Finance Director – Manufacturing Operations

German PE-Backed Manufacturing Group

Location: Flexible (Europe-wide)

Salary: Competitive Package

We are working with a confidential, German private equity-backed manufacturing group with a significant global footprint and revenues exceeding €1bn. The business operates in a highly competitive, asset-intensive environment and is entering an exciting phase focused on performance acceleration, cash generation and operational transformation.

To support this agenda, the organisation is appointing a Finance Director – Manufacturing Operations, a high-impact Finance Leadership Team role at the centre of value creation across its European manufacturing network.

This is a rare opportunity to step into a role with genuine breadth and influence, shaping how performance is understood, challenged and improved across multiple countries, sites and operational models.

Key Responsibilities

• Supporting major operational and strategic decisions including capacity shifts, footprint optimisation, restructuring programmes and make-versus-buy analysis
• Strengthening financial control across manufacturing operations, ensuring accuracy in cost accounting, inventory valuation and reporting integrity
• Harmonising financial processes and performance frameworks across multiple countries and entities to improve comparability and decision quality
• Driving end-to-end manufacturing performance visibility across the network, ensuring site profitability, productivity, margin and efficiency trends are clearly understood and actively managed
• Partnering closely with Operations and Site Leadership teams to challenge assumptions, unlock performance opportunities and translate operational activity into financial outcomes
• Leading the evolution and consistency of manufacturing costing approaches, strengthening transparency across product, service and activity-based cost models
• Managing working capital performance across the manufacturing footprint, with a strong focus on inventory optimisation, stock integrity and cash conversion improvement
• Shaping capital investment decisions by leading robust capex evaluation, prioritisation frameworks and post-investment performance tracking
• Collaborating with Group Finance, Controllership and Internal Audit to reinforce governance, compliance and disciplined financial standards
• Translating complex operational performance data into clear insights, narratives and recommendations that drive action at senior leadership level

The Ideal Candidate

• ACA / CA / CPA qualified, ideally trained in a top-tier professional environment
• Brings significant experience leading finance in complex manufacturing or industrial organisations with multiple sites and international operations
• Deeply experienced in manufacturing finance disciplines including costing, variance analysis, margin improvement and performance management
• Proven success in improving working capital performance, particularly through inventory optimisation and cash discipline in operational environments
• Confident in leading capex governance processes, including investment evaluation, challenge of business cases and benefits realisation
• Experienced in PE-backed, transformation-led or high-performance cultures where pace, accountability and value creation are central
• Comfortable operating in asset-intensive environments such as industrials, manufacturing, CDMO, chemicals or similar sectors
• Commercially sharp, able to connect operational drivers to financial outcomes and influence senior stakeholders with clarity and credibility
• A strong, grounded leader who thrives in complex, matrixed environments and is energised by driving measurable change across a network

For more information please apply to this role or you can message Donjeta Paloji at donjeta.paloji@phippscameron.com