Cost Accountant

The Cost Accountant owns product costing, inventory valuation, and manufacturing variance analysis for our multi-plant metal fabrication operations. Reporting directly to the Controller, this role partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Production Control to establish accurate standard costs, explain manufacturing variances, and drive operational performance.

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• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.

• 3 to 5 years of cost accounting experience in a manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated working knowledge of standard costing, bills of material (BOMs), routings, work orders, and manufacturing variance analysis.

• Experience with inventory valuation and physical or cycle-count inventory processes.

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, and large dataset analysis.

• Experience working in an ERP system with manufacturing and inventory modules.

• Ability to explain financial results clearly to non-financial plant and operations personnel.

• Willingness to spend regular time on the production floor to validate data and understand processes.

• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and follow-through to resolution.

• Experience in metal fabrication, stamping, welding, machining, or coating operations.

• Experience with Sage 500 or a comparable mid-market manufacturing ERP.

• Multi-plant or multi-facility costing experience.

• CMA, CPA, or active progress toward certification.

• Exposure to Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma, including cost validation of improvement projects.

• Experience supporting quoting, should-cost analysis, or new program launches.

• Reporting and visualization experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar tools.

• Bilingual in English and Spanish.

• Ability to move throughout manufacturing facilities regularly, including standing, walking, and climbing stairs.

• Ability to work in an industrial environment with exposure to noise, heat, machinery, forklifts, welding operations, and metal fabrication processes.

• Ability to wear required personal protective equipment (PPE) while on the production floor.

• Ability to travel between IFAB's Gastonia-area facilities as needed.

• Availability to support extended hours during month-end close and physical inventory periods.

• Standard cost accuracy and completeness of the annual cost roll.

• Timeliness and accuracy of monthly variance reporting and margin analysis.

• Inventory record accuracy and reconciliation of perpetual inventory to the general ledger.

• On-time completion of assigned month-end close deliverables.

• Documented cost savings identified, validated, and realized.