Operations Leader - Accounts Payable

Are you passionate about service excellence? Would you love to work for a global organization that is doing more good for people and planet?

IFF is a global leader in food, beverage, health, biosciences and sensorial experiences. We are now seeking a highly motivated and results driven individual to join our Finance Accounts Payables department as Operations Leader.

Your Focus:

As an Operations Leader based in IFF Hyderabad, you will be responsible for the overall management of the Accounts Payable department team, supporting IFF. You should have led a team size of ~20 people. You will need to look after processing and documenting of financial information along with payment transactions and expected to work on strict deadlines, in a fast-paced business environment while being a good teammate.

The role reports to Operations Leader.

How will you contribute:

• You will be responsible for directing the daily workflow process to the Accounts Payable Team
• You will oversee all payment transactions such as ACH, wires, paper checks and so on. Strong knowledge on SEPA payments, Swift payments & MT (Message type) is a must. Target2 and FEDWIRE knowledge would be an added advantage.
• You will oversee data entry, validation, and processing of various types of invoices like invoices, advance payments, Proforma invoices, and employee travel reimbursements and ensure 100% accuracy.
• Handling payment runs as per the timelines.
• You will monitoring payments issued through SAP HANA are being interfaced to bank & taking immediate action based on rejections / exceptions in bank portal.
• You ensure zero duplicate payments while keeping a close monitor in issuing manual payments through bank portals.
• Ensure business compliance through issue identification and appropriate escalation.
• Interact with Bankers, treasury and other stake holders on payment related queries and ensure queries are addressed as per TAT.
• Updating trackers, supporting Audits for the required documentation.
• Supervising & keeping a tight control over the daily/monthly dashboard.
• Getting the clarifications resolved from vendors & internal partners by writing mails / taking calls with them.
• Ensure baseline values adherence for all Service Level Agreements, updating systems and providing input into continuous improvement initiatives.
• Review the teams day to day activities, including but not limited to invoicing, audit requests, analysis and other requests pertaining to the accounts payable process
• Ensures that systems, policies, and procedures adhere to company policies while functioning with accuracy, timeliness and handle close timelines and communicate on a timely basis adhering to deadlines
• Support the metrics reporting for the relevant process
• Standardize procedures to generate efficiency in-house and create internal templates to be used by the company.
• Be active on the customer service front and be quick and accurate with communication / query resolution
• Document retention is maintained in line with retention policy/ guidelines
• Maintain SOPs in line with SOP quality requirement and keep SOP’s up to date.

People Management:

• People’s manager involving in hiring, structured learning path, operations mentor for the team and create a high performance, divisionally focused team.
• Lead a large team of ~25 multi-skilled members with a global footprint and manage team performance, including resource allocation, utilization, objective setting, performance reviews, regular 1-2-1’s and team motivation.
• Drive cross-skilling across the team to develop a multi-skilled, flexible set of resources. Working closely with the other Team Leads to drive one team approach.
• Should be an active player in team and who keeps self-motivated and prioritizes the work based on criticality.

What will you need to be successful:

• A bachelor's degree in business administration, accounting, finance, or related field preferred
• 10+ years of accounts payable experience
• Experience with leadership roles and display problem-solving capabilities.
• Must have substantial ERP SAP system experience. (1099 filing and Escheatment process experience will be an added advantage)
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to interact with employees, superiors, and customers.
• Strong analytical, research, follow-up and time management skills.
• Excellent accounting knowledge and presentation skills.
• Well planned, organized with keen attention to detail.
• Good communication skills – both oral and written
• Fully proficient in MS office applications (Word, Excel, Access, and Power Point)

Should strongly be driven by various timelines/Flexible in shifts