Manufacturing Controller Adept Life Sciences Chandler, AZ Job Details Full-time From $90,000 an hour 1 day ago Qualifications Cost accounting analysis Microsoft Excel Financial data reconciliation Financial model development Cycle counting inventory management Manufacturing facility experience Bachelor's degree Job order costing Accounting experience within manufacturing industry QuickBooks Master of Business Administration Excel data analysis
Full Job Description Manufacturing Controller Location:
Onsite at our Chandler, Arizona manufacturing facility, with regular presence in the warehouse and on the production floor. This is not a remote role.
Compensation:
Commensurate with experience.
Reporting relationship:
Reports to the CEO. Works closely with the Staff Accountant, Director of Operations, Director of Quality, and Warehouse Manager. About Adept Life Sciences Adept Life Sciences is a contract manufacturer of nutraceutical and dietary supplement products based in Chandler, Arizona. Operating under cGMP conditions, we produce liquids, powders, capsules, tablets, and chews for consumer brands, running weigh-and-blend, encapsulation, tableting, and multiple packaging lines from a single facility. We are a lean organization of approximately thirty-five people across production, quality, warehouse, maintenance, and commercial functions. As a result, the individual in this role will have meaningful access, direct influence, and minimal bureaucracy. Responsibilities 1. Month-End Close and Internal Controls Develop and own a documented close calendar with named owners and firm cutoff dates. Review and approve reconciliations, accruals, and journal entries prepared by the Staff Accountant. Establish balance sheet account reconciliation standards and ensure every material account is fully supported. Assess segregation of duties across cash, purchasing, and payroll, and remediate the gaps that matter most. Reduce close cycle time to a target established within the first two weeks. 2. Job Costing Buildout Design a lot-level job costing model that ties direct labor, materials consumption, third-party lab testing, and manufacturing overhead to each production lot. Establish the burden rate methodology, including the absorption of indirect labor, sanitation, maintenance, and unallocated production time. Reconcile source systems—labor capture, batch records, purchasing and receiving, and third-party lab invoices—and resolve identifier mismatches between them. Build a costing subledger outside the general ledger and establish a reliable tie-back to QuickBooks Online each period. Produce a cost-per-unit view by product and by customer that finance, sales, and operations can align on. Document the model in sufficient detail that the Cost Accountant and Staff Accountant can run it monthly without your involvement. 3. Monthly Inventory Review and Cycle Count Oversight Conduct a documented monthly inventory review: sign off on the subledger-to-general-ledger reconciliation, work through variance detail, and approve adjustments before they post. Maintain a regular presence in the warehouse. Attend and oversee cycle counts in person, observe counting practices on the floor, and verify that what is counted matches what is recorded. Define the cycle count policy, including frequency, item selection, tolerance thresholds, recount triggers, and sign-off authority. Trace count variances to root cause alongside the Warehouse Manager and Production Supervisor, and hold corrective actions to firm dates. Approve period-end valuation of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods, and own the reasonableness of the obsolescence and short-dated reserve. Assess inventory controls end to end—receiving and put-away accuracy, material issue authorization, lot traceability, adjustment posting rights, and write-off approval thresholds—and close the gaps that carry material exposure. Plan and oversee the annual physical inventory, and review tag reconciliation before any adjustment posts. Review and approve the Cost Accountant's inventory work rather than duplicating it. 4. Financial Reporting and Analysis Produce GAAP-basis monthly financial statements with supporting schedules. Build a management reporting package for ownership covering margin by customer, margin by product line, labor efficiency, and overhead absorption. Establish budget-to-actual reporting and explain variances in operational rather than purely accounting terms. Bring inventory and work-in-process valuation to a defensible position. 5. Systems and Process Improvement Review the QuickBooks Online chart of accounts and restructure it to support product-line and cost-center reporting. Clean up the item master and costing setup so that standard costs and bills of material reflect actual floor operations. Evaluate whether an inventory or manufacturing application should complement QuickBooks Online, and scope the effort required, so that decisions are driven by data rather than vendor pitches. Write practical, plain-language desk procedures for recurring accounting workflows. Identify opportunities to automate manual work and build the business case for doing so. Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance. Ten or more years of progressive accounting experience, including at least three years in a Controller or Assistant Controller role. Hands-on manufacturing accounting experience. Costing, work-in-process, bills of material, and overhead absorption must be capabilities you have built firsthand, not concepts you have only studied. Demonstrated experience designing or rebuilding a job costing or product costing model from the ground up. Proven experience owning inventory in a physical operation, including cycle count programs, physical inventories, subledger-to-general-ledger reconciliation, and reserve judgment. This role requires presence in the warehouse during counts, not after-the-fact file review. Advanced Excel proficiency, with the ability to work with large, unstructured exports from multiple systems and transform them into reliable output. Willingness to work onsite in Chandler, with regular time on the production floor and in the warehouse. Ability to operate independently. This role has no supporting finance team. Preferred Qualifications MBA Experience in nutraceutical, dietary supplement, food, beverage, or pharmaceutical manufacturing. QuickBooks Online experience, particularly building manufacturing cost reporting where the general ledger does not provide it. Experience implementing an inventory or manufacturing application alongside a small-business accounting system. Experience in a contract or co-manufacturing model where customer-level profitability drives pricing.
Pay:
From $90,000.00 per hour Application Question(s): What is your salary expectation for this position?
