Manufacturing Controller

Position : Controller – Manufacturing Accounting Job Type : Contract - 6 Months
Hours: : US Shift Timings (6.30PM-4.00AM) Location : HYBRID, Chennai
ERP : Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Reports to : CEO
What You'll Do
Cost accounting – the core of the job
Own the standard cost library: material, labor, and overhead rates. Run the periodic standards roll, document every assumption behind it, and defend the result.
Analyze and report purchase price variance – what we paid against standard, by raw material, with the commentary that explains it.
Own the manufacturing variance set: material usage and yield, labor efficiency, and overhead spending and absorption. Tie every variance back to a production run, not a plug.
Reconcile costed bills of material and routings to actual consumption, and flag where the BOM no longer reflects how the line really runs.
Value inventory across raw material, work in process, and finished goods, including reserves for excess, obsolete, and short-dated stock.
Reconcile cycle counts and physical inventory book-to-physical, investigate the differences, and clear them. A variance you cannot explain is an open item, not a rounding.
Track the cost of quality: scrap, rework, product on hold and its release, lab and testing spend.
Allocate freight-in and landed cost to the right units.
Margin, pricing, and profitability
Produce customer and SKU-level profitability by customer code name the
analysis that tells our commercial team which business is actually earning its keep.
Model toll rates against margin floors and blended targets, and give the margin read
on customer quotes before they go out.
Quantify and track cost-out initiatives with Operations: identify them, size them, and report
whether they actually landed.
· Surface the financial risk you see in the numbers – raw material price movement, production
variance trends, margin erosion, customer concentration.
Close and reporting
· Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close, delivering P&L, balance sheet, and cash
flow within 7 business days of month-end.
· Reconcile every balance sheet account monthly, with supporting schedules retained and reviewable.
· Maintain the chart of accounts and journal entry standards in Business Central.
· Build the financial section of the monthly board package and the budget-versus-
actual reporting behind it.
· Write the variance commentary: what changed, why, whether it is temporary or structural,
and what needs a decision.
Controls, audit, and documentation
Prepare the full PBC package for our external audit and own the preparer-side response cycle.
Maintain the authorization limits framework, enforce segregation of duties
and dual approvals, and escalate anything that bypassed them.
Support sales and use tax, payroll tax oversight, 1099 and W-9 administration, PACA
license maintenance, and state grant reporting – prepared by you, filed by our U.S. team and advisors.
· Write and maintain desk procedures for every recurring process you own. This is a
standing expectation, not a one-time project – we are explicitly trying to end the
era of undocumented financ
Team
Give day-to-day technical direction to our Cost Accounting Manager and Staff Accountant on
close deliverables, costing method, and reconciliation quality.
Review their work and raise the standard of it. Formal HR matters reviews, compensation,
discipline stay with the CEO and HR onsite.
What You'll Bring
Required
CPA or Chartered Accountant.
· 0+ years of progressive accounting experience, including 3+ years personally owning a
full monthly close – running one, not supporting one.
Hands-on manufacturing cost accounting under a standard costing system. This is our
screening requirement. You should be able to walk us through a purchase price variance and
a yield variance you personally calculated, explained, and defended.
· Inventory accounting across raw material, WIP, and finished goods, including reserves and
physical- count reconciliation.
· A manufacturing ERP with a real costing module, used hands-on – Dynamics 365 Business
Central, Dynamics NAV or AX, SAP, Oracle, or NetSuite.
Working U.S. GAAP fluency, including ASC 842 lease accounting.
Business-fluent written and spoken English. You will write directly to our CEO, our sponsor
finance team, and our auditors, so written clarity is part of how we evaluate candidates.
· The ability to work U.S. Central hours sustainably, including close weeks. We would rather
you have worked this shift before than agree to try it.
Preferred
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central specifically – it is our system, and direct experience
shortens your ramp considerably.
Food, CPG, or USDA-regulated manufacturing. Co-manufacturing or contract manufacturing
is even better.
The controller is genuinely hands-on rather than supervising a department.
Audit PBC preparation as the preparer, working directly with a U.S. firm.
Experience as the offshore counterpart to a U.S. finance team – you already understand the
prepare-here, approve-there rhythm.
A manufacturing execution system such as RedZone, or an EDI platform such as SPS Commerce.
Nice to have
· CMA or CGMA alongside your primary credential.
· Turnaround, transition, or finance-function build experience.
· Multi-plant or multi-entity consolidation exposure.
· Experience standing up finance documentation and SOPs where none existed.
Interested Candidates can apply in Linkedin or send a mail to Stephen.Raphael@caligne.com

Work arrangement
Hybrid