Global Cost Accounting Manager

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced and transformational Assistant Global Controller to elevate our global finance organization. This role goes beyond stewardship-it's about building, modernizing, and scaling a best-in-class controllership function. The ideal candidate combines technical mastery with operational savvy: someone who can embed strong controls, implement modern systems, standardize costing and reporting, and support a high-performance global team.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Transformation

• Lead and inspire cost accounting team members and influence global accounting teams, driving a culture of transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Champion global policy adherence, standardization, scalability, and simplification of costing processes.
• Support the build of a best-in-class cost accounting organization that is both disciplined and future-ready.

Standard Costing & Operational Finance

• Support the design and implementation of standard costing methodologies across global manufacturing sites.
• Establish and maintain robust internal controls and ensure compliance with costing policies and procedures
• Provide insights into cost drivers, variance analysis, and productivity opportunities including KPI reporting and follow up to drive desired behaviors.
• Support the CFO and leadership team in strategic pricing, margin management, and capital deployment decisions.
• Leverage curiosity and thoughtful problem solving to proactively work with global teams on enhancing and aligning legacy costing processes with new best-in-class processes

Technology, Process & Shared Services

• Review and Optimize ERP, financial reporting software, and automation solutions to enable speed, accuracy, and scalability.
• Streamline and standardize month-end close processes and reduce cycle times while improving accuracy and transparency.
• Leverage technology and analytics to transform finance from compliance to decision enablement.

Business Partnership

• Serve as a trusted partner to senior leaders across functions and geographies.
• Provide actionable insights that drive profitable growth, cost productivity, and operational excellence.
• Act as both a guardian of accuracy and a strategic enabler of the business.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• 7-10+ years of progressive experience in cost accounting or manufacturing finance.
• Exceptional understanding of standard costing, inventory accounting, and variance analysis.
• Demonstrated experience with global manufacturing operations and evidence of driving costing process improvement.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to inspire and lead global projects.
• Advanced Excel, financial modeling, and data analysis skills.
• Recognized as a transformer and builder-capable of simplifying complexity and modernizing global functions.
• Strong track record with ERP/technology transformation (SAP, Oracle, Workday, or similar).

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA, CMA, or MBA.
• Experience working in multinational corporations with multiple manufacturing sites.
• Experience with cost system implementations or ERP upgrades.
• Knowledge of transfer pricing and global financial structures.
• Experience with business intelligence tools (Power BI, Tableau).

The Ideal Candidate

We want a game changer who:

• Is a hands-on player-coach leader who isn't afraid to dive into the systems, data, and details alongside their team.
• Is data and detail-oriented, enjoys developing reports and variance analytics for real-time problem solving and explanations.
• Can drive the implementation of global standard costing policies and procedures to bring consistency and improve clarity to product profitability and cost management.
• Can efficiently navigate across functional teams to drive accelerated process improvements
• Is a business partner to plant management, offering financial insights to drive efficiency and performance.
• Can instill discipline without bureaucracy, enabling Finance to protect and partner with the business.
• Is excited to modernize costing processes and systems to deliver speed, accuracy, and insight at scale.