Factory Financial Controller

Factory Financial Controller

Rainham, Essex

Reporting to: CFO

About Frive

Frive stands for Food to Thrive - we help busy people thrive not only because our meals are healthy, balanced and made with 100% whole foods/ natural ingredients, but also because they’re ready to heat and eat in minutes - saving you an hour a day, or up to 7 hours a week, for what matters most.

We're the UK's highest-rated meal prep brand, with over 20 million meals delivered, and we’re just getting started. Now we’re looking for a new IT Operations Lead to keep everything running in our Rainham Factory.

We work with people from all different backgrounds and communities and recognise our own biases. We strive to create a strong sense of belonging and believe we will be better equipped to achieve our goals by building a team that approaches problems from different angles, using different perspectives and experiences to solve problems. All qualified applicants will be considered and we have no regard for age, ethnicity, ability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation the more the merrier, and together we can achieve greatness

Mission

To make healthy eating convenient, delicious and accessible, whilst championing locally sourced and organic ingredients.

Vision

To inspire a global shift towards a healthier society by changing eating habits and restoring food to its purest form.

Values

Take Ownership: We make independent decisions with confidence and ownership

Be Transparent: We share information openly and with intention

Communicate Openly: We communicate directly and honestly

Deliver High Performance: We foster an environment that attracts, retains, and rewards high performance

Be Agile: We encourage flexibility in our people by reducing blockers and prioritising their creativity and productivity

Impact

This is a Senior Finance Leadership role owning the financial performance of our fully in-house manufacturing, warehousing and fulfilment operation.

We are migrating from our current bespoke, custom built ERP onto SAP S/4HANA and expanding into a new factory, this role sits at the centre of our most critical transformation programme. You will be the CFO’s right-hand person inside operations, ensuring Frive scales profitably, with accurate costing, stock and margin visibility.

The role is designed to grow, with scope to build and lead a team as volumes, SKUs and sites increase.

Role Purpose

• To ensure Frive can scale production profitably by delivering:
• True, real-time meal-level cost and margin visibility
• Tight financial control of labour, ingredients, waste and overheads
• A successful transition onto SAP S/4HANA
• Financial leadership through Frive’s factory relocation and capacity expansion

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Manufacturing Finance

• Own the full P&L for Frive’s in-house factory, warehousing and fulfilment.
• Act as the CFO’s embedded finance leader in operations.
• Drive accountability for:
• Ingredient usage and yield
• Portion control
• Labour productivity
• Waste, rework and spoilage
• Overhead absorption

Meal Costing & Gross Margin

• Own all recipes, BOMs, portion sizes, routings and standard costs.
• Ensure SAP reflects true production reality.
• Lead material, labour, yield and overhead variance analysis.
• Protect and improve gross margin as Frive scales.

Planning, Forecasting & Capacity

• Translate demand into labour, ingredient and line capacity plans.
• Own factory budgets and rolling forecasts.
• Build capex and ROI models for automation, new lines and equipment.
• Support new product and recipe launches with robust cost data.

SAP S/4HANA ERP Transition

• Be the Operations Finance lead for Frive’s move to SAP S/4HANA.
• Own all factory and supply chain master data: BOMs, routings, WIP, inventory, cost centres.
• Ensure accurate costing, stock valuation and margin reporting in the new system.
• Work closely with IT, operations and implementation partners through design, UAT, go-live and stabilisation.
• Manage financial risk during dual-running and cut-over from the legacy ERP.

Factory Relocation & Expansion

• Financial lead on Frive’s factory move and scale-up.
• Own business cases, capex, start-up costs and ramp-up economics.
• Manage inventory transfers, dual-running costs and site cut-over.
• Deliver a financially controlled transition into the new facility.

Inventory & Working Capital

• Own raw material, WIP and finished goods valuation.
• Reduce spoilage, expiry and write-offs.
• Improve stock turns, forecast accuracy and cash flow.

Controls, Reporting & Team Build

• Build best-in-class manufacturing finance controls.
• Deliver fast, accurate operational reporting to the CFO and Board.
• Recruit and lead cost accountants and analysts as Frive scales.

About you

A senior, hands-on manufacturing finance leader with transformation experience.

Essential

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA).
• 7–15 years in FMCG or food manufacturing.
• Experience as Factory Controller, Plant Controller or Operations Finance Manager.
• Strong in costing, yield, labour, WIP and inventory.

Highly Desirable

• SAP S/4HANA implementation or major ERP transition experience.
• Factory relocation, site launch or major capacity expansion.
• Fresh food, short shelf-life or D2C manufacturing.
• PE-backed or high-growth environment exposure.

Staff Benefits

Private Medical Insurance

25 days Holiday + Public

Bonus Scheme

A discount on our amazing food

Hybrid working pattern

Enhanced parental leave

What This Role Becomes

As Frive scales to larger volumes and multiple sites, this role naturally evolves into Head of Operations Finance or Operations Finance Director, with a multi-site team and strategic input into every major investment decision.

What's next?

If you are interested in learning more about the role and think this could be for you, then don't hesitate and apply now. We look forward to hearing from you and love hearing from people who are passionate about our purpose and vision.