Role Purpose / Summary The Manager, Accounts Payable (AP) is accountable for reliable, accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of end-to-end AP services from Magna Global Business Services in Hyderabad.

The Manager leads the AP organization through AP Team Leads, setting service priorities, performance expectations, governance routines, escalation paths, capacity plans, and people-development priorities. While Team Leads coordinate daily AP work, allocate tasks, coach Associates and Senior Associates, and resolve team-level operational issues, the Manager owns performance and risk across the overall AP service portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

1. AP Service Delivery and Operational Accountability

- Own end-to-end AP delivery across assigned teams and business units.
- Ensure invoices, payments, reconciliations, close activities, and queries are delivered accurately, on time, and in line with policies and controls.
- Set priorities and guide Team Leads during peaks, close periods, transitions, disruptions, and escalations.
- Review performance, backlog, aging, exceptions, payment risks, and capacity constraints.
- Drive corrective actions where service, quality, controls, or stakeholder expectations are at risk.
- Oversee sensitive payments, exceptions, and period-end AP support.

2. Leadership Through Team Leads

- Lead, coach, and develop AP Team Leads with clear accountability for service delivery, controls, team management, and improvement.
- Set objectives, monitor results, and hold Team Leads accountable for operational and people outcomes.
- Support performance reviews, talent development, succession, cross-training, and backup coverage.
- Build Team Lead capability in workload management, coaching, escalation handling, root-cause analysis, and stakeholder communication.
- Partner with HR on recruitment, onboarding, retention, and performance matters.

3. Governance and Performance Management

- Maintain an AP operating rhythm covering performance, risks, escalations, controls, capacity, improvements, and stakeholder actions.
- Translate service commitments into team objectives and priorities.
- Define, monitor, and report AP KPIs and SLAs with GBS leadership and process owners.
- Drive fact-based corrective actions for recurring service or control issues.
- Provide concise updates on results, risks, actions, dependencies, and decisions required.

4. Escalation, Risk, and Issue Management

- Act as the senior AP escalation point for issues beyond Team Lead resolution.
- Resolve material supplier disputes, payment delays, complex exceptions, control concerns, and system disruptions.
- Assess impacts and coordinate mitigation with Procurement, Treasury, Tax, IT, local finance, controllers, and other partners.
- Ensure material issues have owners, actions, escalation status, and closure evidence.
- Use trends and root-cause analysis to prevent recurrence.

5. Controls, Compliance, and Audit Oversight

- Oversee the AP control environment and compliance with policies, SOX, segregation-of-duties, audit, and tax/VAT requirements.
- Ensure control ownership, evidence standards, review requirements, and escalation procedures are understood and followed.




- Monitor control performance and drive timely remediation of deficiencies, exceptions, and audit findings.
- Coordinate AP support for internal and external audits.
- Promote fraud awareness, payment security, data integrity, and disciplined exception management.

6. Capacity and Workforce Planning

- Own AP capacity planning based on demand, scope, complexity, close calendars, absences, transitions, improvements, and growth.
- Review staffing and productivity with Team Leads and drive workload balancing or cross-training actions.
- Ensure backup coverage for critical AP activities.
- Identify capability or capacity gaps and recommend recruitment, training, redesign, or automation actions.
- Coordinate workforce needs with GBS leadership and HR while protecting service continuity, controls, and employee well-being.

7. Stakeholder and Supplier Relationship Management

- Serve as the management-level AP contact for supported business units and senior functional stakeholders.
- Build effective relationships with finance, controllers, Procurement, Treasury, Tax, IT, controls, audit, and GBS leadership.
- Communicate performance, risks, dependencies, improvements, and escalations clearly.
- Facilitate decisions on cross-functional AP issues affecting approvals, PO compliance, supplier data, payments, reconciliations, and close activities.
- Engage key suppliers where management intervention is needed, maintaining service focus and control discipline.

8. Transformation, Standardization, and Automation

- Lead AP continuous improvement and automation within the assigned scope.
- Identify improvement opportunities from data, exceptions, stakeholder feedback, controls, and team input.
- Sponsor initiatives that simplify, standardize, and scale AP while protecting controls and service quality.
- Partner on workflow, OCR, RPA, analytics, ERP, and related digital improvements.
- Support transitions, knowledge transfer, stabilization, and updates to SOPs, controls, training, and operating practices.

Required Qualifications and Experience

Education

- Bachelors degree in accounting, Finance, Commerce, Business Administration, or related field.
- CA, CPA, CMA, ACCA, or equivalent qualification preferred.
- Lean, Six Sigma, project-management, or finance-automation training is an advantage.

Experience

- 10+ years in Accounts Payable or comparable finance operations.
- 4+ years leading people, operations, performance, and stakeholders.
- Experience leading through supervisors or Team Leads preferred.
- Shared services, GBS, SSC, multinational, or multi-entity experience required.
- Robust AP delivery, controls, escalations, audit, performance, and improvement experience.
- Multi-country or North American AP experience preferred.
- Manufacturing or automotive experience advantageous.





Technical and Functional Requirements

- Strong end-to-end AP knowledge, including invoices, approvals, payments, reconciliations, exceptions, and close support.
- Strong ERP proficiency, ideally SAP or equivalent.
- Experience with AP workflow, document management, vendor portals, payments, and automation tools.
- Advanced Excel skills for analysis, KPI tracking, capacity planning, and reporting.
- Ability to turn KPI and SLA data into corrective actions.
- Strong knowledge of controls, SOX, segregation of duties, audits, and payment risk.
- Reporting or visualization-tool experience is advantageous.

Language

- Fluent written and spoken English required.
- Additional languages are beneficial.

Key Skills and Competencies

- Leadership through leaders: Sets clarity, accountability, and capability through Team Leads.
- Service delivery: Balances speed, accuracy, capacity, controls, and stakeholder needs.
- Operational judgment: Connects AP performance with business, supplier, risk, and transformation priorities.
- Stakeholder management: Communicates clearly across finance, operations, GBS, and functional partners.
- Risk and controls: Maintains strong payment, audit, compliance, and exception discipline.
- Problem-solving: Uses data and root-cause analysis to resolve recurring issues.
- Change leadership: Drives adoption of standardized processes, systems, and automation.
- Talent development: Builds capability, succession, backup coverage, and team resilience.
- Planning: Prioritizes service, close, audit, transition, and improvement demands.
- Inclusive leadership: Applies objective, job-related criteria in employment and development decisions.

Work Window / Shift Coverage

- Primarily aligned to North American business hours, typically 3:00 p.m.–12:00 a.m. IST or later. The first 6 months will be 100% US window coverage, i.e. 6.00 PM to 3.00 AM to ensure set-up and stability of GBS operations in the first phase of transition.
- Ensures leadership coverage for close, payment-critical periods, transitions, and incidents.
- Occasional extended-hours or weekend support may be required.
- Coverage should be planned through delegation, not routine individual overtime.

Performance Expectations / KPIs

- Service delivery: SLA achievement for invoices, payments, reconciliations, and queries.
- Payment performance: On-time, accurate payments and exception resolution.
- Quality: Match performance, rework, posting accuracy, and data quality.
- Backlog health: Aging, blocked items, account differences, and open exceptions.
- Controls: Timely execution, evidence quality, SOD compliance, and audit-action closure.
- Risk management: Prevention and escalation of duplicate, erroneous, unauthorized, or high-risk payments.
- Stakeholder experience: Responsiveness, transparency, and issue-resolution effectiveness.
- People leadership: Team Lead effectiveness, capability, succession, coverage, and engagement.
- Productivity: Resource use, workload balance, resilience, and sustainable coverage.
- Transformation: Improvements in standardization, automation, cycle time, exceptions, quality, and scalability.

📌 Accounts Payable Manager (Hyderabad)
🏢 Synergy Computer Solutions
📍 Hyderabad