What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Cost Accountant position at Advanced Operations Partners?
A high-growth, large-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing operation is adding a Senior Plant Cost Accountant to its finance team. This is an onsite role embedded at the factory, sitting at the intersection of manufacturing finance, operations, and supply chain — ideal for a cost accountant who wants to move beyond close-cycle reporting and have real influence on how a complex factory runs financially.
Key Responsibilities
- Product costing and manufacturing-cost accuracy - Maintain accurate product costs in SAP S/4HANA, validate costing methods and master data, and ensure production activity is correctly reflected in the general ledger. You must understand how materials, labor, overhead, absorption, and production activity flow through a manufacturing P&L.
- Variance analysis and corrective action - Calculate and investigate purchase price variance, inventory variance, manufacturing and operational variances, absorption and overhead variances, and raw-material standard-vs.-actual costs. The mandate is not simply reporting the variance — you identify the operational cause, explain it to the business, and help Operations address it.
- Disciplined monthly close - Support production-related settlements, journal entries, accruals, GL reconciliations, and period-end reporting. Participate in cycle counts, physical inventory audits, and inventory valuation activities to ensure financial statements are timely and accurate.
- Finance partner to factory operations - Act as the primary cost-accounting resource for plant and operations managers, working closely with FP&A, Supply Chain, Procurement, Receiving, Accounts Payable, Engineering, and IT. The strongest candidate will be comfortable spending time on the factory floor and translating operating activity into financial impact.
- Inventory and supply-chain controls - Understand raw-material purchasing, warehouse activity, stock management, vendor invoices, production consumption, and inventory movements. Identify discrepancies and ensure manufacturing and supply-chain transactions are recorded correctly.
- Compliance and internal controls - Maintain GAAP/IFRS-compliant accounting, support JSOX controls, prepare audit schedules, and respond to internal and external auditors. Help develop accounting policies and procedures in a highly controlled global manufacturing environment.
- Process improvement during ramp-up - This is a relatively new, rapidly scaling factory environment. You'll identify process gaps, improve SAP and reporting workflows, strengthen data integrity, and help build repeatable accounting processes as production scales.
Ideal Canndidate Profile
- 4–6 years of manufacturing cost-accounting experience
- Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a related field
- Strong SAP cost-accounting experience; SAP S/4HANA highly preferred
- Advanced Excel and data-analysis capabilities
- Hands-on experience with standard costing, product costing, inventory, PPV, absorption, and manufacturing variances
- Working knowledge of GAAP and IFRS
- Experience supporting warehouse, stock management, and manufacturing operations
- Ability to work independently while collaborating with domestic and international teams
- CMA, CPA, or MBA preferred — not required
This is a fully onsite role. Candidates should be comfortable working in larger manufacturing or plant environments on a daily basis.