Senior Payable Accountant

Job Purpose
The Senior Payable Accountant plays a key role within the Finance team, taking ownership of the end-to-end accounts payable function across the EMEA region. This position is responsible for ensuring the accurate, timely, and compliant processing of all supplier invoices, payment runs, intercompany transactions, and employee business expense claims. Working closely with the Accounts Payable Manager and wider finance function, the Senior Payables Accountant will drive process improvements, support month-end close, and act as a point of expertise for both internal stakeholders and external suppliers.
Key Accountabilities
AP Ledger Management
• Review, validate, and process high volumes of supplier invoices, ensuring accurate coding, correct VAT treatment, and appropriate approval in line with company policy.
• Upload and process invoices into the ERP system (Workday), maintaining a clean and current AP ledger.
• Investigate and resolve invoice discrepancies, pricing queries, or coding issues promptly, escalating where necessary.
• Respond to internal and external queries in a timely and professional manner, maintaining strong supplier relationships.
• Post transactions to journals, ledgers, and other financial records with accuracy and attention to detail.
• Reconcile accounts payable transactions and monitor aged creditor reports to ensure accounts remain current.
• Maintain and update vendor records, ensuring banking details, contact information, and payment terms are accurate at all times.
• Support month-end and year-end close processes including bank and clearing account reconciliation.
• Provide supporting documentation and schedules for internal and external audits.
Payment Operations & Banking
• Prepare and execute weekly payment runs across multiple currencies and entities, ensuring all payments are made in line with supplier terms and company treasury policies.
• Reconcile payment batches and post bank transactions accurately within the ERP system.
• Investigate and resolve failed payments, unallocated cash, and payment discrepancies in a timely manner.
• Maintain comprehensive payment records and supporting documentation for audit and compliance purposes.
• Ensure bank details are verified and stored securely in accordance with fraud prevention controls.
Intercompany Transactions
• Process and reconcile intercompany invoices and recharges across the group, ensuring accurate recording in line with transfer pricing policies.
• Liaise with counterpart finance teams across group entities to confirm intercompany balances and resolve discrepancies ahead of month-end close.
• Prepare intercompany reconciliations and ensure timely settlement of net intercompany payables and receivables.
Business Expenses
• Oversee the end-to-end processing of employee business expense claims using Concur.
• Process approved expense claims for payment within agreed timescales, maintaining accuracy across currency and cost centre allocations.
• Act as the primary point of contact for setting up new users in the system.
Raft AI System Management
• Take ownership of the Raft AI accounts payable automation system, acting as the primary super-user and internal subject matter expert for the platform across the EMEA region.
• Train and continuously refine the Raft AI system, reviewing and correcting automated invoice interpretations to improve recognition accuracy and reduce manual intervention over time.
• Monitor and manage failed or rejected invoices within Raft, investigating root causes and taking corrective action to ensure invoices are processed without unnecessary delay.
• Tag and annotate invoices where key information is absent or incorrect, including missing VAT details, incorrect currency, misapplied accrual coding, or insufficient supplier information, ensuring all items are resolved or escalated.
• Maintain a structured approach to the Raft ticket queue, working proactively to ensure all aged tickets are actioned within 7 days of receipt.
• Collaborate closely with the Operations team to resolve invoice queries that require operational input or sign-off, acting as the bridge between Finance and Operations to keep processing timelines on track.
• Identify patterns in failed or flagged invoices and work with the Accounts Payable Manager to implement system-level or process-level fixes that reduce recurring issues.
• Produce regular reporting on Raft system performance, outstanding ticket volumes, and aged items, escalating any at-risk invoices to the Accounts Payable Manager in a timely manner.
Systems & Administration
• Manage and prioritise Freshdesk help desk tickets, escalating urgent or complex matters to the Accounts Payable Manager as appropriate.
• Support the onboarding and training of new team members on AP systems and processes.
• Contribute actively to process improvement and automation initiatives within the AP function.
• Assist with ad hoc projects and system implementations as directed by the Accounts Payable Manager.