Plant Controller

Vulcan Elements Inc.; North Carolina; On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Vulcan Elements Inc. in Benson, NC seeks a Plant Controller to own site-level financial leadership, partnering with operations and finance while reporting to corporate finance.

The role builds cost accounting infrastructure, establishes controls, and supports rapid scale of domestic manufacturing for critical technologies. The right candidate will lead month-end closes, inventory costing, fixed assets, and cross-functional collaboration across production and finance teams in a fast-paced,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or related field.
• 7–10+ years in plant controller or cost accounting in manufacturing.
• Strong US GAAP knowledge incl. ASC 330, ASC 360.
• Experience with government contracting is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own daily and monthly plant financial results and KPIs, including reporting to plant and corporate leadership.
• Lead ERP and MES data integrity between production systems and general ledger.
• Oversee inventory costing and management for accurate financial reporting.
• Translate MES/shop-floor data into costing, yield, and reporting insights.
• Manage plant fixed assets and month-end close per corporate calendar.
• Develop and oversee site internal controls over inventory, costing, fixed assets, and procurement; support SOX readiness and audits.
• Build and mentor a site finance/cost accounting team as the plant scales.

Skills

Leadership

Analytical skills

Cross-functional

Cost accounting

US GAAP

Manufacturing finance

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting or finance

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Integrity. We are seeking a dedicated Plant Controller to join our dynamic and growing team as we scale our operations.

Position Overview

The Plant Controller will own site-level financial leadership at our commercial manufacturing facility in Benson, NC. This role is the financial backbone of plant operations — partnering daily with finance and operations leadership while reporting into the corporate finance organization.

This is a hands-on role in a fast-moving environment. You'll build cost accounting infrastructure, stand up controls, and drive financial discipline in a facility that will scale rapidly. You will play a key role in ensuring the company’s financial health as we expand our domestic manufacturing capabilities and support critical industries with innovative rare-earth permanent magnet technology.

Key Responsibilities

• Own daily and monthly plant financial results and KPIs, including reporting to plant and corporate leadership.
• Serve as the site finance lead for ERP and MES initiatives, including data integrity between production systems and the general ledger.
• Collaborate with FP&A to oversee all aspects of inventory costing and management ensuring accurate financial reporting.
• Partner with operations and manufacturing engineering to translate MES/shop-floor data into accurate costing, yield, and other reporting.
• Manage plant-level fixed asset accounting and reporting.
• Own the site-level month-end close, including inventory, fixed assets, accruals, and intercompany activity, on a corporate close calendar.
• Design, document, and operate site-level internal controls over inventory, costing, fixed assets, and procurement; support SOX-readiness and external audit requests.
• Build and develop a site finance/cost accounting team as the plant scales.

Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related field.
• 7–10+ years of progressive accounting/finance experience, including significant time in a plant controller, cost accounting manager, or similar site-level manufacturing finance role.
• Deep experience in manufacturing, industrial or technology environments.
• Experience in a high-growth or scaling enterprise — comfort building processes, not just running them.
• Strong US GAAP knowledge in areas relevant to manufacturing and fixed assets (ASC 330 Inventory, ASC 360 Fixed Assets).
• Excellent analytical skills, attention to detail, and ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Proven leadership and communication skills with the ability to collaborate across departments.
• Experience with government contracting is a plus.

Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Vulcan Elements’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A \"disabled veteran\" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A \"recently separated veteran\" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An \"active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran\" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An \"Armed forces service medal veteran\" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.