The Company

Sharp & Carter is partnering with a well-established, large-scale food manufacturing business to recruit an Operations Finance Business Partner. Our client holds a strong, long-standing position in its market, with a broad product portfolio and a finance function embedded right at the heart of how the business runs, not off to the side of it.

The Role

Based at a manufacturing site in Melbourne, this is a true business partnering role for a finance professional who wants to be in the room where decisions get made, not just reporting on them after the fact. You'll sit alongside site leadership as their trusted commercial voice, embedded in the operation, close to the cost base, and genuinely influential in how performance is driven.
This isn't a role for someone who wants to hide behind a spreadsheet. It's for someone who wants their fingerprints on outcomes, challenging assumptions, shaping decisions, and translating the numbers into action that operational leaders can actually use.

Key responsibilities include:

- Partnering directly with site operations leadership on performance, cost control and continuous improvement
- Getting deep into the detail of manufacturing costs: standards, waste, labour, overheads and maintenance spend, and using that insight to drive better decisions
- Owning budgeting, forecasting and scenario modelling for the site
- Delivering month-end reporting with commentary and transformative action plans
- Translating complex financial data into clear, actionable insight for non-finance stakeholders
- Leading cost reviews, the annual costing roll-up and product costings,



and flagging financial risks and improvement opportunities before they become problems
- Backing operational decision-making with robust financial modelling and analysis

About You

- Proven experience in manufacturing or another operationally-intensive environment
- Background in management accounting, operations finance or commercial finance
- Strong track record across budgeting, forecasting, month-end close and cost management
- A genuine business partner mindset with the confidence to influence, challenge assumptions and push back where it matters
- Strong analytical capability, with the rigour to build robust models and unpack detailed variances
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to flex your style for a room of operational leaders rather than a room of accountants
- High attention to detail and comfort managing complex, high-volume data sets
- Resilience and agility as this is a fast-paced, hands-on environment, not a quiet back-office role
- Tertiary qualification in Finance, Accounting or a related discipline; CPA/CA desirable
- A genuine appetite to learn, grow and build a long-term career within a large, complex organisation

What's on Offer

- A hands-on, embedded finance role with real influence over site operations
- Direct exposure to senior operational stakeholders and leadership teams
- The chance to work within a well-established, large-scale food manufacturing business
- A genuinely supportive environment with a robust track record of internal development and career progression

Client details will be shared with shortlisted candidates.

For a confidential discussion, please apply now or reach out directly to Jordan Haynes at *******@sharpandcarter.com.au

📌 Finance Business Partner (Melbourne)
🏢 Sharp & Carter
📍 Melbourne