Plant Controller

Dawn Food Products; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 108,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance on Day 1

401(k) + company match

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Professional training

Job summary

Dawn Foods is seeking a Plant Controller for our Denver, CO manufacturing facility. This onsite role leads financial control functions, supports product costing, and partners with plant leadership to drive profitability and performance.

You will back up the Plant Director, manage monthly closes, budgeting, forecasting, and cost analysis, while embedding strong internal controls across the site. Relocation may be considered for qualified candidates.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance with at least 8 years of related experience.
• Experience supporting plant leadership, budgeting, forecasting, and cost accounting.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders with financial analysis.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic financial guidance to support plant performance, growth, and profitability.
• Back up the Plant Director and ensure continuity of operations.
• Lead budgeting, forecasting, and monthly close processes.
• Develop standard operating procedures to drive best practices.
• Communicate weekly and monthly financial results to Operations Leadership.
• Analyze operations data to translate into actionable financial insights.

Skills

Strategic finance

Budgeting

Variance analysis

Cost accounting

Financial leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance

Tools

SAP

MS Excel

ERP implementation

Job description

Dawn Foods is a global leader in bakery manufacturing and ingredients distribution. As the partner of choice for inspiring bakery success, we helpcustomers grow their business through meaningful partnerships, research-driven insights & innovations, & products and expertise they can depend on. As a family-owned company, our commitments to our people, products, customers, and corporate values, are all part of our recipe for success.

Why work for Dawn Foods?

PEOPLE. PRODUCTS. CUSTOMERS.

Why should you apply? We invest in you!

• Industry-leading health insurance on Day 1!
• Competitive Pay
• 401(K) + company match
• 10 Paid Company Holidays
• Paid time off
• Professional training
• Family-owned business over 100 years in service
• An opportunity for career advancement, working as part of an empowering workforce

About the Job

Responsibilities include providing strategic financial leadership for the manufacturing facility through the timely and accurate completion of Finance and Operations control functions, support for product costing and variance analysis processes, and leadership of assigned cross-functional initiatives while ensuring a strong system of internal controls.

The Plant Controller serves as a key member of the plant leadership team and is expected to act as the financial leadership backup to the Plant Director when needed. In the absence of the Plant Director, this role helps ensure business continuity by providing leadership, facilitating decision-making, monitoring operational and financial performance, and maintaining progress against plant objectives.

This role is onsite at our Denver manufacturing plant Monday through Friday. Relocation assistance may be available for qualified candidates based on business needs and eligibility.

What You'll Do as a Plant Controller

• Serve as a key member of the plant leadership team, providing strategic financial guidance to support plant performance, growth, and profitability.
• Act as the designated financial leadership backup to the Plant Director as needed, helping ensure continuity of site operations, business performance, and achievement of plant objectives.
• Support leadership decision-making by evaluating financial risks, opportunities, and operational tradeoffs.
• Lead or coordinate plant leadership activities during periods of Plant Director absence, vacancy, or transition, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and financial commitments.
• Monitor plant performance against financial and operational targets and collaborate with leadership to develop corrective action plans as needed.
• Represent the plant in cross-functional business reviews and leadership meetings when required.
• Serve as the primary financial business partner to Plant Leadership, influencing strategic decisions and supporting the achievement of financial, operational, quality, safety, and productivity goals. Communicate weekly and monthly financial results and key metrics to Operations Leadership
• Provide Operations Leadership with financial analysis of operations data; convert data into actionable information ensuring the financial impact of operational decisions is understood prior to process, infrastructure, or personnel strategy changes

• Serve as liaison between the Operations and Finance teams as well as with the Director of Finance Operations at Home Offices
• Ensure the timely and accurate completion of plant controller duties including monthly close, financial reporting, variance analysis, budgeting and forecasting, and product costing

• Identify opportunities for standardization; develop standard operating procedures where appropriate to leverage best practices across the controller platform. Partner with the operations managers to create alignment and clear expectations for controller performance Costing and Analysis
• Provide accurate and timely completion of new product costings and other analysis as needed to support customer quotes and new product developments
• Support the process for Bill of Material and routing changes; ensure clear communication of cost implications
• Enhance the variance analysis process to increase buy‑in and understanding of the variance calculations; facilitate the use of the data to drive improvements
• Provide support to the Operations and Controller team for the capital funds request process (CERs) to assure the financial analysis is complete and relevant to the project Budgeting and Forecasting
• Assist in the completion and review of the annual operating budget, including the establishment of direct labor rates, overhead rates, and material standards
• Participate in the coordination and review of the quarterly operational forecasts; analyze forecast accuracy to aid in improving future projections controls
• Foster an environment of strong internal controls through clear communication of policies and expectations surrounding cost of goods sold, inventory transactions, fixed asset management, freight, and other operational expenses
• Develop and implement standard operating procedures and/or policies to address areas of identified potential risk.
• Assist with additional duties as needed.

What Does It Take to be a Plant Controller at Dawn Foods?

Below are the minimum qualifications to be a fit for this job:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related discipline and a minimum of 8 years of related work experience or 12 years of relevant work experience in lieu of a bachelor's degree.
• Minimum of 7 years of related finance experience, with demonstrated experience supporting plant leadership, business decision‑making, budgeting, forecasting, cost accounting, and operational performance management.
• Demonstrated experience influencing senior leaders and driving business results through financial analysis and operational partnership.
• Experience serving in a leadership capacity, including leading cross‑functional teams, managing business continuity efforts, or acting as a deputy for site or functional leadership preferred.
• Food, CPG, or pharmaceutical experience preferred.
• SAP experience and ERP implementation experience a plus
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft software (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint)
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Must be detail oriented; capable of streamlining processes.
• Experience in continuous improvement / lean mfg. environment a plus
• KPI creation, development and implementation experience a plus

Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team Member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Required to use motor coordination with arm, hand, finger, and leg dexterity.
• Required to exert physical effort in handling objects 25 pounds.
• Required to walk, sit, stand, and climb stairs.
• Normal setting for this job is a manufacturing facility.

Note:The level of physical effort may vary from site to site and in some cases be greater or lesser than documented here.

About Our Benefits

Dawn is proud to employ the top talent in the baking industry, and we reward our people with comprehensive health and well‑being coverage, competitive compensation packages, and award‑winning benefit offerings. We also help protect your future financial health with a generous 401(k) matching program that provides additional retirement funds and many tools and resources on financial wellness. Dawn encourages professional growth through tuition assistance and educational programs, and we are always searching for ways to improve our industry‑leading services and benefits.

Compensation

The base salary for this position is $107,840 - $170,930 with bonus eligibility.

#LI-Onsite #LI-JR1

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/gender expression, citizenship status, military or veteran status, genetic information or any other status or condition that is protected by applicable law.

Requisition ID: 38310