Plant Controller

We make life more comfortable. Leggett & Platt’s mission is to enhance lives by delivering quality products, offering rewarding careers, and contributing to a better future. With an inventive heritage spanning over 130 years, Leggett & Platt designs, manufactures, and sells products for automotive, furniture, hydraulic cylinders, flooring, textile, and geo components industries. Precision Hydraulic Cylinders, a division of Leggett & Platt, provides comprehensive design, service, and support to OEMs, offering customized hydraulic cylinder solutions globally.

About the Role

The Plant Controller – Manufacturing Finance is a key finance leader responsible for ensuring the integrity of the Company’s manufacturing cost model while serving as the financial business partner to plant operations. This role owns the financial governance of manufacturing master data—including bills of material, routings, labor standards, machine rates, and overhead structures—to ensure product costs accurately reflect manufacturing processes. The position partners closely with Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Sales, and IT to improve costing accuracy, profitability, and operational decision-making. The successful candidate combines strong manufacturing finance expertise with operational understanding and a passion for improving systems and business processes.

This role can be based in either Beulaville, NC or Wilmington, NC.

Why This Role?

This position offers an opportunity to make a significant impact on plant profitability while developing into a broader finance leadership role. The successful candidate will work closely with Operations leadership and senior finance management, gaining exposure to both manufacturing finance and corporate controllership responsibilities with a clear path for future advancement.

Responsibilities

• Manufacturing Costing & Data Governance
  • Own the integrity and accuracy of the Company’s manufacturing cost model.
  • Ensure bills of material, routings, labor standards, work centers, machine rates, overhead rates, and standard costs accurately reflect manufacturing operations.
  • Lead standard cost development, annual cost rolls, and ongoing cost maintenance.
  • Establish governance processes to ensure engineering and manufacturing changes are appropriately reflected within the ERP system.
  • Perform routine audits of manufacturing master data and drive corrective actions.
  • Develop processes that improve the long-term accuracy and sustainability of product costing.
• Manufacturing Analytics & Profitability
  • Analyze manufacturing variances, including labor, material, overhead, purchase price, and production variances.
  • Identify profitability improvement opportunities through detailed cost and margin analysis.
  • Develop KPIs and dashboards supporting labor productivity, scrap, material utilization, and operational performance.
  • Provide financial insights supporting capital investments, continuous improvement initiatives, and operational decision-making.
  • Ensure the cost foundation supporting commercial quoting and profitability analysis remains accurate and reliable.
• Cross-Functional Business Partnership
  • Partner with Engineering to ensure product designs and manufacturing changes are accurately translated into ERP master data.
  • Collaborate with Operations to improve manufacturing efficiency and eliminate cost drivers.
  • Support Supply Chain and Purchasing by analyzing material cost trends and sourcing opportunities.
  • Work closely with IT to improve ERP functionality, reporting, automation, and data integrity.
  • Serve as the finance subject matter expert on manufacturing costing throughout the organization.
• Financial Reporting & Controller Development
  • Support month-end close activities, account reconciliations, inventory valuation, and financial reporting.
  • Assist with budgeting, forecasting, and annual operating plans.
  • Ensure compliance with accounting policies, internal controls, and audit requirements.
  • Gradually assume broader accounting and financial leadership responsibilities from the U.S. Controller.
• Continuous Improvement
  • Lead initiatives that improve costing accuracy, reporting efficiency, and financial visibility.
  • Simplify manual processes through automation and improved system utilization.
  • Develop standardized costing methodologies and governance practices that can be consistently applied across manufacturing locations.
  • Drive a culture of continuous improvement by leveraging data to identify and implement operational and financial enhancements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance.
• 5+ years of progressive finance or accounting experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of standard costing, cost accounting, inventory valuation, and manufacturing finance.
• Demonstrated understanding of manufacturing processes, bills of material, routings, labor standards, and ERP master data.
• Advanced analytical and Excel skills.
• Experience partnering with Operations and Engineering to solve business problems.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SAP, Infor Visual ERP, or similar ERP systems.
• Experience supporting ERP implementations or manufacturing system improvements.
• Power BI or other business intelligence experience.
• Lean Manufacturing or Continuous Improvement experience.