Cost Accountant

Arxada is a global leader in innovative solutions that protect our world. Our groundbreaking technologies, in-depth regulatory know-how, manufacturing and process development help our customers to safeguard nutrition, health and infrastructure efficiently through chemistry and biotechnology that enhance sustainability. We offer a broad portfolio of ingredients and services for multiple end-markets that include Human Health & Nutrition, Home & Personal Care, Professional Hygiene, Paints & Coatings and Wood Protection.

With customers in more than 100 countries, the company achieved sales of CHF 2 billion in 2024. Headquartered in Basel (Switzerland), Arxada employs 3,200 associates across 24 production sites and 14 R&D centers, all committed to our customers’ success.

As a Cost Accountant based in Barcelona, you will play a key role in supporting our manufacturing operations in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and Mapleton, Illinois. This position is ideal for a seasoned finance professional with strong experience in manufacturing and industrial environments, who can act as a trusted business partner to operations while driving financial accuracy, process improvements, and operational excellence.

Working closely with plant leadership, operations, supply chain, and finance teams, you will provide valuable financial insights, coordinate cost accounting activities across multiple sites, and help identify opportunities to improve processes, controls, and reporting. This role requires someone who is comfortable operating in a dynamic international environment and adapting to the unique challenges and requirements of different manufacturing facilities.

Essential Job Functions:

• Act as the primary Cost Accounting business partner for the Williamsport (PA) and Mapleton (IL) manufacturing sites.

• Provide financial insights and cost analysis to support operational and strategic decision-making.

• Lead inventory accounting activities, including cycle counts, inventory reconciliations, and annual physical inventories.

• Oversee standard costing processes and maintain the accuracy and integrity of product cost data.

• Prepare and review month-end journal entries, inventory adjustments, and plant financial reporting.

• Monitor inventory performance, including slow-moving and obsolete inventory, and recommend corrective actions.

• Identify and drive process improvement initiatives to enhance financial controls, reporting, and operational efficiency.

• Partner with plant leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to support cost optimization and performance improvement initiatives.

• Ensure compliance with internal controls, audit requirements, and corporate financial policies.

• Coordinate cost accounting activities across multiple manufacturing sites while adapting to their specific operational needs.

Qualifications & Experience:

• 5+ years of Cost Accounting, Plant Accounting, or Manufacturing Finance experience within industrial, chemical, specialty chemicals, consumer goods, or similar manufacturing environments.

• Strong expertise in inventory accounting, standard costing, manufacturing variances, and financial analysis.

• Proven ability to partner with operations, coordinate across multiple sites, and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

• Highly adaptable, proactive, and capable of influencing stakeholders in a complex international manufacturing environment.

• Flexible to support US-based manufacturing operations across Central and Eastern time zones, with the ambition to grow into a future Plant Controller or Controlling leadership role.

Arxada has world class offering in two distinct areas:

• Microbial Control Solutions (MCS) focuses on threats posed by microorganisms to people and planet through five distinct business lines including Professional Hygiene, Home & Personal Care, Wood Protection, Paints & Coatings and Material Protection.

• Nutrition, Care & Environmental (NCE), meanwhile, provides materials used to manufacture composites for electronics, aerospace and other markets, as well as vitamins and nutritional ingredients, chemicals and performance intermediates, and raw materials for a wide range of high-performance applications.

Arxada is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a qualified individual with disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.