Accounts Payable Lead

Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company founded in 1973. At a time when all life on earth is under threat of extinction, we aim to use the resources we have—our business, our investments, our voice and our imagination—to influence changes needed to protect our planet. A registered B Corporation and founding member of 1% for the Planet, Patagonia is recognised internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism, contributing over $145 million in grants and in-kind donations to thousands of grassroots environmental groups around the world.

Your role:

The Accounts Payable Lead will be responsible for building a strong Accounts Payable Team and managing all Accounts Payable, Payments and banking operations across EMEA. You will play a key role in driving the AP and Payment Accounting projects forward and ensure internal controls around AP and payment operations are implemented and managed effectively.

Main tasks:

Your main focus will be:

• Managing the Accounts Payable staff
• Overseeing all Accounts Payable, Payment & Banking operations in EMEA
• Internal control

Responsible for a successful AP team and act point of contact for AP & Payment Operations:

• Supervising the AP team and leading daily team meetings to streamline operations and ensure issues faced by the team are escalated without delay.
• Effectively scoping tasks and projects, prioritizing tasks and ensuring manageable and equitable workload across the team.
• Develop a team with a strong expertise and understanding of AP & Payment operations through on-the-job training, setting measurable goals and encouraging professional development.
• Develop strong relationships with internal stakeholders (Invoice approvers, Finance team) and act as a point of contact for auditors.

Hands-on Lead and owner of the Accounts Payable and Payment & Banking operations in EMEA;

• Overseeing invoices and expenses are processed accurately & timely through SoftCo, Concur, D365.
• Managing and executing payments and reconciliations through cash management system.
• Ownership of banking and payment infrastructure and associated controls.
• Responsible for month-end-closing activities including bank recs, preparing journal entries and reconciling assigned general ledger accounts.
• Lead AP & Payment Operations projects and process improvements such as Vendor onboarding, Online payment calendar, ticketing system, regression testing, continued roll out of T&E and Credit Cards EMEA).

Ensuring strong Control environment:

• Oversee strong control environment surrounding all accounts payable, payment & banking related operations including formalization of new controls where necessary.
• Lead team sessions to promote an understanding on the importance of a strong control environment.
• Ensure Aged creditors are closely monitored and no unjustified debit balances are included.
• Ensure appropriate sign-off on banking and accounting related documents and ensure filing, scanning, storing documents in accordance with local rules, regulations and company policies.
• Adhere to accounting principles and internal procedures.

Other tasks

Ad hoc administrative duties to be performed as and when required, including cover for other members of finance.

What we’re looking for:

• An inclusive mindset
• An interest in saving our home planet and making a positive impact through your work.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Accounts Payable or related field and with accounting project execution.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and manage a team to deliver timely execution and completion of accounting tasks & projects.
• Team player with excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to build effective cross-functional relationships.
• Expertise in payment operations & banking processes.
• Strong knowledge of accounting principles and practices.
• In-depth experience with accounting software and ERP systems (D365 is a plus).
• Demonstrated ability to identify, drive and lead process improvement and efficiency initiatives through automations, workflow management, reporting and collaboration with other departments.
• Demonstrated ability to enhance the control environment surrounding AP, developing policies, maintaining adequate documentation, providing training to AP team and performing regular reviews.
• Flexible, proactive self-motivated, adaptable and hands on.
• Proven problem solving skills, keen attention to details, analytical mindset
• Advanced Excel proficiency and Microsoft Office.
• Fluency in English, other languages are a plus.

At Patagonia, we commit to becoming an anti-racist company that leads by example. This means doing the work to be inclusive and equitable, across all aspects of our business.

Every person who applies to join Patagonia receives equal employment opportunities, and we value a welcoming environment where each member of our EMEA team feels included, respected and empowered, regardless of their race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, civil status, national origin, disability or age.

At Patagonia, we strive to have inclusive representation within our organisation and embrace a diverse mix of talent to contribute to our culture. We actively seek applications from Black and People of Colour (BPOC) and other underrepresented groups.

As we are in business to save our home planet, we can only do this together.

Please make sure that your CV and cover letter are in English.