Manufacturing Financial Controller

About the role

A newly created second-in-command finance role in Brisbane South, Queensland, acting as a succession pathway to Head of Finance. The employer is an Australian, family-owned manufacturer and supplier of specialist construction products, operating a fast-paced, growth-focused business with a mix of local manufacturing and imported goods. The role reports to the Head of Finance with a dotted line to the Head of Operations and leads a small purchasing and inventory team.

Key responsibilities

• Get onto the factory floor to understand how materials move, how production is structured and how costs flow across work centres, labour and machinery, then ensure the numbers reflect reality.
• In the first six months, review and rebuild costing structures, including BOMs, waste assumptions and cost allocations, so costs link cleanly to cost of goods sold.
• Take direct control of inventory ordering, fix overstocking and reactive decisions, and set up tools to track usage, flag variances and plan long lead-time imports.
• Over the next six months, embed reliable costing methods, replace manual workarounds with structured systems, improve the inventory team's performance and supplier commercial terms.
• Progressively take ownership of reporting, compliance, audit readiness and internal controls.
• Oversee the business's systems and technology, introducing automation and AI where they add value.
• Within the first year, be able to run the finance function end to end, positioning yourself to step into the Head of Finance role.

Required profile

• Qualified accountant with prior experience in a manufacturing, industrial or operations-led business.
• Experience owning complex costing and inventory valuation, fixing stock discrepancies at source, and building or rebuilding Excel and ERP-based reporting tools.
• Experience running, or being close to running, a full financial control function covering reporting, audit, BAS, FBT, payroll tax and super.
• Pronto experience is an advantage; a stable career history and readiness for senior finance leadership.
• Ability to thrive in lean, entrepreneurial SME environments, with confidence and directness with production and supply chain leaders.
• Detail-driven with a strong controls mindset, preferring to fix processes than report on them.
• Unrestricted working rights in Australia; pre-employment checks are required.

What we offer

• A defined succession pathway to Head of Finance within a growing business.
• Real ownership across costing, inventory, supply chain and financial control, with exposure to the CEO.
• Work primarily in the office with regular time at the nearby production site and some work-from-home flexibility.