Assistant ControllerCompany: Adams Rite Aerospace (www.araero.com)
Location: Fullerton, CA (Onsite)
Reports to: VP of Finance
Position SummaryAdams Rite Aerospace operates within TransDigm Group, where finance is run with an ownership mindset and a relentless focus on EBITDA and cash flow. The business is highly decentralized - decisions are made locally, leaders are accountable for their own results, and performance is managed around TransDigm's value drivers: value-based pricing, cost productivity, and profitable new business. This role exists to put disciplined financial rigor behind those value drivers and to hold the operating company to that standard.
The Assistant Controller is the right hand to the Vice President of Finance and the day-to-day operating leader of the accounting function. You will own the integrity of the close, the accuracy of cost accounting in a standard-cost manufacturing environment, and the quality of the financial information that flows to operations leadership and to TransDigm corporate.
This is a hands-on leadership seat, not an oversight seat. You will run the work, develop the finance team, and partner directly with business unit and operations leaders to convert the value drivers into action - productivity, margin, and cash.
Adams Rite is actively investing in process automation and the practical use of AI to advance the cost-productivity value driver. This role is expected to help lead that effort inside finance - finding manual work to eliminate, simplifying process, and building better ways to turn data into decisions.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Month-end / quarter-end / year-end close - own the full cycle, including journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, and the consolidated reporting package delivered to corporate on the TransDigm timeline.
- Financial reporting - prepare and review internal management reporting, variance analysis, and corporate submissions; explain the numbers, not just produce them.
- SOX and internal controls - design, document, and own the internal control environment in a SOX-compliant public-company setting; maintain segregation of duties, support 404 testing, and remediate deficiencies before they become findings.
- Audit - serve as the operating-company point of contact for TransDigm internal audit and for external audit requests; manage the process, resolve findings, and close gaps.
- Standard costing - own standard cost setup, annual cost rolls, and the maintenance of accurate costing across SKUs and BOMs.
- Inventory and WIP - ensure accurate valuation, cycle-count / physical inventory integrity, reserves, and reconciliation to the GL.
- Variance analysis - analyze and explain purchase price variance (PPV), manufacturing / labor / overhead variances, and margin by product line; turn variances into actions.
- Margin and profitability - partner with operations to understand cost drivers and surface productivity opportunities.
- Operations partner - act as a true finance business partner to business unit managers and the operations team - in the plant and in the data - to drive productivity actions and decision-making.
- Information flow - improve the speed, accuracy, and usefulness of reporting and information across the business; replace manual effort with better process.
- Automation and AI - actively look for opportunities to automate manual work and apply new tools, including AI, to speed the close, sharpen analysis, and improve information flow; pilot, measure, and scale what works.
- Planning support - support forecasting, the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), and the value-driver discipline (pricing, productivity, profitable new business) that define performance in this environment.
- Develop the team - supervise, coach, and hold accountable the finance team; set standards and raise the bar.
- Build capacity - create the bandwidth and backup that lets the finance function scale without adding headcount.
- Capital projects & post-implementation audit - evaluate capital requests beyond payback and ROI, stress-test the productivity and savings case, and audit projects after implementation to confirm the promised productivity was actually delivered.
- Financial education & communication - train and coach non-financial managers, explain financial concepts in plain terms, and proactively surface the right month-end observations to the right people at the right time.
Skills, Abilities, and Other Requirements:- Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance.
- Minimum 5 years of cost accounting experience in a manufacturing environment operating on a standard costing system.
- Demonstrated full-cycle close ownership and strong technical GAAP foundation.
- Demonstrated ability to operate in a SOX environment - setting up, documenting, and managing appropriate internal controls, not merely supporting an audit from the sidelines. Public-accounting / external-audit background is not required.
- Supervisory experience, with a track record of developing people.
- Advanced Excel for financial analysis, modeling, and reporting.
- Experience with a tier-one or mid-tier ERP; Epicor experience is a strong plus.
Preferred Qualifications:- CPA (active or in progress) and/or CMA.
- Prior experience in a lean, decentralized, performance-driven operating company - aerospace or defense a plus.
- Exposure to FP&A, AOP / budgeting, and value-driver-based management.
- Aptitude for process automation and emerging tools - e.g., Power Query, Power Automate, macros / VBA, and AI assistants - with a track record of eliminating manual work.
Leadership Attributes:We look for leaders who consistently demonstrate six core attributes:
- Ownership mindset - apolitical and collaborative; treats the business as if it were your own; acts with urgency and a bias for action.
- Leadership - empowers others, leads with purpose, develops talent, and builds strong, collaborative teams.
- Drive for results - sets high standards, takes initiative, works autonomously, stays focused on the value drivers, and is determined to deliver.
- Communication - open, honest, clear, and concise; raises issues early and proactively; fosters an environment where people feel safe to speak up; and works across silos.
- Business acumen - focuses on the metrics that matter, makes fact-based decisions, partners cross-functionally, and thinks analytically and methodically.
- Execution - delivers on time, simplifies process, sets clear and consistent goals, and prioritizes effectively.
Salary Range: $125,000 - $165,000
