Accounts Receivable- Subject Matter Expert- Hybrid

Accounts Receivable
- Subject Matter Expert - Hybrid

ROLE PURPOSE
- Serve as the functional authority for end-to-end Accounts Receivable operations, strengthening process control, service performance, issue resolution, continuous improvement, and stakeholder confidence across billing, cash application, collections, credit, deductions, reconciliations, and reporting.

The Subject Matter Expert, Accounts Receivable provides deep functional expertise across the Order-to-Cash lifecycle and acts as a senior escalation point for complex operational, accounting, systems, and customer-account issues. The role partners with delivery teams, clients, Finance, Sales, Operations, Treasury, and enabling functions to protect receivables, improve cash flow, maintain accurate customer accounts, and deliver consistent, audit-ready processes.

The SME combines hands-on process knowledge with analytical leadership. The position establishes practical standards, coaches team members, translates business requirements into process and system solutions, and supports transitions, stabilization, transformation, and automation initiatives. The role may lead work streams and provide functional direction without formal people-management responsibility.

• Provide functional leadership across customer setup and credit support, billing, cash application, collections, deductions and disputes, refunds, adjustments, reconciliations, month-end activities, and receivables reporting.
• Interpret account activity across invoices, payments, credit and debit memos, adjustments, write-offs, unapplied cash, refunds, and aging to identify root causes and corrective action.
• Act as the senior point of escalation for high-risk balances, complex account reconciliations, payment discrepancies, billing defects, collection barriers, and cross-process exceptions.
• Promote timely, accurate transaction processing and disciplined account hygiene, with clear ownership and traceable resolution.

• Define and reinforce process controls, approval requirements, segregation of duties, documentation standards, and evidence retention in alignment with client and Cognizant requirements.
• Perform or support quality reviews, account audits, control checks, and root-cause analysis. Coordinate remediation and monitor actions through closure.
• Support period-end readiness, reconciliations, reporting validation, audit requests, and control testing by ensuring data and supporting documentation are complete and reliable.
• Identify operational, financial, customer, and compliance risks and elevate them through appropriate governance channels.

• Monitor process performance using agreed service levels, operational metrics, aging trends, collection effectiveness, unapplied cash, dispute backlog, productivity, quality, and timeliness indicators.
• Analyze variances and recurring failure patterns, recommend corrective actions, and work with process owners to improve performance sustainably.
• Contribute to capacity planning, workload prioritization, daily management, and recovery plans during peak cycles or service disruption.
• Prepare concise operational insights for governance reviews and communicate risks, dependencies, decisions, and progress to stakeholders.

• Lead or support process mapping, standardization, simplification, defect reduction, and automation opportunities across Accounts Receivable.
• Translate business needs into functional requirements, user stories, control requirements, test scenarios, and acceptance criteria for process or technology changes.
• Participate in solution design, user acceptance testing, implementation, stabilization, and benefits tracking for system, analytics, workflow, and automation initiatives.
• Maintain current process documentation, standard operating procedures, decision trees, knowledge articles, and exception-handling guidance.

• Coach analysts and associates on process knowledge, judgment, quality standards, customer communication, and complex-case resolution.
• Deliver knowledge-transfer sessions, calibrations, refresher training, and readiness assessments. Help identify and close capability gaps.
• Partner constructively with internal and external stakeholders to resolve billing, payment, credit, collection, and account-status issues while preserving customer relationships.
• Support transitions and new-scope onboarding through discovery, due diligence, knowledge capture, risk assessment, documentation, and stabilization.

Decision Scope and Accountability

• Provides authoritative functional guidance within approved policies, controls, contractual commitments, and delegated authority.
• Recommends account treatment, prioritization, escalation, remediation, and process improvements based on evidence and business impact.
• Escalates material financial exposure, policy…