit standards.
• Maintain strong inventory control processes including cycle counts, physical inventories, and reconciliation activities.
• Coordinate internal and external audits and implement corrective actions as required.
• Ensure compliance with tax, legal, environmental, and regulatory financial obligations.
Capital & Investment Management
• Evaluate and support capital expenditure requests, ROI analysis, and investment justifications.
• Monitor capital spending versus approved budgets and timing.
• Support launch activities for new programs, equipment installations, automation investments, and facility expansions.
• Track program launch costs and support post-launch financial performance reviews.
Operational Partnership
• Act as financial business partner to Plant Manager and cross-functional leadership teams.
• Support lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, Industry 4.0, and operational excellence initiatives.
• Participate in APQP, launch reviews, customer program reviews, and operational meetings.
• Provide financial insight into labor planning, inventory optimization, make-versus-buy decisions, and sourcing strategies.
Team Leadership
• Lead and develop plant finance/accounting personnel.
• Establish clear KPIs, objectives, and performance expectations for finance team members.
• Promote a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
• Support talent development, succession planning, and employee engagement initiatives.