Operations Controller - Manufacturing & Supply Chain Finance

About the role

Applied Materials is hiring an Operations Controller in Singapore to act as the end-to-end finance owner for the manufacturing and supply chain operations of one of its business units, whose operations are mainly based in Taiwan. The role owns the full operations P&L, from period results, variances and inventory through burden, manufacturing cost of sales (MCOS) and gross margin, and advises the business unit's operations and supply chain leadership. It sits within a large, established WWO Finance team in Singapore, partnering daily with leaders in Taiwan, much of it in Mandarin.

Key responsibilities

• Own period results and explain manufacturing health, productivity, cycle time and cost per tool to leadership
• Lead analysis of demand planning, capacity, plan of record and make vs. buy, and build the financial case behind operational decisions
• Drive direct labor modeling, efficiency, indirect headcount, spend management and over/under absorption analysis
• Oversee module and taxonomy reporting, time studies, labor variance analysis and manufacturing lead-time metrics
• Own operational variances such as vendor premiums, DMR, rework, cycle counts, supplier liabilities, crating and outbound, and floorstock
• Manage standard overhead and over/under absorption, and turn variance drivers into corrective actions
• Own inventory health and reserves (E&O, ECO, aged raw material and WIP, excess and zero-demand), lead the standard cost roll and inventory entitlement, and partner with supply chain to reduce inventory exposure and improve working capital
• Own the business unit's effective burden rate, monitor burden spend and receipts against plan, and identify rate drivers
• Drive the MCOS savings agenda (PPV, vendor business reviews, configuration cost) and track cost-reduction initiatives through to realized savings
• Own the operations gross margin, including the S1 view, gross-to-net bridge, CPT, revenue and MCOS, and deliver margin bridges for monthly, quarterly and annual planning
• Act as the primary finance partner to operations and supply chain leaders, lead AOP, forecasting and capex/ROI reviews, coordinate partner finance teams, maintain SOX controls and support audits

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business or a related field
• 5 to 12+ years of experience in manufacturing, operations, cost or plant finance
• Fluency in written and spoken Mandarin and English, able to present to and challenge senior leaders in both
• Willingness to travel regularly to Taiwan
• Preferred: semiconductor or high-tech capital equipment manufacturing experience, cross-site experience (Taiwan and Singapore), and experience owning a full operations finance portfolio

Required skills

• Standard costing, variance analysis, inventory accounting and reserves, absorption and gross margin drivers
• Ability to influence operations and supply chain leaders on business decisions