Financial Controller - Operations and Data

Financial Controller – Operations and Data

Join to apply for the Financial Controller – Operations and Data role at Ornua.

Job Title: Financial Controller – Operations and Data

Reports To: Finance Director

Location: Ornua Foods UK, Leek

Salary: Generous salary available depending on experience

Benefits: Generous annual leave entitlement, Matched Company Contribution Pension up to 8%, Subsidised Staff Canteen, Company shop offering discounts on Ornua products, Sports & Social Club, Staff Lottery, Discount on Bikes & Tech Scheme, Confidential Employee Assist Programme, Free onsite parking and many more

Ornua (meaning “new gold”) is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, proudly bringing the unique taste of Irish dairy to the world for over 55 years.

Why Ornua?

• Ornua operates from 10 business units worldwide, including 16 production facilities, and has sales and marketing teams working in-market across all four corners of the globe.
• The Group is structured across two divisions: Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients.
• Ornua Foods is responsible for the marketing and sales of Ornua’s consumer brands including Kerrygold, Pilgrims Choice.
• Our co‑operative ethos lies at the heart of how we do business as a purpose and values‑led organisation, creating value for Irish dairy farming families.
• Our Values lie at the core of everything we do. Our five values encourage us to Seek and Embrace New Ideas, Make It Happen, Be Our True Selves, Show You Care, and Achieve Great Things Together.
• We invest in our people and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Dynamic Working policy in place which facilitates flexible hours and hybrid working.
• Career Progression including Global Mobility opportunities.
• Comprehensive Benefits with regional specific offerings.

Why This Role Is Valuable?

• Lead and develop all functions within the Operations Finance & Data team to ensure continuous improvement and deliver world class insight to the business:
  • Efficiency & Performance Improvement: Drive initiatives to improve cost efficiency, waste reduction, and productivity, embedding financial awareness into daily operations.
  • Operations Finance – Encourage business partnering at all levels of the Operations Team to ensure full understanding of all operational costs & drivers, providing insight & reporting which is both diagnostic and predictive, enabling constructive challenge.
  • Local Master Data – delivery of a first‑class service to the business whilst ensuring high standards of data stewardship & governance are maintained.
  • Analytics – utilising appropriate BI platforms, ensure an ongoing & forward‑looking pipeline of projects to improve our analytical capability and processes across the Finance Team and wider business.
• Lead role in ensuring all product costings are delivered on time and to a high level of accuracy.
• Business partner to Operations Director & Operations Controllers, ensuring they receive excellent insight in all aspects of their function and offering strategic support on all key projects.
• Use wider understanding of the Ornua Foods UK business to influence senior management to deliver the best result for the whole Ornua business.
• Build and deliver plan to improve reporting and insight to best fit the strategic direction of the business.
• Lead and review all budget and forecast output for Operations function.
• Finance lead for all CAPEX proposals.
• Continuous review and challenge of all Operational costs including manufacturing variances, overheads, Supply Chain costs and waste.
• Develop strong relationships with Finance Leadership Team to effectively and efficiently deliver improvements across the function.
• Support development of financial awareness of non‑finance colleagues.
• Act as a leader within the wider Ornua Foods business, ensure alignment with and support delivery of the Ornua Foods and Group strategy.

What You Bring to the Role?

• Excellent people leadership skills
• Strong IT skills including Excel
• Analytical mindset with working knowledge of analytics platforms
• ERP system experience, ideally M3
• Previous manufacturing experience
• Qualified Accountant

Our interview process is designed to be thorough yet supportive. This process includes a first stage via Teams to allow us to get to know you better and to understand your skills and experiences and, if successful, a second stage face‑to‑face interview that will build upon the first stage and give you the opportunity to get a feel for Ornua and the environment in which you will be working.

Ornua has ambitious growth plans and we’re building a team to help enable and accelerate that growth. We are looking for people who share our values, are curious, forward‑looking, take ownership and work together to build a future for themselves and Ornua.

Would you like to make an impact?

To learn more, please visit Ornua at www.ornua.com

Ornua values diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. We also strongly encourage women and other underrepresented groups in the manufacturing industry to apply. Your unique perspectives and experiences are highly valued and will be instrumental in driving our company’s continued success. Join us in shaping a more innovative, inclusive, and sustainable future.