Director, Global Accounts Payable

About the role

Strategy, Scaling, and Transformation Set the long-term vision and roadmap for global AP across direct spend, indirect spend, T&E, and intercompany payables. Scale the function ahead of business growth, multiplying invoice volume, entities, and currencies without linear headcount increase. Champion AI and automation across the procure-to-pay lifecycle: invoice ingestion, GL coding, three-way match exception handling, GR/IR remediation, duplicate detection, and audit evidence collection. Make "could this be automated?" the default question on every workflow. Apply Lean and Six Sigma principles (DMAIC, value stream mapping, root cause analysis) to drive measurable reductions in defects, cycle time, and cost per invoice. Benchmark against industry best practices (APQC, IOFM, Hackett) and set stretch targets toward top-quartile performance. Accounting, Close, and SOX Excellence Own the accounting impact of AP across the GL: ensure invoices, accruals, prepaids, and intercompany activity are recorded accurately and in the right period. Review and approve AP journal entries, manual JEs, accruals (RNI/INR), reclasses, with a high bar for documentation, GL coding accuracy, and reviewer evidence. Own AP-driven balance sheet reconciliations (AP subledger-to-GL, GR/IR clearing, accrued liabilities, vendor debit balances) and drive aged item resolution to a defined SLA. Partner with Controllership and Technical Accounting on capex vs. opex, software capitalization, lease vs. service treatment, and ASC 842 implications. Design, document, and execute SOX-compliant AP controls, preventive and automated by default. Own walkthroughs with external auditors and lead remediation of any control gaps. Direct Spend, GR/IR, and Three-Way Match Own the three-way match process and drive match rate, exception throughput, and first-time-right processing as core KPIs. Own GR/IR account integrity: aging-based resolution, root cause analysis of recurring imbalances, and clean monthly reconciliation with Controllership. Partner with Procurement, Supply Chain, and Engineering/IT stakeholders to fix upstream drivers of mismatches (pricing variances, partial receipts, master data quality) and to manage complex direct-spend categories (hardware, compute, data center). Own accruals for received-not-invoiced (RNI) and invoiced-not-received (INR) positions; ensure accurate liability recognition at close. Operations and Team Leadership Oversee global invoice-to-pay operations, weekly payment runs across multiple methods and banking platforms, and month-end close deliverables. Manage international AP complexity: VAT/GST, withholding tax, e-invoicing mandates. Maintain vendor master integrity, OFAC compliance, and banking change controls as critical fraud controls. Partner with Treasury to optimize working capital through payment timing and early-pay discount capture. Lead and develop a lean global team; manage offshore shared services and third-party providers with clear SLAs and quality standards.