Finance Manager, Global Costing & Operations Finance

IDEAL Industries; Sterling (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance

401(k) with Company Match

Cash Balance Pension Plan

Education Reimbursement

Wellness Programs

Vacation

Personal Days

Volunteer Time

Holidays

Parental Leave

Job summary

IDEAL Industries is seeking a Senior Financial Analyst/Cost Controller to lead global product costing, transfer pricing, and US operations finance. You will partner with regional teams to optimize BOMs, labor, overhead, and cost visibility while driving standard costing and variance analysis.

The role focuses on cross-functional collaboration across Finance, Operations, and Engineering, with responsibility for month-end close, KPIs, and process improvements.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive finance or accounting experience, including at least 5 years in manufacturing finance, cost accounting, or operations finance.
• Demonstrated experience with standard costing, transfer pricing, operational variance analysis, and inventory accounting.
• Experience supporting manufacturing operations and partnering with operational leadership strongly preferred.
• ERP experience required; Dynamics 365 experience is a plus.
• Experience across multiple sites, regions, or countries is preferred.
• Strong Excel skills; Power BI or BI tools preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own and continuously improve global product costing processes, methodologies, governance, and reporting standards.
• Lead global standard cost development, annual cost updates, periodic cost rolls, and related validation activities.
• Analyze product costs and cost drivers, including material, labor, overhead, freight, duties, and other manufacturing inputs.
• Partner with regional Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, and Engineering teams to improve BOM, routing, labor, and overhead assumptions.
• Monitor and explain purchase price, material usage, labor, manufacturing, and overhead absorption variances across global operations.
• Develop consistent global reporting and analytics to improve cost visibility, comparability, and decision support.
• Support pricing, sourcing, footprint, make-versus-buy, and profitability decisions with robust cost analysis.
• Serve as a primary finance business partner to U.S. manufacturing and operations leadership.
• Provide analysis and insight across variable costs, including direct material, direct labor, scrap, usage, productivity, freight, and other production-related costs.
• Provide analysis and control support for period costs, including indirect labor, supplies, maintenance, utilities, outside services, and other plant operating expenses.
• Analyze performance against budget, forecast, prior year, and operational targets; clearly explain financial and operational drivers.
• Support annual budgeting, forecasting, and strategic planning for U.S. operations.
• Develop and maintain plant KPIs and dashboards covering cost, productivity, labor efficiency, scrap, inventory, and operating spend.
• Partner with Operations to identify, validate, track, and report cost reduction and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Own and coordinate the global transfer pricing process for intercompany product transactions, including the development, maintenance, and periodic review of transfer pricing rates.
• Partner with regional Finance and business leaders to ensure transfer pricing rates reflect approved methodologies, current cost structures, and commercial considerations.
• Maintain supporting calculations, assumptions, documentation, and approval records for global transfer pricing rates and updates.
• Monitor actual intercompany margins and results against established transfer pricing targets; identify and explain variances and recommend corrective actions.
• Coordinate transfer pricing rate implementation across ERP systems and legal entities, including validation of effective dates and system accuracy.
• Support tax, audit, and compliance requirements by partnering with Corporate Tax, external advisors, and regional Finance teams on transfer pricing documentation and inquiries.
• Assess the financial impact of changes in costs, foreign exchange, duties, freight, sourcing, and operating models on intercompany pricing.
• Own selected US Plant month-end close activities, including assigned journal entries, accruals, account reconciliations, supporting schedules, and variance analysis.
• Ensure assigned manufacturing, inventory and cost related accounts are accurate, complete, and supported.
• Provide timely analysis and explanations to the team responsible for the overall US close.
• Coordinate with Accounting and Operations to resolve issues affecting assigned close items.
• Support quarterly and annual reporting requirements and related audit requests.
• Contribute to close process improvements while recognizing that overall ownership and leadership of the US Plant and Global close remains outside this role.
• Support accurate inventory valuation and consistent application of inventory costing methodologies.
• Provide financial oversight and analytical support for cycle counts, physical inventories, inventory reserves, and excess and obsolete inventory.
• Maintain effective internal controls over product costing, inventory, manufacturing transactions, and assigned close activities.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, U.S. GAAP, and corporate financial requirements.
• Support internal and external audits and identify opportunities to reduce financial and operational risk.
• Support ERP and reporting system enhancements related to costing, inventory, manufacturing finance, and operational reporting.
• Lead or participate in process improvement and standardization initiatives across Finance and Operations.
• Develop and automate reporting tools to improve efficiency, data quality, and decision making.
• Support ongoing initiatives involving Dynamics 365, Power BI, and related financial reporting tools.

Skills

Financial analysis

Cost accounting

Variance analysis

Manufacturing finance

Excel

Cross-functional partnering

Financial modeling

US GAAP knowledge

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance

CPA / CMA / MBA (plus)

Tools

Dynamics 365

Power BI

Job description

IDEAL Industries is seeking a Senior Financial Analyst/Cost Controller to lead global product costing, transfer pricing, and US operations finance. You will partner with regional teams to optimize BOMs, labor, overhead, and cost visibility while driving standard costing and variance analysis.

The role focuses on cross-functional collaboration across Finance, Operations, and Engineering, with responsibility for month-end close, KPIs, and process improvements.