Plant Controller

Leading to better encompasses all we do at Kerry, it's how we've become the worlds leading taste and nutrition company. Whether it's building and manufacturing sustainable solutions for food, beverage or pharmaceutical consumers, our commitment to lead the world to better nutrition drives us forward. With 25,000+ colleagues across the globe and 15,000+ Kerry products, your opportunities are limitless.

About Kerry

More than 25,000 people have careers with Kerry. From Food Science to Manufacturing, our jobs help nourish and delight consumers around the globe. Kerry is committed to leading to better in everything we do. We strive for better taste and nutrition, better sustainability, better career opportunities and ultimately, a better world.

Everyday millions of people throughout the world consume food or beverage products containing our taste and nutrition solutions.

As the world leader in taste and nutrition, our Purpose is to Inspire Food and Nourish Life.

Our Purpose is central to The Kerry Way and serves as our guiding light on our journey to make it easier and more valuable for customers to do business with us, as we seek to make a greater, more lasting difference in the world by inspiring innovative, natural and sustainable taste and nutrition solutions for consumers, customers, the industry and the world.

Inspiring Food, Nourishing Life puts food, drink and wellbeing front and centre. Food matters. It brings people together, across cultures, countries and generations. Food is heritage, happiness and health. Food is family and friends. Food is life.

There’s no one quite like Kerry Foods. We’ve grown from a small farmers’ collective to a multi-billion food business - keeping hold of our ethics, spirit and character all the way. Today, we stand as a leader in a competitive and ever-changing global market. We’re aiming to pioneer new ways to delight the tastes of tomorrow, so we know that we can never stand still. Luckily, standing still has never been our way.

About the role 

We have an exciting opportunity for a Plant Controller to join the Kerry team in Hartlepool.

This is a Permanent Role. 

Key responsibilities

Role Purpose

The Plant Controller principal role is to provide financial reporting for their plant and provide financial support to the Plant Manager and business through finance business partnering. Works collaboratively with Plant Leadership team and the business to ensure costs are optimised and managed and implements finance best practices within their plant. The expectation is that this individual has the ability to deputise for the Plant Manager, hence having the ability to understand the full breadth of plant activity.

Key Role Activities 

• Product/Process costing – ensuring that yields, labour and direct overhead standards reflect the true cost of manufacture. Working with the Plant, Business and Process teams to resolve any differences.
• Ensuring that actual costs are recovered within reported product costs and that variances are identified, investigated and actioned with the Plant team.
• Provision of weekly detailed and top level KPI reports for the plant. Review of KPI data with operations to identify performance improvement opportunities.
• Stock management and reporting including stock reconciliations and control of stock write-offs. 
• General ledger reviews - review and control of postings to plant cost centres.
• Capital control – evaluate proposals, monitor spend and review with the Plant team to ensure projects are delivered within the approved value.
• Budget and projection cost preparation – working with the Plant team to establish a robust bottom up budget including documented profit improvement plans.
• Proposing and evaluating cost saving / profit enhancing, continuous improvement or system enhancement opportunities.
• Key owner of master data and product standards information, alongside audit of SAP use and processes to facilitate optimised use of SAP system.
• Be the key link with procurement at site in the review and analysis of third-party service contracts and the value they bring.
• Ad hoc projects/ reporting.

Key Deliverables 

• In association with the Plant Manager and business team, ensuring tight control of all plant costs by understanding the cost drivers and reporting on them.
• Provision of robust analysis and challenge of costs.
• Ensuring all reporting deadlines are met in a timely manner
• Delivery of capex plan, and other associated strategies

Qualifications and skills 

Education / Qualifications 

• Qualified Accountant - Degree qualified or equivalent

Experience Requirement 

• Approximately 5 + years’ experience within a manufacturing/operations accounting field
• Experience in leadership & management within an manufacturing/FMCG environment
• Experience working in a SAP environment (preferable)
• Experience with Microsoft Office Packages (preferable)

For further information, and to apply, please visit our website via the “Apply” button below.