Operations Finance Manager - Milk Specialties Global

At Milk Specialties Global, our focus is to create high-quality ingredients designed to optimize health and nutrition. We are passionate and dedicated people. Each day, we collectively explore new, innovative ways to enhance product performance and value through our broad human and animal nutrition portfolios. We offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision and life insurance as well as a healthy 401(k) company match program.

The Operations Finance Manager has the responsibility for broad financial oversight and operational analysis for all their assigned manufacturing factories. This position will be based out of the corporate office in Eden Prairie, MN and will travel 15-25% to the various factories for which the role has oversight. During the training process and for special projects, travel may be 40%, or higher.

Essential Responsibilities: 

• Financial business partner for manufacturing factory leadership, serving as their go-to person for all financial and plant performance topics.
• Review and analysis of key production KPIs including yield, production pounds, plant uptime and utilization.
• Subject matter expert on raw material and production costing. Providing analysis around raw material mix, market price impacts, yields and inventory variances.
• Management of factory P&L and forecast working to identify opportunities to grow margins and reduce expenses.
• Work closely with plant leadership and be an active participant in the monthly factory P&L review call with senior leadership.
• Oversight and analysis of manufacturing expenses for each location including recording monthly manufacturing expense accruals, monthly forecasting, annual budgeting, variance analysis and leading cost savings initiatives.
• Capital expenditure planning and tracking, including management of annual factory capex budgets and development of return-on-investment analysis.
• Manage the full inventory accounting process including the weekly management, review and analysis of standard costs, daily review of inventory adjustments, and oversight of the cycle count process and/or year-end physical inventory count.
• Process leader for plant inventory, work order, manufacturing expense and management reporting processes. This includes indirect leadership and support of plant front office teams.
• Review of daily inventory transactions to identify items that were recorded incorrectly and determine the proper “fix” in real time.
• Ensure that the front office team at each factory has documented standard operating procedures and trained back-ups for all key tasks.
• Assist with corporate initiatives supporting FP&A and accounting projects on an ongoing basis.

Position Requirements: 

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in accounting, or finance concentration 
• 3+ years previous experience in similar role in a manufacturing business
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional problem-solving initiatives.
• Ability to independently learn processes, demonstrating a curiosity to go farther than instructed.
• Aptitude for communicating with people at all levels of the organization
• Exceptional organizational and analytical skills
• In depth experience with Microsoft Excel
• Experience working in ERP systems, Power BI or other BI tools