Accounts Payable Team Lead

Job Title:

Accounts Payable Team Lead

Career Ladder: Managers (Functional and/or People Managers)

Reporting To: Financial Controller

Job Purpose:

Reporting to the Financial Controller, the Accounts Payable (AP) Team Lead is responsible for managing the end-to-end accounts payable function. This includes ensuring accurate and timely processing of supplier invoices and payments, maintaining strong financial controls, and complying with company policies and HMRC regulations.

The role provides hands-on leadership to the AP team, drives process improvement initiatives, and collaborates with stakeholders across the business to support supplier management, cash flow, and month-end close processes. The AP Team Lead plays a pivotal role in enhancing efficiency, optimising systems, and supporting audits, contributing to a robust and effective finance function.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities:

• Lead, mentor, and manage the accounts payable team across all sites, promoting a high-performance culture, supporting training and development, and ensuring team engagement.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong understanding of accounts payable processes, financial controls, and compliance requirements.
• Proven leadership and team management skills with the ability to motivate and develop staff.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organisational skills; able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel; experience with ERP systems (SAP experience advantageous).
• Highly detail-oriented, analytical, and solution-focused.
• Strong stakeholder management and problem-solving abilities.

Education & Experience:

• Significant experience in accounts payable, including supervisory or team-lead responsibility.
• Experience with ERP systems, ideally SAP.
• Understanding of finance processes and regulatory compliance requirements.

Working Environment:

• Standard office environment: occasional travel and overnight trips may be required.

Physical Effort:

• Minimal physical effort required.
• Primarily office-based tasks including sitting, standing, and keyboarding, with flexible breaks.

Generic Level Description

Level Overview:

• Directs the activities of support staff; works collaboratively with direct reports.
• Sets short-to-medium term priorities for the team to ensure task completion.
• Coordinates work with other supervisors and escalate issues as necessary.
• May track to an individual budget line while contributing to a higher-level manager's budget.

Complexity, Expertise & Problem Solving:

• Works on issues of limited scope, following established procedures and policies.
• Monitors daily/weekly operations of the team, escalating complex issues to management.
• Strong technical expertise in accounts payable and related finance functions.

Decision Making & Autonomy:

• Decisions impact daily operations and monthly schedules; escalation is required for non-routine issues.

Communication, Negotiation & Influencing:

• Interacts with team members, functional peers, and stakeholders.
• Ability to gain cooperation, communicate project updates, and manage expectations.

Supervision & Leadership:

• Coordinates and supervises the daily activities of the AP team.
• Receives direction on monthly/quarterly priorities and translates them into actionable plans for the team.