Supervise the day-to-day operations of the Accounts Payable (AP) department by bridging the gap between AP Associates and the AP Manager. As an operational leader, this role oversees direct reports, processing of invoices, vendor maintenance, and executing Travel & Expense (T&E) reporting processes. The senior supervisor must develop a comprehensive understanding of all AP areas to seamlessly execute and supervise tasks from both the associate and manager roles. This role is designed to continuously drive operational excellence, big-picture enhancements and train on managerial tasks to support long-term departmental leadership continuity.

• This is an on-site position (Monday through Thursday) based out of our Northbrook, IL offices with the flexibility to work remotely on Fridays.

• This role is an People Leader position 

A day in the life as a Senior Supervisor, Accounts Payable...

• Accountable for the accurate processing of submitted invoices and payments, while adhering to established internal controls and servicing internal/external customers

• Accountable for a comprehensive understanding of all AP roles and responsibilities, including managerial, to effectively execute, support and supervise department operations.

• Supervise and review vendor maintenance setup and modification, ensure accurate vendor setup/edits, perform vendor approvals and proactively maintain the vendor database. Establish processes for regular vendor review in order to identify and separate inactive vendors from the active vendor population

• Supervise and continuously enhance T&E processing.  This includes, but is not limited to, auditing and processing submitted expense reports, enforcing T&E policy compliance, cardholder outreach, and developing the program to conform to best in class standards

• Design and implement Concur reporting schedules, allowing for effective audits and financial review. Strategically update system workflows, expense types and compliance flags to proactively reduce policy violations

• Supervise, train, motivate and mentor direct reports while instilling a culture of accountability across the team

• Manage Robotic Process Automation (RPA) while identifying process inefficiencies and recommending modifications to existing systems

• Serve as the primary escalation contact for vendors, ensuring effective and timely resolution of issues. Communicate effectively and efficiently with all company associates, business contacts, and vendors. Analyze, resolve and answer complex or difficult problems presented by associates and/or vendors

• Drive and implement big-picture enhancements, process efficiencies, and procedural transformations across the department

• Collaborate with and build relationships with corporate departments (i.e. HR, Purchasing, Supply Chain teams) to understand and resolve 2-way match, 3-way match and purchase order discrepancies and interface challenges

• Supervise and review the annual 1099 distribution process, including the creation of uniformly formatted data spreadsheets used to collect payee information, schedule system testing and perform data reviews

• Develop and and continuously maintain a comprehensive directory of A/P Department metrics, to include such things as number of invoices processed by invoice type, invoice backlog, unapproved invoices, vendor payments by payment type, ACH returns, and others metrics to be determined

What you'll bring to the table...

• Must be a strong communicator and influencer; communicate freely and easily internally and externally verbally and in writing

• Good analytical skills 

• Ability to manage, motivate, and develop colleagues 

• Ability to audit high volumes of data and perform complex account reconciliations

• Strong organization skills to manage multiple workstreams in parallel

• Ability to work effectively within time constraints and deadlines, demonstrating initiative along with a sense of urgency

• Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on streamlining workflows between sales, operations, and finance.  Attention to detail paired with big-picture thinking 

• Proficiency in financial systems and tools including Microsoft Suite, Peoplesoft General Ledger, AS400, and with Google Workspace preferred

We'd love to hear from you if you have…

• 5+ years of accounts payable experience

• 1+ years of experience in people management or supervision

• Experience working with large ERP systems

• Experience driving process improvement initiatives and automation

Starting Rate: $70,000.00 - $90,000.00