Plant Controller

Stark Future SL; Sant Boi de Llobregat; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and benefits

Subsidized lunch

In-house gym

30 days paid vacation

Job summary

Stark Future SL in Barcelona area is seeking a hands-on Plant Controller to own plant-level financial performance, standard costing, and margin visibility for a high-mix wiring harness operation. You will partner with Operations to drive cost discipline as the factory scales, using data-driven insights and automated dashboards across ERP and BI tools.

The role requires building transparent cost reporting, maintaining standard costs, and supporting budgeting, forecasting, and program cost

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Plant/Manufacturing Controlling or Operations Finance in automotive wiring or high-mix manufacturing.
• Strong understanding of standard costing, BOM/routing, labor and overhead absorption, and KPI tracking (OEE, scrap, yield).
• Experience building standard cost models in an ERP environment.
• Advanced analytical and modeling capabilities in Excel, ERP, and BI platforms such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Experience partnering with plant operations and production leadership in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain transparent cost reporting across production lines, product families and shifts.
• Own the standard cost model for wiring harness products and ensure BOM/routing accuracy.
• Challenge labor utilization, scrap rates, overtime spend, and line efficiency with data.
• Monitor margins and identify cost leakage; drive actions to protect profitability during ramp-up.
• Support budgeting, rolling forecasts, and capacity/headcount planning.
• Develop cost models for new wiring harness programs, tooling, capex, and line-balancing.

Skills

Cost accounting

ERP systems

Power BI

Excel modeling

Data analysis

Operations collaboration

Tools

ERP software

Tableau

Job description

About Stark

Stark builds the world’s most powerful electric motorcycles. From the VARG MX to the road-legal VARG EX & SM, our bikes have won world championships and are engineered to outperform anything with a combustion engine.

We’re based in Sant Boi, Barcelona, growing fast (77% year-on-year), and building a team that will take us even further. If you want to work on a product that people are genuinely obsessed with, this is it.

Stark will become the global market leader in premium motorcycles. Building premium motorcycles requires innovation and we need your help to make us succeed

Our mission is to lead the way towards a sustainable motorcycle industry, by reducing plastic and CO2 pollution.

This will be achieved by building sustainable products that are superior to traditional technology in terms of Performance, Emotion and Design.

The Role

As Stark scales we need a hands-on plant controller who brings cost discipline, operational transparency, and analytical rigor to the shop floor. This role sits at the intersection of Operations, Finance, and Engineering. You will own plant-level financial performance, standard costing, and margin visibility for a labor-intensive, high-mix wiring harness environment, while building the controlling infrastructure needed to support rapid scale-up without sacrificing cost control.

We are looking for a plant controller who can partner with operations leadership using facts, drive accountability through data transparency, and help the plant move from reactive cost management toward automated, real-time cost visibility.

What You'll Do

• Plant Cost Transparency & Performance Steering: Build and maintain transparent cost reporting across production lines, product families (harness assemblies, sub-assemblies), and shifts. Provide clear visibility into standard vs. actual costs, labor efficiency, scrap and rework, yield, and material variances.

• Standard Costing & BOM/Routing Accuracy: Own the standard cost model for wiring harness products — validating bill-of-materials accuracy, labor routings, and overhead absorption. Ensure costing reflects copper/wire, connectors, terminals, and other input cost volatility, along with labor and burden rates.

• Operations Performance Challenge & Support: Act as a business partner to plant management and production supervisors by challenging labor utilization, scrap rates, overtime spend, and line efficiency. Push for accountability and data-driven decision-making on the shop floor.

• Margin & Cost Leakage Management: Monitor product-level and line-level margins. Identify cost leakage points (scrap, rework, downtime, premium freight, labor inefficiency) and drive corrective actions to protect profitability during factory ramp-up.

• Forecasting & Plant Planning: Support budgeting, rolling forecasts, and capacity/headcount planning tied to production volume, labor mix, and material cost movements. Build tools to simulate the cost impact of new program launches, automation investments, and copper/commodity price swings.

• Capital & New Program Cost Modeling: Develop cost models to support quoting and business case validation for new wiring harness programs, including tooling, capex, and line-balancing assumptions.

• Process Digitalization & BI Development: Drive implementation of automated dashboards and plant KPI tracking (OEE, PPM, cost per unit, direct labor efficiency) within ERP and BI environments, moving toward real-time plant controlling.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Engineering, and Finance to ensure plant financial decisions align with production realities and program-level commitments (including IATF 16949 and automotive customer requirements).

What You Bring

• 5+ years of experience in Plant/Manufacturing Controlling, Cost Accounting, or Operations Finance, ideally within automotive wiring harness, cable assembly, electrical component manufacturing, or high-mix/labor-intensive manufacturing environments.

• Strong understanding of standard costing, BOM/routing structures, labor and overhead absorption, and manufacturing KPIs (OEE, scrap, yield, PPM).

• Experience building and maintaining standard cost models in an ERP environment.

• Advanced analytical and modeling capabilities in Excel, ERP systems, and BI platforms such as Power BI or Tableau.

• Experience working closely with plant operations and production leadership in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

• Strong communication skills with the ability to challenge shop-floor stakeholders constructively and influence decisions through data.

• High level of ownership, curiosity, and execution capability — comfortable building structure in a plant that’s still scaling.

• Experience in automotive supplier environments (IATF 16949, PPAP, program launch costing) is a strong plus; wiring harness or electrical/electromechanical manufacturing experience is highly preferred.

What Success Looks Like

• Full cost transparency across production lines and product families.

• Accurate, maintained standard costs with minimal variance surprises.

• Faster, data-supported decisions on labor, scrap, and efficiency issues.

• Improved cost discipline and margin protection through the plant ramp-up.

• An operations team that understands cost drivers — not just output volume.

Why work with us?

• The chance to work on a product people are genuinely passionate about

• A fast-growing company with real momentum

• A creative, international team based in Barcelona

• Competitive salary and benefits package

• Direct access to riders, race teams, and the product — this is not a remote-from-the-product role

• Subsidized lunch in our in house restaurant

• Free access to our in-house gym (including weekends!)

• 30 days of paid vacation

At Stark, we don’t just accept difference—we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community.

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, neurodiversity, or disability, feels a true sense of belonging. We believe that diverse teams make better decisions and that a culture of equity is a prerequisite for innovation.

We encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are excited to see how your unique perspective can help us grow