JOB DESCRIPTION
Position Summary
The Plant Controller is the senior finance leader for TERREPOWER Sparta, TN manufacturing facility, responsible for the plant's full financial reporting, cost accounting, and internal controls. This role partners closely with plant leadership and operations teams to drive cost discipline, inventory accuracy, and margin performance, while ensuring compliance with corporate accounting policies and GAAP. The Plant Controller translates plant-level financial and operational data into clear insights that support capital planning, productivity initiatives, and day-to-day decision-making on the floor.
What you'll do
- Financial reporting & controls
- Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close process, ensuring accurate and timely financial statements in accordance with GAAP and corporate policy.
- Own weekly KPI reporting along with plant-level P&L, balance sheet, and variance analysis for plant and corporate leadership, delivering clear, actionable insight into performance drivers and operational impacts.
- Maintain a strong internal controls environment, including SOX compliance where applicable; lead plant-level audits and ensure compliance with tax, regulatory, and corporate reporting requirements.
- Partner with corporate accounting and FP&A on consolidation, reporting packages, and budget/forecast cycles.
- Review and approve capital expenditure requests, ensuring appropriate ROI analysis and documentation.
- Cost accounting & inventory management
- Maintain the plant's standard costing system (labor, material, and overhead rates) and lead the annual standard cost update.
- Analyze manufacturing variances and productivity, scrap, and yield metrics, partnering with operations to identify root causes and corrective actions.
- Oversee physical inventory counts and cycle counts, ensuring inventory accuracy and appropriate reserves.
- Business partnership & plant operations support
- Serve as the primary finance business partner to the Plant Manager and plant leadership team, supporting operational decision-making with financial insight.
- Lead the plant's annual budgeting process and ongoing forecast updates in partnership with plant and corporate leadership.
- Build financial acumen across the plant organization, coaching non-finance leaders on cost drivers and P&L ownership.
What you'll bring
- Bachelor's degree in accounting, Finance, or a related field required; equivalent professional experience will also be considered.
- 6-8+ years of progressive accounting or finance experience, with a focus on manufacturing/plant controllership preferred.
- CPA or CMA strongly preferred.
- Strong technical grounding in standard costing, manufacturing variance analysis, inventory accounting, GAAP, and internal controls (including SOX compliance experience).
- Working proficiency with ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, or similar) and advanced Excel skills.
- Demonstrated ability to partner with and influence plant operations and non-finance leaders — including the Plant Manager — to drive business outcomes without direct authority.
- Experience leading budgeting, forecasting, and month-end close processes, with a track record of turning data-driven analysis into cost reduction and operational improvement.
- Ability to work in a plant/manufacturing environment, including regular time on the production floor.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience in a multi-plant or multi-site manufacturing organization.
- Lean/Six Sigma or other continuous improvement experience.
- Experience with Oracle or similar large-scale ERP implementations.
- Prior experience supporting M&A integration or plant startup/turnaround.
- Exposure to multi-product manufacturing environments — e.g., supporting more than one product line or business unit within a single facility.
