Business Unit Controller

Westport in Cambridge, Ont. designs and manufactures a comprehensive product mix of alternative fuel components for applications in the light and heavy‑duty vehicle and industrial segments globally. This product mix includes Hydrogen (H2) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) components such as pressure regulators, tank valves, PRD's, PRV’s, shutoff valves and integrated systems for a wide range of applications, including Fuel Cell vehicles.

About the Role
This position leads the finance function for an operations-focused business unit. The role serves as the primary finance partner to the Business Unit Leader and to Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality teams, linking operational drivers to financial outcomes. The role turns plant and operational data into clear financial insight, improves business performance, and ensures strong financial discipline across planning, execution, and control.

The successful candidate must also be able and willing to travel internationally on a quarterly basis to support cross‑site operations and leadership alignment.

Responsibilities

Lead the business unit financial planning cycle, including annual budget, quarterly forecasts, and long‑range planning.

Own the monthly business unit financial results process.

Prepare and present revenue, margin, overhead, operating expense, inventory, and cash flow analysis to business and finance leadership.

Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality leaders on weekly and monthly performance reviews.

Quantify the financial impact of safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance and drive accountability for gap closure.

Perform detailed manufacturing variance analysis, including purchase price, material usage, labour rate and efficiency, overhead absorption, yield, scrap, and inventory valuation.

Identify root causes and track corrective actions with Operations.

Develop, maintain, and monitor key operational and financial KPIs. Ensure KPIs are clearly defined and consistently measured.

Own the business unit's Power BI reporting environment. Define data requirements, build and maintain datasets and data models, manage refresh schedules, and ensure data accuracy, consistency, and proper access controls.

Design and deploy standardized dashboards and reports for frontline and plant leaders. Ensure reporting supports fast, fact‑based decision‑making on the shop floor and in leadership reviews.

Lead product and customer profitability analysis, including standard versus actual cost, mix and margin bridge analysis, and trend reviews. Provide insights to support pricing, sourcing, and make‑or‑buy decisions.

Support inventory management through analysis of inventory levels, turns, excess and obsolete exposure, and absorption of fixed costs. Work with Operations to improve inventory health and working capital performance.

Provide financial modelling and scenario analysis to support capacity planning, capital investments, cost reduction initiatives, and operational improvement projects.

Prepare financial inputs and analysis for leadership presentations, including monthly business reviews and strategic planning discussions.

Drive continuous improvement in financial processes, models, and reporting tools to improve accuracy, speed, and usefulness of financial information for the business.

Qualifications

CPA or equivalent professional accounting designation.

Minimum 5 to 7 years of experience in manufacturing finance, plant controllership, or business unit FP&A within a production environment.

Hands‑on experience with standard costing and cost accounting.

Experience working closely with Operations, Production, or Engineering teams.

Required Skills

Advanced Excel skills for financial modelling and analysis of large data sets.

Strong Power BI experience, including data modelling, DAX, Power Query, data governance, and deployment of reports for operational users.

Experience with JD Edwards or a similar ERP system.

Ability to build and maintain financial models that connect sales, production, inventory, labour, overhead, and capital spending.

Strong ability to partner with and challenge operational leaders using clear financial data.

Ability to communicate complex financial topics in a clear and action‑oriented way.

Ability to work in a fast‑paced environment with multiple priorities and strong accountability for results.

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