AI Automation Engineer, Finance & Accounting

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The AI Automation Engineer – Finance & Accounting applies AI to finance operations at Cengage to reduce cost, increase accuracy, and eliminate manual work from AP, AR, reconciliation, and financial reporting workflows. You will partner directly with the Controller, FP&A, and Procurement teams to identify and deliver high-value automation opportunities.

This role demands a rare combination: the technical chops to build production AI automation, the financial fluency to understand GL accounts and reconciliation logic, and the rigor to build audit-ready, controls-compliant systems. The ideal candidate has delivered finance automation in a public company or regulated environment and knows where the landmines are.

• Automate accounts payable and accounts receivable processing including invoice capture, matching, and approval
• Build reconciliation automations across GL, bank, credit card, and intercompany accounts
• Develop expense report processing, policy compliance checking, and anomaly detection systems
• Create procurement automations for PO generation, vendor onboarding, and spend categorization
• Implement AI-powered financial close acceleration and journal entry automation

• Ensure all finance automations meet SOX, internal controls, and audit documentation requirements
• Partner with Internal Audit and Controllership on design reviews and control attestation
• Build comprehensive logging, lineage, and traceability into every automation
• Implement segregation-of-duties and approval workflows correctly in every design
• Maintain audit-ready documentation and evidence of all deployed workflows

• Track manual hours eliminated, cost savings realized, and processing time reductions
• Quantify error rate reduction and the controls impact of automation
• Partner with FP&A on ROI reporting and business case development
• Identify financial process inefficiencies through data analysis and stakeholder interviews
• Deliver weekly updates on automation performance, savings, and roadmap

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Accounting, Finance, or related field
• 4+ years of experience in finance automation, RPA, or software development for finance functions
• Strong proficiency in Python and SQL with experience building production automation
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and document AI (OCR, invoice extraction, intelligent document processing)
• Working knowledge of accounting principles, GL structures, and financial close processes
• Experience with at least one major ERP platform (Net Suite, SAP, Oracle, Workday Financials)
• Understanding of SOX controls, audit evidence requirements, and financial compliance
• Excellent communication skills to work with Controllers, FP&A, and Internal Audit

• Experience with AP automation platforms (Coupa, Tipalti, , Stampli)
• Familiarity with RPA platforms (UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism)
• Background in public company finance environments with SOX…