Senior Accounts Payable Consultant

The Senior Accounts Payable Consultant is a contract position for an experienced AP professional who can operate at a near-supervisory level in a complex, multi-site manufacturing environment. This role clears aged invoice exceptions, resolves complex pricing and receiving discrepancies in SAP, strengthens internal controls to eliminate duplicate payment risk, and partners with Materials Planning, Receiving, Procurement, IT, and Supply Chain to fix data quality issues at the source.

The consultant also supports core AP processing, period-end close, and audits. The ideal candidate thrives in unstructured environments and favors sustainable, root-cause solutions over temporary workarounds.

• Perform high-level research and manual 3-way matching on aged invoice exceptions (30-40+ day backlog) using SAP ERP and Looker dashboards.
• Investigate and resolve complex price variance blocks, price effectivity date mismatches (e.g., market index pricing, FOB shipment vs. receipt dates), and volume discount and short-payment discrepancies.
• Reconcile multi-site inventory and receiving lags (e.g., inter-facility transfers and direct-ship spare parts).
• Manage non-standard billing structures, including Blanket PO lump-sum kick-outs, non-PO tariff line items, and OCR bot extraction failures.

• Audit and eliminate non-compliant workarounds (e.g., appending "-A" modifiers to invoice numbers in SAP), enforcing strict debit and credit memo workflows to eliminate duplicate payment risks.
• Clean up Looker reporting dashboard entries by identifying and archiving false duplicates, un-archived noise, and stale entries.
• Safeguard company assets to prevent fraudulent transactions.
• Ensure accounting activities comply with US GAAP and J-Sox requirements, as applicable.

• Partner with Materials Planning, Receiving, and Procurement to establish mandatory upstream data entry standards (e.g., standardized packing slip numbers, delivery notes, and Bill of Lading references) so AP is not the sole line of defense for missing or corrupted upstream data.
• Collaborate with IT and Supply Chain to evaluate SAP input validation rules and hard-stop controls that catch missing receipt fields before invoices reach AP.
• Help create and deliver cross-departmental training decks for Purchasing and Receiving that explain AP failure codes, payment execution rules, and upstream preventive measures.

• Examine invoices for mathematical accuracy, including extensions for cost, quantity, discounts, and totals.
• Communicate price discrepancies between Purchase Orders and Standard System Cost to the appropriate purchasing or accounting associate and/or management.
• Address receipt, shipment, and invoicing issues with suppliers.
• Match invoices to all pertinent supporting documentation, ensure proper approvals, input invoices into SAP, and ensure payment in accordance with company policy.
• Monitor and schedule invoice payments by required due dates.
• Respond to internal and external Accounts Payable inquiries.
• Resolve problems through direct correspondence with vendors or by referral to the appropriate internal department.
• Maintain orderly files for voucher packages.
• Print and disburse checks as a backup when necessary.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and annual close requirements, as well as internal and external financial audits.
• Adhere to all company policies and procedures as applicable.

• 5+ years of progressive Accounts Payable experience required, including 3+ years as an AP Supervisor, Lead, or Senior AP Analyst role managing complex manufacturing AP operations.
• High school diploma or GED required.
• Extensive experience in automotive Tier-1/Tier-2 manufacturing or heavy industrial production environments, with a strong understanding of scheduling agreements, OEM delivery protocols, Goods Receipt Notes (GRN), 3-way match mechanics, price escalation clauses, and FOB shipping terms.
• Expert-level, hands-on proficiency in SAP ERP (FI/MM modules), including deep knowledge of legacy T-codes, line-item display, blocking codes, price effectivity rules, and invoice parking/posting workflows.
• Proven track record of stepping into unstructured environments, diagnosing root causes of invoice blocks, and implementing sustainable, cross-functional solutions rather than temporary workarounds.
• Ability to diplomatically challenge and align upstream operational leaders (Receiving…