About the Opportunity
Our client is a rapidly growing Canadian specialty food manufacturer serving grocery, club and foodservice customers across Canada and the United States. The business has expanded quickly, operates from a busy Mississauga manufacturing site, and is strengthening its finance function for the next stage of growth.
This is not a reporting-only Controller role and it is not a highly layered corporate finance seat. The successful candidate will lead the day-to-day finance function, partner closely with operations and senior leadership, and bring stronger financial discipline to a founder-led manufacturing environment.
How We Work - Read This Before You Apply
We are fast-paced, entrepreneurial and less corporate. That is not branding. It is the job.
- Customers move quickly and so do we. Decisions are often made the same day, sometimes with incomplete information.
- Owners and managers work across functions. You will be expected to step outside a narrow job description when the business needs it.
- Large-company habits such as layered approvals, polished decks before a simple answer, or “that is not my lane” will not work here.
- Fast does not mean sloppy. Controls, a clean close and accurate numbers are essential.
- Detail is not optional. Inventory, costing, tax, cash, customer claims and financial reporting all need to be right.
Why This Role Exists Now
- Rapid growth, increasing SKU complexity, multiple storage locations and significant U.S. business have outgrown informal finance processes.
- A new ERP environment is being implemented and the business needs stronger costing, inventory accuracy, reporting and close discipline.
- Senior leadership needs one trusted source of truth on cash, margin, inventory, labour and customer profitability.
Accounting, Close and Control
- Lead the full accounting cycle, including GL, AP, AR, payroll interface, fixed assets, month-end and year-end close.
- Deliver a clean, timely close with reconciliations that stand up to scrutiny.
- Develop practical controls for a mid-sized manufacturer without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Prepare concise monthly reporting covering P&L, balance sheet, cash, variances and decisions required.
- Manage external accounting, audit, banking and tax relationships, including cross-border considerations.
Costing, Inventory and Plant Finance
- Build and maintain SKU and plant costing across ingredients, labour, packaging, yield and overhead.
- Work directly with production to understand labour, yield and waste variances. This role belongs on the plant floor as well as in the office.
- Strengthen inventory integrity across production, packing and warehouse/freezer locations.
- Provide clear visibility into margin by customer, channel and SKU.
U.S. Business and Commercial Finance
- Support landed cost, freight, duty, FX and chargeback analysis for U.S. accounts.
- Improve collections, payables rhythm, working-capital visibility and cash discipline as volume grows.
- Bring practical commercial insight to customer profitability and business decisions.
ERP and Systems
- Act as the finance lead within the ERP environment and help drive adoption across the processes the business actually uses.
- Replace unnecessary shadow spreadsheets with repeatable reporting that managers can rely on.
- Improve labour-cost visibility and support stronger operating data as the business scales.
How You Show Up
- Partner directly with production, warehouse, sales and senior leadership.
- Be willing to step into detailed work when required. This is a manufacturing business, not a finance tower.
- Challenge senior leaders with facts when the numbers support a different conclusion, then help move the decision forward.
What Strong Looks Like
- CPA designation strongly preferred.
- 7+ years of progressive accounting and finance experience, including at least 2 years with responsibility for close and reporting in manufacturing.
- Strong manufacturing cost accounting experience, including standard costing, inventory, labour and yield variances, and SKU/product profitability.
- Hands-on plant finance experience and comfort working directly with operations, production and warehouse teams.
- Strong ERP experience with Odoo, NetSuite, SYSPRO, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics or a similar mid-market manufacturing platform.
- Experience improving controls, reporting, inventory accuracy and finance processes in a growing business.
- Commercial finance capability across working capital, cash flow, customer profitability and margin analysis.
- Exposure to U.S. customers, foreign exchange, freight, duty or chargebacks is a strong asset.
- Food manufacturing, CPG, frozen foods, bakery or another regulated manufacturing environment is preferred.
- Highly detail-oriented, direct, organized and comfortable operating without layers of corporate support.
What This Role Is Not
- Not a remote corporate reporting job.
- Not a large finance department where the work is already divided across multiple specialist teams.
- Not a role for someone who needs several approval layers before making a practical business decision.
What We Offer
- A visible finance leadership role in a Canadian food business scaling rapidly in the U.S.
- Direct access to senior leadership and a genuine seat at the table.
- The opportunity to shape the finance function, ERP environment and management reporting as the company grows.
- Credible career progression into a broader finance leadership / CFO-level role for a strong performer.
