Accounts Payable Manager in Hillingdon

Hayes / West London | £21-26 per hour | Temporary Assignment - 6 MONTHS

An established engineering and manufacturing business is looking for an experienced Accounts Payable Manager / Senior AP professional to join its Finance team on a temporary basis.

This is a hands-on assignment rather than a purely managerial role.

The immediate priority is to take ownership of a busy Accounts Payable function, help recover an existing AP backlog and bring supplier accounts, reconciliations and payment processes fully up to date.

We are therefore looking for someone who is comfortable getting directly into the ledger, investigating historic issues and resolving problems rather than simply managing the process.

Working closely with the Finance Director, Management Accountant, Purchasing team and operational departments, you will:

• Take ownership of the Accounts Payable ledger
• Assess and systematically clear an existing AP backlog
• Investigate aged, blocked, unmatched and disputed invoices
• Manage high-volume invoice processing
• Manage PO compliance and three-way matching
• Reconcile supplier statements and resolve historic discrepancies
• Investigate missing invoices, credits, duplicate transactions and aged reconciling items
• Liaise with suppliers, Purchasing, Goods In and internal stakeholders to resolve queries
• Prepare and manage weekly payment runs
• Support AP accruals, creditor reconciliations and month-end close
• Maintain accurate AP ageing and backlog reporting
• Identify recurring AP issues and improve processes and controls
• Establish sustainable AP routines to prevent the backlog rebuilding

You will need strong, practical Accounts Payable experience and the confidence to take ownership of a busy ledger from the outset.

Ideally you will have experience as an:

Accounts Payable Manager / AP Supervisor / Senior Accounts Payable Specialist / AP Team Leader

You should have good experience of:

• High-volume Accounts Payable
• Purchase Orders and three-way matching
• Supplier statement reconciliations
• Aged creditor and ledger reconciliation
• Payment runs
• AP accruals and month-end
• Resolving complex invoice and supplier queries
• Excel, including lookups, pivots and analysis
• ERP/accounting systems

Previous experience of AP backlog recovery, ledger clean-up or improving an underperforming AP process would be particularly valuable.

SAP experience and previous experience within manufacturing, engineering or another high-volume transactional environment would also be advantageous.

This role will suit somebody who is organised, resilient and comfortable inheriting a situation that needs sorting out.

You'll need to be able to establish priorities quickly, challenge poor process where necessary and work through historic problems whilst ensuring current invoices and payments continue to be processed correctly.

This is an excellent assignment for an experienced AP professional who enjoys problem solving, reconciliation and getting an Accounts Payable function back under control.

Location: Hayes / West London
Rate: £21–£26 per hour, depending on experience
Contract: Temporary assignment
Parking: Free onsite parking
Working arrangements: Some flexibility may be available subject to business requirements

Immediate / short-notice availability would be advantageous.

apply to (url removed)