Director Finance - Manufacturing Operations

Job Responsibilities

• Serve as the key financial advisor to Manufacturing and Operations leadership, providing analysis, scenario planning, and decision support on production strategy, capacity utilization, cost structure, and operational improvement initiatives.
• Translate operational strategies—technology upgrades, footprint decisions, yield improvements, workforce planning—into clear P&L, cost, cash flow, and ROI implications.
• Lead financial oversight of plant performance, including fixed/variable cost trends, throughput, OEE, yield, waste/scrap, and absorption; identify improvement opportunities through data-driven insights.
• Partner with operations on productivity programs, process optimization, cost competitiveness, and operational performance dashboards that highlight trends, variances, and actionable opportunities.
• Lead financial evaluation of capital investments, maintenance strategies, technology upgrades, and capacity expansions using ROI, NPV, and payback methodologies.
• Oversee capital spend governance, project tracking, asset utilization metrics, and performance against approved capital plans.
• Lead the budgeting, forecasting, and monthly performance processes for Manufacturing and Operations, providing clear variance analysis and forward-looking insights on production costs and operational KPIs.
• Develop standardized performance scorecards across plants, ensuring consistent measurement of cost, productivity, safety, quality, asset efficiency, and working capital tied to inventory.
• Ensure strong financial controls across manufacturing processes including inventory valuation, cycle counts, cost accounting, labor/material standards, and audit compliance.
• Develop high-impact manufacturing finance team while driving improvements in ERP utilization, reporting automation, cost accounting processes, and digital manufacturing analytics.

Knowledge, Skills and Attributes

• Strong analytical skills, proficiency in data analysis and financial modeling
• Ability to clearly communicate and present ideas, perspectives both in writing and in conversation to all levels of the organization including the Executive Team
• Curiosity to understand business and explore/ offer new ways to improve the business
• Ability to scan business horizon and look for opportunities and risks to be proactively managed
• Manage work and team through leading FP&A practices
• Ability to vocalize new ideas or options; thought partner to Manufacturing and Operations leaders who challenges the status quo
• Ability to coach team members

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting or related field. MBA and/or CPA strongly preferred
• At least 5 years of leadership/supervisory experience
• 10+ years of relevant experience; chemical/ manufacturing experience a plus
• Ability to travel up 25% of the time to global facilities