Manager of Operations Accounting

Are you an experienced manufacturing accountant looking to lead high-impact financial operations and build a collaborative, results-driven team? Our client, the leading producer of metal food packaging, is hiring a Manager of Operations Accounting to lead plant finance activities, cost analysis, and strategic operations support.

About the Role:

As the Manager of Operations Accounting, you will be entirely onsite in Brookfield, WI. You’ll be responsible for overseeing the financial reporting of plant operations, including cost accounting, inventory control, and variance analysis. You'll lead a collaborative team and serve as a key liaison between our corporate finance, plant accounting, and operations leadership teams. This role is critical in ensuring accurate month end closes, driving consistency across our plants, and supporting best in-class reporting for manufacturing performance.

Why Join the Team?

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and wellness benefits.
• Access to virtual healthcare through our telemedicine program.
• Optional wellness programs, including pet insurance and chronic condition support.
• 401k retirement savings plan with a 6 percent dollar for dollar employer match.
• 15 paid vacation days and 10 holidays annually.
• Tuition assistance and career development opportunities.
• A stable, inclusive, and purpose driven workplace in a thriving industry.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead and develop a high performing operations accounting team, foster collaboration, and promote continuous improvement.
• Own the month end close process for plant operations, including journal entries, account reconciliations, and variance reporting.
• The Manager of Accounting Operations analyzes overhead, manufacturing, and inventory variances and prepares purchase price variance reports.
• Partner with plant personnel to support inventory costing, job closures, and physical inventory execution.
• Support compliance with internal controls and SOX requirements and champion process improvements.
• Coordinate with internal and external auditors and cross functional stakeholders such as Operations, Procurement, and IT
• Maintain and update standard operating procedures to ensure alignment across multiple manufacturing sites.

What You Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Master’s, or CPA preferred.
• 5 +years of accounting or related experience in a manufacturing environment.
• 3+ years of experience cost accounting.
• 1 + year of management or supervisory experience.
• The Manager of Accounting Operations brings a deep knowledge of standard cost systems, inventory accounting, and variance analysis.
• Experience with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne or similar ERP systems.
• Proven ability in Excel to build reconciliations, automate reports using pivot tables and lookup functions, analyze variances across data sets, and create templates that support journal entries and monthly plant-level reporting.
• Maintain effective internal controls over accounting processes, cut‑off discipline and ensure accurate posting timeliness at month‑end.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present complex accounting information to cross-functional teams, plant leaders, and auditors.
• Builds collaborative relationships and serves as a trusted financial partner to operations
• Comfortable working in a multi-site manufacturing environment and getting into the operational details.
• Review and analyze key accounts. Maintain general and subsidiary ledgers pertaining to assigned areas of responsibility.
• Assist with other projects as needed.