Plant Protection Officer Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

Ventek Solutions (Ventek) is a leading manufacturer specializing in engineered shape molded foam components, protective packaging, and multi-material assembly solutions. The organization helps customers address complex challenges in product protection, component light-weighting, insulation, and design simplification. Ventek’s services span a variety of industries, including construction, automotive, electronics, medical, and more. Ventek Solutions leverages creative design, thoughtful engineering, and meticulous program management to deliver customized solutions. Ventek operates 8 plants in the US and Mexico with corporate headquarters in Charleston, SC.

The Plant Controller serves as the financial leader and strategic business partner for the manufacturing facility. This role is responsible for the integrity of the plant’s financial reporting, robust cost and margin management, and providing actionable insights to plant, sales, and corporate leadership. By bridging shop-floor operations, commercial activity, and corporate finance, the Plant Controller drives operational efficiency, profitable growth, and disciplined decision-making while ensuring a strong internal control environment. The Plant Controller will report to the CFO of Ventek Solutions, and operational to the plant manager.

This role will be based onsite in our Tullahoma TN or Mt. Pleasant TN plant and will have occasional business travel as needed.

• Month-End Closing: Lead the monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial close process with a focus on accuracy, speed, and GAAP compliance.
• General Ledger Oversight: Perform all journal entries, accruals, and allocations; oversee rigorous balance sheet reconciliations to ensure financial integrity.
• Compliance & Controls: Maintain and strengthen internal controls to safeguard company assets and ensure policy adherence.
• Budgeting & Forecasting: Orchestrate the annual plant budget and develop monthly rolling forecasts that reflect current operational actions, expected sales volumes, and cost trends.
• Capital Management: Oversee the financial lifecycle of capital expenditures, from initial ROI modeling to post-implementation audits.

• Standard Cost Management: Maintain and update standard costing systems, ensuring accurate valuation of inventory, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), and product margins.
• Variance Deep-Dives: Analyze material, labor, overhead, and absorption variances, clearly distinguishing price, volume, and mix impacts.
• Margin & Profitability Analysis: Perform detailed margin analysis by product, customer, and order profile, highlighting the financial impact of order size, product mix, delivery terms, and special requirements.
• Inventory Management: Support monthly inventory counts and analyze key variances to understand root causes and prevent recurrence.
• Cross-Functional Cost Control: Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to actively manage labor efficiency, material usage, scrap, freight, and overhead costs, with actions tied to forecasted and actual sales volumes.

• Commercial Financial Partner: Provide accurate, transparent product cost and margin data to Sales and Pricing teams, enabling informed pricing decisions, disciplined discounting, and margin protection.
• Pricing & Deal Support: Partner closely with Sales on pricing strategies, discounts, and special deal structures to ensure minimum margin requirements are met, with particular rigor on complex or “behind-the-oven” projects.
• Sales Forecast Translation: Translate sales forecasts into production, capacity, and cost implications, ensuring alignment between expected volumes and plant cost structures.
• Volume & Profit Leadership: Maintain a forward-looking view of the volumes required to achieve monthly and annual profit targets, proactively engaging with Sales, Plant Leadership, and Operations when gaps arise.
• Cost Actions When Volume Softens: When demand is below plan, lead financial analysis to identify and drive cost-reduction actions required to protect profitability and absorption.
• Strategic Decision Support: Support major commercial and operational decisions, including new product launches, large customer bids, long-term contracts, and capacity or make/buy considerations.
• KPI & Incentive Alignment: Help align KPIs and incentive structures across Plant Operations to drive sustainable profitability and cost discipline.
• Advisory Role: Serve as the primary financial advisor to the Plant Manager, translating complex financial and commercial data into clear operational and business narratives.
• Financial Reviews: Lead monthly financial reviews with plant leadership, highlighting KPIs, forecast risks, volume assumptions, and key drivers of profitability.
• Continuous Improvement: Support productivity and continuous improvement initiatives by validating savings, tracking ROI on CapEx, and partnering with teams to execute corrective actions.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance required.
• Experience: 5-7 years of progressive accounting experience, with at least 3 years in a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Technical Expertise: Deep proficiency in cost accounting, inventory management, and margin analysis.
• Systems: Advanced proficiency in ERP systems and expert-level Microsoft Excel skills.
• Certifications: CPA or CMA designation strongly preferred.