Strategic Country Controller - Manufacturing Finance Lead

Destinus; Zürich; On-site; CHF 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Destinus is seeking a Country Controller to own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close for the Swiss entities, ensuring IFRS and local GAAP compliance, robust cost accounting and inventory management, and high-quality forecasting. You will partner with Tax, Treasury, and auditors, and drive standardization of processes across ERP and MES data integrity.

Strong leadership and cross‑functional influence are essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive accounting or controlling experience, multi‑entity, multi‑currency IFRS/local GAAP.
• Hands-on cost accounting and inventory in manufacturing—standard and actual costing, variance analysis.
• Strong IFRS knowledge, including IAS 2.
• Experience with statutory reporting and external audit in the relevant jurisdiction.
• Fluency in English and the local language.

Responsibilities

• Own monthly, quarterly and annual close for the country’s legal entities, in line with the group close calendar.
• Ensure accurate and timely reporting to group under IFRS, and prepare statutory financial statements under local GAAP.
• Manage intercompany transactions, reconciliations and currency effects for the local entities.
• Coordinate with Tax, Treasury and external advisors on local statutory, VAT, tax and regulatory filings.
• Act as the escalation point for local close issues.
• Own operations cost accounting for the country - inventory accounting, cost of goods produced and sold, and capitalization of labor and manufacturing overhead.
• Maintain the product costing framework (BOMs, routings, labor and overhead rates) so it reflects operational reality and group standards.
• Run the variance process (purchase price, usage, mix, yield, labor efficiency, overhead absorption).
• Control inventory economics - variance capitalization, release to COGS, and E&O and slow-moving stock exposure.
• Apply IAS 2 capitalization judgments for inventory, WIP and program costs consistently with group policy.
• Run a systematic reconciliation and substantiation program with clear account ownership, cadence and aging thresholds.
• Provide balance sheet inputs to forecasting.
• Oversee local AP/AR processes, including segregation of duties and reconciliations.
• Support DSO and DPO discipline, credit control and dispute resolution.
• Identify and remediate control gaps in transactional accounting.
• Lead local forecasting and budgeting inputs with explicit assumptions on volume, pricing, efficiency and capacity.
• Provide a bridge from operational results to financial outcomes in monthly analysis.
• Own operational KPIs with financial linkage and management reporting to local leadership.
• Ensure cost accounting actuals and forward-looking projections use consistent methodology.
• Act as finance partner to the local Managing Director, Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering and Program Management.
• Translate financial and operational data into actionable insight for non-finance stakeholders.
• Act as the local counterpart to external auditors; own PBC process, audit timeline and findings resolution.
• Support lender, investor and institutional diligence on local accounting matters with audit-ready schedules and narratives.
• Implement and maintain group internal control policies and SOPs locally, with audit-ready documentation.
• Standardize local close, costing and reporting processes; replace ad-hoc practices.
• Partner with IT and Operations on ERP (Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP, Oracle) data integrity and continuous improvement.
• Provide inputs for local compliance requirements, including statutory, tax, export control and sustainability reporting data.

Skills

IFRS knowledge

GAAP knowledge

Cost accounting

Inventory management

ERP systems

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Financial forecasting

Auditing coordination

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Finance/Accounting

CPA/ACCA/CMA (preferred)

Tools

Microsoft Dynamics 365

SAP

Oracle

Job description

Destinus is seeking a Country Controller to own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close for the Swiss entities, ensuring IFRS and local GAAP compliance, robust cost accounting and inventory management, and high-quality forecasting. You will partner with Tax, Treasury, and auditors, and drive standardization of processes across ERP and MES data integrity.

Strong leadership and cross‑functional influence are essential.