ASSISTANT CONTROLLER

ASSISTANT CONTROLLER Location: Fullerton, California 92835 Position: Direct Hire QUALIFICATION SCandidate must come from a MANUFACTURING backgroun dMust have a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Financ eMinimum 5 years of cost accounting experienc e in a manufacturing environment operating on a standard costing syste mFull-cycle close ownershi p and strong technical GAAP foundatio nAbility to operate in a SOX environmen tExperience with a tier-one or mid-tier ERP; Epicor experience is a strong plu sJob Summa ryThe Assistant Controller is the right hand to the Vice President of Finance and the day-to-day operating leader of the accounting function. You will own the integrity of the close, the accuracy of cost accounting in a standard-cost manufacturing environment, and the quality of the financial information that flows to operations leadership and to corporate. This is a hands-on leadership seat, not an oversight seat. You will run the work, develop the finance team, and partner directly with business unit and operations leaders to convert the value drivers into action — productivity, margin, and cas h.Client is actively investing in process automation and the practical use of AI to advance the cost-productivity value driver. This role is expected to help lead that effort inside finance — finding manual work to eliminate, simplifying process, and building better ways to turn data into decision s.Responsibilit iesMonth-end / quarter-end / year-end close — own the full cycle, including journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, and the consolidated reporting package delivered to corporate on the timeli ne.Financial reporting — prepare and review internal management reporting, variance analysis, and corporate submissions; explain the numbers, not just produce th em.SOX and internal controls — design, document, and own the internal control environment in a SOX-compliant public-company setting; maintain segregation of duties, support 404 testing, and remediate deficiencies before they become findin gs.Audit — serve as the operating-company point of contact for corporate's internal audit and for external audit requests; manage the process, resolve findings, and close ga ps.Standard costing — own standard cost setup, annual cost rolls, and the maintenance of accurate costing across SKUs and BO Ms.Inventory and WIP — ensure accurate valuation, cycle-count / physical inventory integrity, reserves, and reconciliation to the GL.Variance analysis — analyze and explain purchase price variance (PPV), manufacturing / labor / overhead variances, and margin by product line; turn variances into actio ns.Margin and profitability — partner with operations to understand cost drivers and surface productivity opportuniti es.Operations partner — act as a true finance business partner to business unit managers and the operations team — in the plant and in the data — to drive productivity actions and decision-maki ng.Information flow — improve the speed, accuracy, and usefulness of reporting and information across the business; replace manual effort with better proce ss.Automation and AI — actively look for opportunities to automate manual work and apply new tools, including AI, to speed the close, sharpen analysis, and improve information flow; pilot, measure, and scale what wor ks.Planning support — support forecasting, the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), and the value-driver discipline (pricing, productivity, profitable new business) that define performance in this environme nt.Develop the team — supervise, coach, and hold accountable the finance team; set standards and raise the b ar.Build capacity — create the bandwidth and backup that lets the finance function scale without adding headcou nt.Capital projects & post-implementation audit — evaluate capital requests beyond payback and ROI, stress-test the productivity and savings case, and audit projects after implementation to confirm the promised productivity was actually deliver ed.Financial education & communication — train and coach non-financial managers, explain financial concepts in plain terms, and proactively surface the right month-end observations to the right people at the right ti me.