About the Role
Bayer is seeking a dynamic Plant Controller to play a key business partnership role, driving financial and operational performance across various business units, including Research & Development, Quality, Safety, Commercial, Production, and Inventory. This role is crucial for providing essential business intelligence on Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Seed Treatment analysis, offering support and insights to aid strategic and operational decision-making. The successful candidate will also act as a liaison and support for internal and cross-functional stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
- Operational Excellence: Implement and maintain internal controls, support project calculations to verify savings, and assist team members in achieving production cost reductions.
- Costing & Transfer Pricing: Manage costing for corn seed (local production and imports), maintain material master data in SAP, update SAP master data according to budget cycles, and determine/approve export costs and transfer pricing agreements between different entities.
- Monthly Closing & Reporting: Monitor KPIs to achieve the lowest production cost, manage and reconcile inventory balance sheet accounts, oversee cost center management with in-depth analysis, and lead planning, budgeting, and forecasting activities.
- Supply Business: Determine unitary Cost of Goods Manufactured (COGM) based on total production costs and units produced in Malawi, and perform variance analysis against forecasts, budgets, and long-range plans.
- Special Projects and Savings Initiatives: Collaborate with the Production Lead on savings calculations for new manufacturing equipment, document processes for seed destruction and cull handling, and track special capital projects and their ROI.
- SAP Production Process Management: Support SAP and Plant administrators with process orders, ensure accuracy in process order checks, reconcile grower payments, support stock counts and reconciliations, conduct internal audits on SAP procedures, and collaborate with auditors for financial statement sign-off. Provide guidance on cost center/P&L allocations and intercompany import/export procedures.
- Commercial Business and Business Analyst Involvement: Provide monthly COGS per country and PII release entries, analyze seed treatment variations, calculate LRP information for Seeds & Traits, and explain variances against forecasts and budgets.
- Systems Management: Utilize SAP for inventory management, cost accounting, balance sheet reconciliations, and process order management. Experience with Oracle Hyperion Financial Management and SAP Material Ledger implementation is also expected.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or a related business field.
- Chartered Accountant (CA Malawi) or equivalent professional qualification.
- A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience.
- Experience in the agriculture, manufacturing, or seed industry is advantageous.
- Proven experience in cost accounting and inventory management.
- Working experience with SAP is a significant advantage.
- Excellent relationship building, networking, and communication skills, with the ability to interact at all levels.
- Strong temperament, with the ability to manage and motivate people.
- Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks and deliver on time (strong time management skills).
- Excellent presentation skills.
- Strong business acumen.
How to Apply
Interested candidates are encouraged to apply through the provided link. Bayer is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals. If you require reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact ssa.recruitment@bayer.com.