Associate Manager, Operations Finance

Cesna Group

$95K — $115K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7+ years of experience in operations finance or cost accounting with a focus on COGS.
  • Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field.
  • Strong understanding of key cost drivers including materials, labor, overhead, and logistics.
  • Advanced Excel skills are required; familiarity with SAP HANA and Power BI is a plus.
  • Experience in Manufacturing, Food Manufacturing, Consumer Packaged Goods, or co-packing environments is preferred.
  • Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

  • Partner with Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Procurement to analyze and impact COGS drivers.
  • Own monthly COGS and manufacturing variance analysis, explaining deviations vs AOP and forecast.
  • Support cost optimization initiatives to enhance plant efficiency and margin improvement.
  • Lead the annual operating plan and forecasting process for Operations and COGS, identifying risks and opportunities.
  • Develop models linking operational KPIs to financial outcomes for better insights.
  • Participate in month-end close processes to ensure accuracy in Operations and COGS results.
  • Lead monthly performance reviews with stakeholders to align on cost targets and actionable plans.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work in a high-impact role affecting plant financial performance.
  • Collaborative environment with cross-functional teams in Manufacturing and Supply Chain.
  • Exposure to advanced financial modeling and analytics tools.
  • Potential for domestic and international travel to engage directly with plants and operations.
Full Job Description
Job Summary
  • Support Operations Finance Manager with design standardized & improved plant accounting operations in support of general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, capital assets, raw materials, and finished goods accounting.
  • Support Operations Finance Manager with development of consistent and improved activity- based costing metrics and cost allocations for insightful plant performance analysis.
  • Support and create streamlined plant financial accounting processes, reporting, and analysis.
Job Description
  • Partner with Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Procurement to analyze COGS drivers, including raw materials, packaging, ingredients, conversion, labor, overhead, logistics and co-packing costs, and identify impacts to profitability.
  • Own monthly COGS and manufacturing variance analysis, including volume, yield, usage, mix, rate and conversion cost variances, explaining deviations vs AOP and forecast.
  • Support cost optimization initiatives across internal manufacturing and co-packing operations, including plant efficiency, yield improvement, sourcing decisions and margin improvement opportunities.
  • Lead the annual operating plan and forecasting for Operations, COGS and related manufacturing cost drivers, highlighting key risks and opportunities while driving potential mitigating actions.
  • Develop driver-based models linking volume, yield, COGS components, co-packing assumptions and operational KPIs to financial outcomes.
  • Participate in the month-end close to ensure accuracy of Operations and COGS results, timely understanding of variance drivers and appropriate follow-up with Accounting and Operations teams.
  • Lead monthly COGS and plant performance reviews with stakeholders to ensure accountability, alignment on cost targets and timely action plans for performance gaps.
  • Support financial evaluation of operational initiatives and manufacturing-related investments, ensuring assumptions, benefits and cost impacts are appropriately reviewed.
  • Support capital planning and post-implementation reviews for manufacturing and operations initiatives, with focus on COGS impact, productivity benefits and execution against approved assumptions.
  • Partner with operations to evaluate capacity, automation, co-packing and cost reduction initiatives, including make-versus-buy considerations and financial impact on COGS.
  • Conduct ad hoc analyses and projects to support Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement and business management decisions related to COGS, plant performance and co-packing economics.
Qualifications
  • 5-7+ years of experience in operations finance, or cost accounting, plant finance or a similar COGS-focused role
  • Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Finance, or related field is required
  • Strong understanding of cost drivers (materials, labor, overhead, logistics, etc.)
  • Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel required - SAP HANA and Power BI a plus
  • Prior work experience in Manufacturing, Food Manufacturing, Consumer Packaged Goods or co-packing environments is preferred
  • Analytical, ability to multi-task, attention to detail and self-motivated
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills
  • Ability to travel domestically and internationally (15 ? 20%) to support plant visits, operational reviews and cross-functional collaboration
What's On Offer

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