Operations Finance Lead

About the role

Destinus, a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the defense industry, is looking for an Operations Finance Lead in Madrid. The role builds and standardizes the financial discipline behind manufacturing costs, margins, inventory and operational performance across a multi-site group, leading operations controlling, cost accounting and FP&A while partnering with Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering and Finance leadership.

Key responsibilities

• Own operations cost accounting across multiple sites, including inventory accounting, COGS, capitalization of labor and overhead, and month-end close
• Own inventory economics, including variance capitalization, COGS release, excess and obsolete inventory and slow-moving stock
• Keep manufacturing and inventory accounting consistent across sites and legal entities, aligned with group policy, IFRS and local GAAP
• Improve the product costing framework (BOMs, routings, labor and overhead rates) and drive cost and margin performance through variance analysis
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to optimize cost drivers across materials, conversion, productivity, capacity and waste
• Lead budgeting, forecasting and long-range planning, and build rolling forecasts and monthly performance analysis
• Own operational KPIs such as OTIF, yield, efficiency, days on hand and forecast accuracy, and build management reporting and dashboards
• Standardize finance processes across sites and support MES implementation so manufacturing data flows reliably into financial systems
• Set up internal controls, segregation of duties and audit-ready documentation, and define group-wide policies, templates and reporting calendars
• Lead and coordinate operations finance across sites, develop site controllers and cost accountants, and act as a finance partner to Operations, Supply Chain and Engineering
• Support external audits, lender and investor processes and multi-jurisdiction compliance

Required profile

• Solid experience in operations finance, manufacturing controlling, cost accounting or FP&A in an industrial or manufacturing environment
• Proven experience building product and standard costing frameworks, inventory accounting and variance analysis
• Experience building finance processes, controls and reporting structures, and coordinating finance across multiple sites or legal entities
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Engineering or a related field
• Fluency in English; another European language is an advantage
• Willingness to travel regularly between Destinus sites

Required skills

• ERP systems such as Microsoft Dynamics and advanced Excel or equivalent financial tools
• ERP or MES implementation, redesign or integration is a strong advantage
• Experience supporting external audits, lenders, investors or financial diligence is an advantage
• Experience in aerospace, defense, high-tech manufacturing or a fast-scaling industrial environment is a strong plus