Costing Section Head for Manufacturing plant plays a critical leadership and operational role bridging finance, production, and supply chain. cold chain manufacturing is an FMCG/food processing sector characterized by high-volume production, cold-chain logistics, strict inventory shelf-life management, and complex recipes (dairy solids, sugars, stabilizers, flavorings, and specialized packaging like tubs, cones, and wrappers).

Key Responsibilities

1. Standard Costing & Product Lifecycle Management

   • Establish and maintain Bills of Materials (BOMs) and routing sheets for all ice cream SKUs (e.g., tubs, sticks, cones, family packs) in coordination with R&D and Production.

   • Conduct regular cost roll-ups and updates for raw materials, ingredients, and packaging components.

2. Variance Analysis (Standard vs. Actual)

   • Monitor daily/weekly/monthly production runs to track Material Usage Variances (wastage/spoilage of dairy or chocolate coatings), Labor Variances, and Manufacturing Overhead Variances.

   • Investigate root causes for high scrap rates or unexpected batch losses (e.g., refrigeration/freezing downtime, power failures affecting cold storage).

3. Inventory & Cold Storage Cost Control

   • Audit inventory transactions, goods receipts, and issues from warehouses to production lines.

   • Monitor shelf-life, slow-moving, and Obsolete/Excess (OBEX) inventory—especially critical for perishable or short-expiry ingredients and finished goods requiring continuous cold storage.

   • Oversee periodic physical inventory counts and cycle counts in both ambient and cold-store/freezer environments.

4. Overhead & Utility Allocation

   • As Ice cream manufacturing is energy-intensive due to massive refrigeration, homogenization, and freezing requirements. A key duty is accurately allocating utility costs (electricity, water, liquid nitrogen/ammonia refrigeration costs) to manufacturing overheads.

5. Profitability & Pricing Support

   • Prepare granular profitability reports by SKU, product category, or distribution channel to guide sales and marketing on pricing strategies and discounting limits.

   • Participate actively in cost-reduction initiatives and value-engineering projects (e.g., alternative packaging sourcing or ingredient optimization).

6. Budgeting, Forecasting, and Month-End Closing

   • Lead the month-end closing process for cost accounts, accruals, and cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) reporting.

   • Assist finance management in drafting annual operational budgets and periodic cost forecasts.

7. Team Leadership

   • Supervise, mentor, and evaluate a team of cost accountants .

Requirements

Job Requirements & Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field. Professional certifications in costing Management

• Experience: 5 to 10+ years of progressive cost accounting experience, with at least 2–3 years in a supervisory or section head capacity, preferably within FMCG, dairy, or food & beverage manufacturing.

• Technical Skills:

  • Deep understanding of Standard Costing and Process Costing methods.

  • Advanced proficiency in MS Excel (pivot tables, data modeling, cost variance templates).

  • Hands-on experience with SAP ERP systems

  • Soft Skills: Strong analytical mindset, cross-functional communication (coordinating smoothly with Procurement, Factory Managers, and Sales, and sharp attention to detail.