What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Financial Operations Analyst position at KSB US?
Senior Financial Analyst
Location: Port Arthur, Texas
Reports to: General Manager, Standard Alloys
Functional alignment with: Regional / USA Finance
Position Summary
The Senior Financial Analyst strengthens cost transparency, product profitability visibility, and operational financial steering at Standard Alloys.
This role serves as the financial bridge between Operations and Finance at plant level, ensuring reliable cost structures, accurate standard costing, and clear variance analysis. The position is hands-on and requires close collaboration with Operations, Industrial Engineering, and plant leadership.
The role focuses on cost accounting integrity and operational profitability transparency. Financial accounting, closing, compliance, treasury, and ERP governance remain under the responsibility of the VP of Finance.
Key Responsibilities
Cost Accounting & Standard Cost Integrity
- Own and maintain plant standard costing structure
- Validate and recalibrate cost center rates
- Ensure reliable separation of variable (product-related) and fixed (structure/capacity-related) costs
- Monitor absorption logic and identify over-/under-absorption drivers
Cost Accounting Framework
- Apply structured manufacturing cost accounting principles aligned with KSB’s established methodology
- Maintain contribution margin transparency to support operational decision-making
- Continuously improve cost clarity in alignment with Group standards
- Support disciplined cost logic during ERP transition and system changes
(KSB applies a structured manufacturing cost philosophy comparable to advanced European cost accounting systems; experience in similar environments is beneficial.)
Product & Process Profitability
- Provide clear product-level and part-family profitability transparency
- Analyze contribution margins and identify structural margin gaps
- Support pricing discussions with cost-based insights
- Ensure alignment between cost assumptions and operational reality
Routing, Labor and Cost Structure Validation
- Build on existing operational analyses of standard versus actual labor performance
- Validate and institutionalize labor standards and routing assumptions in collaboration with Industrial Engineering
- Ensure cost center rates, routings, and BOM structures accurately reflect operational reality
- Translate known efficiency variances into structured cost steering and margin transparency
- Ensure cost-related data integrity and consistency within ERP
Operational Cost and Variance Steering
- Convert identified labor and overhead variance drivers into disciplined cost monitoring and steering mechanisms
- Translate operational performance and efficiency gaps into measurable financial impact
- Support the GM and Operations in understanding EBIT drivers and prioritizing improvement actions
- Distinguish structural cost issues from short-term operational fluctuation
ERP Transition Support
- Support cost logic during ERP transition
- Ensure validated cost structures are properly migrated
- Identify system-related distortions vs. operational issues
Scope Delimitation
The Senior Financial Analyst focuses on cost transparency, product costing, and operational financial steering.
The VP of Finance remains responsible for:
- Financial accounting and closing
- Compliance and external reporting
- Treasury
- ERP governance
This separation keeps accounting stable while strengthening cost depth and operational visibility at plant level.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
- 8-12 years of manufacturing finance experience
- Strong background in standard costing environments
- Experience in plant-level cost accounting
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, labor standards, routing logic, and capacity driver
- Proven ability to work effectively with Industrial Engineering and Operations teams
- ERP experience in a manufacturing environment (implementation exposure preferred)
- Strong analytical skills with hands-on data capability
Preferred:
- Experience in heavy manufacturing or industrial equipment
- Exposure to high-mix / engineered-to-order environments
- Familiarity with structured cost accounting systems that clearly separate variable (product) and fixed (structure) costs
Additional Qualifications
- Hands-on and operationally oriented
- Comfortable working directly with shop-floor teams
- Able to challenge assumptions constructively
- Structured, data-driven, and independent