Controller

Castle & Key Distillery•Frankfort, KY

18d•Hybrid

About The Position

Castle & Key Distillery is seeking a Controller with a strong manufacturing and cost accounting background to lead day-to-day accounting operations and ensure accurate, timely financial reporting. This role is critical to translating operating activity across all production areas - distilling, barrel aging, and bottling—into reliable financial insight. The ideal candidate is highly hands-on, thrives in manufacturing environments, and partners closely with operations and finance leadership to strengthen costing, controls, and financial discipline as the business scales.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance
7+ years of progressive accounting experience
Strong manufacturing and cost accounting background required
Solid understanding of GAAP, standard costing, and inventory accounting
ERP experience and advanced Excel skills

Nice To Haves

Experience in inventory-intensive environments (manufacturing, food & beverage, CPG, spirits) strongly preferred
CPA preferred but not required

Responsibilities

Own product costing, standard cost development, and variance analysis across distillation, barreling, aging, dumping, and bottling
Maintain accurate accounting for raw materials, work-in-process, barrel inventory, and finished goods
Support physical inventory counts, reconciliations, and audit readiness
Analyze manufacturing variances and provide actionable insights to operations leadership to support continuous improvement and cost savings initiatives
Lead the monthly close process, including journal entries, reconciliations, and financial statement preparation
Ensure general ledger accuracy in accordance with GAAP
Manage fixed asset accounting, depreciation, and capital project tracking
Support CFO in quarterly and annual close activities, to ensure company leadership has reliable financial data for decision-making.
Maintain internal controls, policies, and procedures, identifying opportunities for improvement as appropriate. Serve as a subject matter expert to the organization for best practices and provide training to employees as needed.
Ensure compliance with sales tax, excise tax, and other applicable government filings
Support regulatory and compliance reporting, including TTB-related inventory and production reporting
Coordinate with external auditors, tax advisors, and banking partners
Maintain and enhance ERP and accounting systems to support manufacturing and inventory accuracy
Improve costing models, inventory workflows, and reporting processes
Identify opportunities to automate manual processes and improve data integrity
Manage and develop accounting staff
Partner closely with the CFO on budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, and operational analysis
Serve as a financial thought partner to operations, bottling, and supply chain teams