Controller in Houston, Texas at Martin Preferred Foods LP

Martin Foods, LP is seeking an intellectually curious, self-motivated Controller to join our team in Houston. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the Controller will have broad exposure across the organization, with leadership responsibility spanning Accounting, Customer Service, manufacturing finance, and cross-functional business analysis. This breadth provides an opportunity to understand the business end-to-end and influence both financial and operational performance.

The Controller will provide leadership and oversight for key accounting functions while supporting financial close, payroll accounting, audit coordination, inventory, product costing, and financial analysis. Equally important, this individual will partner closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Customer Service, and other functions to understand the financial drivers of our business and help translate operational activity into actionable financial insight.

This is not a position limited to recurring accounting activities or reporting results from behind a desk. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable analyzing financial statements and cost models, investigating an A/R deduction, and partnering with Operations to understand what is happening on the production floor.

We are looking for someone who wants to contribute to the business, not simply report on it.

· Support and progressively assume ownership of the monthly and year-end financial close processes.

· Review journal entries, account reconciliations, accruals, fixed assets, inventory activity, and balance-sheet accounts.

· Maintain the accuracy and integrity of the general ledger and supporting financial records.

· Analyze financial results and investigate unusual transactions, trends, and variances.

· Assist the CFO with management reporting, financial analysis, forecasting, and special projects.

· Ensure recurring accounting responsibilities are completed accurately and timely while balancing changing business priorities and project work.

· Maintain and enhance product costing methodologies and supporting cost models.

· Develop a working understanding of manufacturing processes through active partnership with Operations and time spent on the production floor.

· Connect production activity, material usage, labor, yields, waste, and operating decisions to product cost and margin performance. Analyze standard versus actual costs and investigate significant variances.

· Partner with Operations to reconcile what financial data indicates with what is occurring within the manufacturing process.

· Analyze profitability by product, customer, and other meaningful business dimensions.

· Develop and refine product cost, contribution-margin, and profitability models.

· Partner cross-functionally to understand the effects of pricing, volume, product mix, material costs, freight, deductions, and operating decisions.

· Investigate margin variances and identify the underlying operational or commercial drivers.

· Support pricing evaluations and other business decisions with reliable cost and margin analysis.

· Develop scenario analyses to evaluate changes in volume, pricing, costs, sourcing, production methods, or customer requirements.

· Provide hands-on leadership and oversight of the Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Customer Service, with focus on transaction accuracy, responsiveness, accountability, and effective cross-functional communication.

· Monitor A/R aging, collections, cash application, customer deductions, vendor payments, and other key working-capital activities.

· Identify opportunities to improve processes, controls, efficiency, and service levels across A/R, A/P, and Customer Service using customer deductions, credits, order discrepancies, and recurring service issues as data points to identify underlying financial, operational, or process problems rather than treating them solely as transactional issues.

· Provide accounting support and oversight for payroll processing and related reconciliations.

· Review payroll entries, accruals, and related general-ledger activity while maintaining audit-ready schedules and supporting financial documentation.

· Serving as a key day-to-day accounting contact coordinating financial information, schedules, and supporting documentation for outside audits.

· Support tax, insurance, banking, and other financial information requests as appropriate.

· Provide hands-on leadership, coach and develop team members, delegate responsibilities, promote cross-training and process documentation and foster a responsive, collaborative, and service-oriented approach to supporting internal business partners.

· Take ownership of issues from identification through resolution rather than simply identifying or escalating problems. Approach unfamiliar or ambiguous situations with curiosity.

· Independently determine the information, resources, and cross-functional partners needed to move assignments forward. Communicate outcomes clearly to the appropriate stakeholders.

· Ask thoughtful questions, appropriately challenge assumptions, and investigate results that do not align with expectations. Develop practical improvements.

· Use financial and operational data to identify patterns, root causes, risks, and opportunities.

· Anticipate issues and proactively address them before they become larger problems.

· Lead and participate in special projects that may extend beyond traditional accounting responsibilities.

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

· Progressive accounting and finance experience with a strong general accounting foundation.

· Manufacturing, cost accounting, or inventory-intensive industry experience strongly preferred.

· Experience with product costing, inventory accounting, financial close, and financial analysis.

· Prior supervisory, team leadership, or demonstrated mentoring experience.

· Strong Excel and financial modeling capabilities.

· Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.

· CPA or CMA preferred but not required.

· Food manufacturing or other inventory-intensive industry experience is a plus.

This role is particularly well suited for an Assistant Controller, Accounting Manager, Cost Accounting Manager, or other experienced finance professional who has developed a strong technical foundation and is ready to broaden his or her leadership experience and business exposure.

You are intellectually curious, self-motivated, and naturally take ownership. You do not stop at identifying a problem or reporting a variance. You want to understand why it occurred, what it means to the business, and what should happen next.

When faced with an unfamiliar problem, you investigate, ask good questions, engage the right people, and move the issue toward resolution. You can manage recurring deadlines while also handling changing priorities, special projects, and issues that do not arrive with a predefined solution.

You are comfortable working independently, but collaborative by nature. You're willing to roll up your sleeves when needed while also developing others and building processes that don't depend on you personally performing every task.

Most importantly, you want to contribute to the business, not simply report on it.

This role offers exposure beyond a traditional Controller position. You will have the opportunity to understand the business from customer order through manufacturing, delivery, collection, and financial reporting. You will work directly with the CFO and collaborate across the organization to understand how operational decisions translate into financial results.

We are looking for someone who sees that breadth not simply as additional responsibility, but as an opportunity to learn, contribute, grow, and make an impact.

Location: Houston, Texas

Work Arrangement: Full-time, on-site. This position does not offer a remote-work option.