Selfridges
Senior Accounts Processing Manager
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Role Overview
As Senior Accounts Processing Manager, you'll lead the Accounts Payable, Concession Invoicing, Accounts Receivable and Expenses teams, taking full ownership of the accuracy, timeliness and control of transactional finance across the business. You'll manage a large team through four direct reports, ensuring the smooth end-to-end processing of supplier payments, customer and concession partner income, and employee expenses across Selfridges, and providing a first class outsourced AP & AR function to Brown Thomas Arnotts (BTA), our sister company in Ireland.
You'll be the process and controls expert for transactional finance, owning the relationship with Oracle EBS and driving continuous improvement, automation and AI adoption to increase efficiency and reduce risk. You'll build strong working relationships with suppliers, concession partners and internal stakeholders across buying, merchandising, store operations and the BTA finance leadership and will play a key role in ensuring the team is resourced and ready for peak trading periods. You'll inspire and empower those around you to experiment, grow and be successful by creating a culture of curiosity, continuous improvement and constructive feedback. You'll work closely with the Finance Director on team strategy, controls and people development.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and develop four teams, working through the managers of each team; Selfridges’ stock Accounts Payable (AP) team; Selfridges’ non-stock AP, Accounts Receivable (AR) and Expenses team, Selfridges’ Concession Invoicing team, and BTA outsourced AP and AR team.
- Own the end-to-end supplier invoice matching and payment process across stock, non-stock and concession partners, ensuring payment runs are accurate, on time and in line with agreed terms.
- Oversee the collection and reconciliation of income from concession partners and other debtors, proactively managing aged debt and escalations.
- Ensure the expenses function operates efficiently and compliantly, with clear policy application and a good team member experience across the business.
- Take ownership of AP, AR and Expenses ledger integrity, ensuring balances are accurate, fully reconciled and ready to support month-end close within agreed deadlines.
- Provide a first class outsourced AP and AR service to BTA, including maintaining a strong relationship with the senior finance team in Dublin.
- Act as the process owner for Oracle EBS within transactional finance, identifying and delivering opportunities for automation and process improvement, including through AI and emerging technologies.
- Maintain a strong control environment across the team's remit, identifying risk, implementing mitigations, and leading audit responses for AP, AR, Concessions and Expenses.
- Plan team resource and workload to meet the demands of peak trading periods and year-round volume fluctuations, ensuring service levels are maintained.
- Build and maintain effective relationships with suppliers, concession partners and internal stakeholders across buying, merchandising, store operations and wider Finance.
- Lead, coach and develop a large team, ensuring clear succession plans, career development opportunities and strong day-to-day people management.
- Support the Finance Director in shaping the wider Finance Team people plan and ways of working.
- Represent transactional finance credibly in cross-functional meetings and forums.
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Behaviours
- Relationship Building — builds strong working relationships with suppliers, concession partners and stakeholders across the business; broadens relationships beyond Finance to include buying, merchandising and store operations; uses a holistic view of end-to-end processes to bring functions together.
- Challenge & Influence — ensures stakeholders understand and adhere to payment terms, expense policy and processing deadlines; uses insight into process performance to influence better ways of working; brings together multiple stakeholders to resolve issues.
- Communication — communicates clearly and confidently on processing status, risks and escalations; takes accountability for the team's delivery when engaging with stakeholders; presents information in a way that's easily understood by non-finance audiences.
- Responsiveness & Proactivity — builds trust through real commitment to resolving issues quickly; uses relationships to manage expectations and navigate difficult circumstances, including with suppliers and partners; proactively identifies and addresses process risks before they escalate.
- Accuracy & Control — owns the accuracy and integrity of AP, AR and Expenses ledgers; identifies opportunities for improvement and efficiency; challenges ways of working and tests the suitability of reconciliation processes for audit purposes.
- Understanding the Process — understands and can articulate the current performance and risks within AP, AR and Expenses to stakeholders; proactively identifies bottlenecks, risks and opportunities and engages the right people to manage them.
- Systems & Process Improvement — uses strong working knowledge of Oracle EBS to identify and deliver improvements; brings together data and insight from across the team into a clear, actionable point of view; coaches the team on process and system best practice.
- Planning — plans resource and workload across a large team to manage both steady-state volumes and peak trading periods; proactively drives medium and longer-term improvement projects; ensures alignment across the wider Finance Team.
- Process & Controls — identifies control risks and defines mitigating actions; works proactively with stakeholders to implement improvements; leads audit responses and identifies end-to-end opportunities to improve control and reduce risk.
- Succession Planning & Development — supports and coaches Team Leaders and the wider team to improve; develops a forward-thinking approach within the team; ensures a clear succession plan is in place matching talent internally and externally.
- Values & Culture — role models leadership behaviours, champions wellbeing and contributes to a culture where everyone is comfortable standing out from the crowd and bringing their authentic self.
- AI & Technology — champions the use of AI and emerging technologies across the team; leads by example in exploring new tools, drives their adoption where they add genuine value, and creates space for the team to experiment and innovate.
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Skills & Experience
- Significant experience managing a large team within a transactional finance function across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Expenses, ideally of a similar scale as Selfridges.
- Proven track record leading through a layer of Team Managers or supervisors, with strong day-to-day people management and development skills.
- Experience of managing a remote shared service centre or outsourced Accounts Payable team.
- Hands-on experience with Oracle EBS is essential.
- Experience operating within a multi-site or multi-brand retail environment is highly desirable, ideally with exposure to both wholesale buying and concession partner models.
- Strong track record of driving process improvement and automation within a high-volume transactional finance environment.
- Experience embedding and maintaining a strong control environment, including audit readiness, within AP, AR and Expenses.
- Finance qualification (e.g. AAT) or equivalent experience gained through progression within a transactional finance function; a professional accounting qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA) is not required.
- Experience managing team resource and performance through peak trading periods and fluctuating volumes.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills, comfortable engaging confidently with suppliers, concession partners and internal teams outside Finance.
- Experience with AI technologies and a genuine interest in using them to improve transactional finance processes.
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