The Overview

Our client is a publicly traded, global manufacturer of complex aerospace, defense, and industrial structures and electronic systems — an operation with well over a century of history behind it. The plant is a standalone site built around large stretch-formed aircraft skins, titanium hot forming, superplastic forming, and intricate welded and fastened assemblies. Today the facility generates somewhere in the neighborhood of $60–70M, with a credible line of sight to roughly $100M.

They've engaged us to find a Plant Controller who will be the top finance person on site. Nothing about this is narrow: you'll own the close, steward SOX, drive cost and margin analytics, run forecasting, keep government accounting compliant, and partner for real with an unusually technical operations group.

The Role

Make no mistake — this seat owns finance for the plant rather than propping someone else up. What sits on the plate:

• End-to-end ownership of monthly, quarterly, and annual close, including preparing and signing off on every balance sheet reconciliation
• SOX and SOX 404 stewardship: a daily/weekly/monthly approval rhythm, plus coordinating control testing and audit activity locally
• Costing and margin surveillance on a weekly and monthly cycle, paired with forward-looking forecasting and variance work
• Building and orchestrating the Annual Operating Plan, then managing the monthly forecast cadence that follows
• Running the capital acquisition process
• Standing behind bids and proposals with cost estimates and rate simulations for new pursuits
• Reviewing contracts through a GAAP lens, particularly revenue recognition and cost matching
• CAS and FAR compliance — government program work is part of the fabric here
• Managing and growing a two-person accounting group, documenting procedures and holding the department to policy
• Taking results and recommendations straight to senior leadership, up to and including the VP of Operations and the CFO

Growth here is intentional, not accidental. Whoever wins this job won't be babysitting a steady state — they'll be laying the financial foundation that lets revenue roughly double.

In Our Words

A few things jumped out when we sat down with the finance leadership team.

Start with the plant. Internally it gets referred to as the crown jewel of the network, and they mean it. Engineering drives this place, the intellectual property is theirs, and the designs are owned in-house. The people are sharp, technically deep, and perfectly willing to press you. So the controller has to be someone comfortable holding a room full of engineers and ops leaders — able to articulate why a reserve is going up or how a rate simulation moves a bid, and interested enough to actually want a seat in that discussion.

Next, the growth is not a talking point. The site has climbed steadily for the last three or four years and the expansion is expected to keep going. The board convenes at this facility. The CFO pays attention. Visibility at this location is far higher than most plant-level finance jobs will ever give you.

Third — and it's worth saying plainly — the incumbent is being moved out over thin technical depth and low engagement. What's wanted is someone who leans in: walks the production floor, shows up for the uncomfortable conversations, and treats close as a team effort instead of a solo grind. Outside of close, the schedule is genuinely humane (most days wind down by 3–4 PM, Fridays earlier still), but close weeks demand everything from the person running the function.

The Hiring Manager

You'd report to the Director of Finance who has all of the company's site controllers under him. He's straightforward and even-keeled — he says what he means, skips the theater, and wants the same coming back at him. Integrity and competence are the two words he keeps returning to, and they aren't slogans; you can see them shaping how he sizes people up from minute one.

Worth reading that bluntness correctly. When someone weights integrity that heavily, they generally have a short fuse for polish without substance — for people who interview well but can't carry the load underneath. And competence, in his vocabulary, has nothing to do with letters after your name. It's whether you've genuinely done the work. He figures that out fast.

He cares about stability too, which tells you he's screening for fit rather than just headcount. This isn't seat-filling; he's placing someone into a plant he plainly has affection for. Frequent moves made for convenience don't read as drive to him — they raise a question about whether you plant roots anywhere.

Some practical notes:

• He doesn't sit at this location so the new controller's day-to-day partnership will be with local operations leadership — above all the VP of Operations, who carries real weight on that floor
• That structure cuts in your favor: the role has direct line of sight to the VP of Operations, and across his group that kind of site-level proximity has historically opened doors to director-level roles
• He handles the first interview, and it will be a meaty, technically grounded conversation — he knows manufacturing finance from every angle and is reading for both substance and character

Your Team

The Plant Controller inherits two accounting professionals as direct reports. Leadership speaks well of them — roughly a decade of experience on average — and there are no meaningful holes in day-to-day accounting coverage. The near-term play is coaching and raising the ceiling on this group, not tearing it down and starting over.

The Culture

The plant is a tight, engineering-led manufacturing floor. Descriptions of the people run consistent: smart, protective of the IP, and blunt. Operations shows up engaged and expects finance to match that — the controller here doesn't get to sit off to the side of the business.

With a single shift running, the day is more predictable than most plants offer: the bulk of the team clears out around 3–4 PM, and Fridays typically end by 4 or 4:30. Close weeks — month, quarter, year — are the carve-out, and being publicly traded, the company treats them with the gravity they deserve. Anyone who's lived through close season at a public company will slot right in; anyone hoping to negotiate their way around it won't.

Leadership was candid that treating work-life balance as the number one priority isn't a fit for this seat or this organization.

Systems & ERP

Hands-on MRP/ERP capability, plus advanced Microsoft Office chops across Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access.

Travel & Remote

On-site every day — there's no hybrid or remote arrangement here. Travel wasn't raised as an expectation for the role.

The Benefits

Career-wise, there's real upside in this seat. Executive eyes are on the this plant — the CFO conducts the final interview, and board meetings take place at this facility. The hiring manager has signaled that a controller who performs over time could be lined up for wider responsibility across the sites he oversees.

And because revenue is climbing (from roughly $65M toward the $100M mark), the controller will be constructing and running finance infrastructure inside a business that's genuinely growing — experience that keeps paying dividends down the road.

Specifics on the benefits package weren't covered during intake and will be confirmed. Base salary sits in the range of about $165,000 to $185,000.

The Location

The plant sits in South Bay region, in Los Angeles County. The commute radius is generous: Torrance, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Carson, Wilmington, and even Orange County all work. If you're already somewhere in greater LA, you'll find this address sitting right in the aerospace corridor that threads through the South Bay.