Controller

Controller

Food Manufacturing / Meat Processing | Pendleton, OR

We are partnering with an established and growing food manufacturing and meat processing company in Pendleton, Oregon, to identify an experienced Controller to lead the organization’s accounting and financial operations.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who understands both the numbers and the operation behind them. The Controller will oversee the full accounting cycle while partnering closely with ownership and operational leadership to improve visibility into costs, margins, inventory, production performance, and profitability.

What you’ll own

• Lead the monthly, quarterly, and year-end close, including general ledger, reconciliations, accruals, and financial reporting.
• Prepare and analyze P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, budgets, forecasts, and management reporting.
• Oversee AP, AR, cash management, fixed assets, inventory accounting, and internal controls.
• Manage and continuously improve manufacturing and cost accounting processes.
• Analyze COGS, standard vs. actual costs, labor and overhead absorption, purchase-price variances, and production variances.
• Maintain accurate costing across raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods.
• Partner with plant and operations leadership to understand yield, waste, scrap, throughput, labor efficiency, and SKU-level profitability.
• Support inventory controls, cycle counts, physical inventories, and reconciliation of production and financial records.
• Analyze product, customer, and channel margins and identify opportunities to improve profitability.
• Lead annual budgeting and forecasting and provide actionable financial insight to senior leadership.
• Oversee CAPEX accounting, depreciation, and financial analysis related to equipment and plant investments.
• Coordinate external accounting, tax, audit, banking, and insurance relationships as needed.
• Develop scalable financial processes and controls as the organization continues to grow.

What we’re looking for

• Strong accounting leadership experience, ideally within food manufacturing, meat processing, agriculture, CPG, or another inventory-intensive manufacturing environment.
• Solid understanding of manufacturing cost accounting, inventory valuation, COGS, standard costing, variance analysis, and margin analysis.
• Ability to work comfortably with both senior leadership and plant-level operations.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to turn financial data into clear business recommendations.
• Experience owning the financial close and producing accurate, timely financial statements.
• Strong understanding of GAAP and internal financial controls.
• Experience with ERP, accounting, inventory, and manufacturing systems.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including financial modeling, reconciliations, data analysis, and reporting.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field preferred.
• CPA or CMA is a plus, but not required.
• Experience in a privately held or family-owned manufacturing business would be valuable.

Systems & technology

The ideal candidate will be comfortable working across ERP/accounting platforms, inventory and production systems, cost-accounting tools, and Microsoft Excel. Experience with manufacturing-focused systems such as Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, NetSuite, or comparable ERP platforms is highly transferable, although experience with a specific platform is not required.

The environment

This is not a Controller role where accounting operates in a vacuum. You’ll work closely with production, purchasing, inventory, shipping, operations, and leadership, connecting what is happening on the plant floor to what ultimately shows up on the financial statements.

For someone who understands manufacturing finance and cost accounting and enjoys being close to the operation, this is an opportunity to have a meaningful impact on a well-established food manufacturer as it continues to grow.