Plant Controller

Advanced Operations Partners; Heppenheim; Vor Ort; EUR 90.000 - 140.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

Advanced Operations Partners is seeking a hands-on Controller for its German operations. The role combines order and project controlling with plant controlling and full legal entity responsibility for three German entities.

You will work closely with engineering and production to ensure profitability, feeding learnings back into future quotes. The successful candidate will have extensive experience in US GAAP, HGB, and IFRS 15 revenue recognition, and will manage intercompany, consolidation, and

Qualifikationen

• 5+ years in controlling within manufacturing with shop-floor exposure.
• Hands-on experience in engineered-to-order production costing cycles.
• Ability to read BOMs and discuss engineering details with engineers.

Aufgaben

• Own order & project controlling for multiple German entities; monitor margins and cost-to-completion.
• Manage plant controlling: cost accounting framework, capacity, inventory, and WIP.Lead entity controlling with US GAAP and statutory reporting; ensure timely reports to US parent.
• Provide ownership of HGB-to-US-GAAP reconciliation; support audits and diligence.

Kenntnisse

5+ years in controlling

Vorkalkulation / Mitlaufende Kalkualt

Technical fluency reading BOM

US GAAP knowledge

HGB knowledge

ASC 606 / IFRS 15 knowledge

ERP with project costing

German & English, business level

PE-owned group experience

Multi-entity / multi-site reporting

Technical background (apprenticeship/2

Ausbildung

Engineering background or apprenticeship

Jobbeschreibung

Our client is the German operating division of a US-based, private-equity owned industrial group. The business designs and builds ultrasonic welding, cutting, and cleaning systems — from individual machines to complete production lines — serving customers across a wide range of industries. Three co-located entities in Heppenheim share one operation and one finance function, with full reporting accountability to a US parent.

The role

You are the controller for the German operations — combining order and project controlling, plant controlling, and full legal entity responsibility for three German companies. This is the American understanding of \"Controller\": financial stewardship together with operational business partnering.

You will spend meaningful time in engineering and production — not just at your desk. When an order that looked profitable at quotation stops being profitable, you're the one who finds out why, and makes sure the lesson feeds into the next quote.

You also challenge business decisions: quotations and pricing, project acceptance, make-or-buy, engineering change requests, capacity and investment proposals. You bring the quantified alternative — not only the objection.

Key responsibilities

Order & project controlling (~40%)

• Ownership of the quotation costing basis (Vorkalkulation): hourly rates, engineering hours, materials, risk & contingency
• Live order monitoring (mitlaufende Kalkulation): cost-to-date and estimate-at-completion vs. quoted calculation on every significant order
• Post-calculation and feedback loop (Nachkalkulation): root-cause analysis of completed orders and systematic feedback into the next quotation
• Change order discipline: ensuring scope additions are identified, costed, and invoiced — not silently absorbed
• Order book and margin reporting: backlog quality, project profitability by product line, customer and market

Plant & operational controlling (~20%)

• Design and maintenance of the cost accounting framework (BAB, Kostenstellen- und Stundensatzrechnung)
• Capacity and utilisation analysis: engineering, workshop and assembly; productive vs. non-productive hours
• Inventory and WIP valuation, cycle counting, excess and obsolescence provisions
• Budgeting and forecasting for operations; capex business cases and post-implementation review

Entity controlling, HGB, US GAAP & statutory reporting (~40%)

• Full entity financial planning: budget, rolling forecast and mid-term plan (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow) for three German entities
• US GAAP monthly, quarterly and annual reporting package to the Group parent
• Revenue recognition under ASC 606 for customer contracts: contract assets/liabilities, milestone billing, loss contracts
• Ownership of the HGB-to-US-GAAP reconciliation, including revenue timing, inventory/WIP valuation, provisions, ASC 842 leases
• German statutory financial statements (HGB) and main auditor contact for both statutory and Group audits
• Cash, working capital management and rolling liquidity forecast
• Internal control system maintenance; support for internal audit and PE-driven diligence requests

Reporting structure

Solid line to the Head of Finance Europe. Dotted lines to the Group Controller (USA) for accounting policy and Group reporting, and to the Managing Director Europe for day-to-day site priorities. You sit at the local leadership table as a full participant — not as a reporting service to it.

• 5+ years in controlling inside a manufacturing company — on-site and close to engineering and the shop floor (services, trade, or audit alone will not be considered)
• Hands-on experience running the Vorkalkulation / mitlaufende Kalkulation / Nachkalkulation cycle in an engineered-to-order or single-unit production environment
• Technical fluency: ability to read a BOM and routing, follow an engineering discussion, and hold a credible conversation with design engineers and project managers
• Practical working knowledge of US GAAP and experience preparing reporting packages for a US parent — independently, across a time zone gap
• Solid HGB knowledge; ability to run a German year-end and audit independently
• Working understanding of ASC 606 / IFRS 15 revenue recognition for long-term customer contracts
• ERP experience with genuine project and order costing functionality (BOM, routings, order settlement)
• German and English at business level — written English of a high standard is essential
• Experience in a PE-owned group: covenant reporting, Board packs, tight month-end deadlines, value-creation plan tracking
• Background in Sondermaschinenbau or Anlagenbau (special-purpose machinery or plant engineering)
• Experience controlling a multi-entity or multi-site structure including intercompany and sub-consolidation
• Prior experience reporting into a US head office across the Europe–US time difference
• Technical background — apprenticeship, engineering studies, or long shop-floor exposure

How you work

• Hands-on and curious — comfortable walking into the workshop or design office to understand an overrun, rather than inferring it from a report
• Independent-minded with the personal authority to hold a position against seniority — and the judgement to do so constructively
• A clear communicator in both German and English, able to translate a margin deviation into plain language for a project manager or a US parent
• Self-sufficient across time zones: plans around a limited daily overlap with the US, raises issues early, keeps working without waiting

What the role offers

• A role with genuine leverage — better calculation discipline shows directly in margin and results
• Broad scope: order controlling, plant controlling and full legal entity responsibility under one remit
• Direct exposure to a US industrial group and its PE ownership, with real influence on how the German operations are steered
• Technically interesting products in a specialized industrial niche, built for customers across a wide range of industries