Lead Accounts Payable Specialist

Thoughtworks is centralizing our global Accounts Payable operations to establish a scalable, efficient, and technology-enabled delivery model anchored in Bangalore, India. The aim is to bring consistency, accuracy, and compliance across AP processes, while driving improvements in efficiency, automation, and knowledge sharing worldwide.

In this role, you will lead the transition and ongoing management of global AP processes, ensuring they are standardized, well-controlled, and future-ready. You will be accountable for accuracy, timeliness, and compliance in AP operations, while also mentoring and developing team members. Beyond operational oversight, you will collaborate with regional controllers, procurement, and finance stakeholders to identify opportunities for improvement, implement best practices, and design scalable solutions. Joining at this formative stage, you will directly shape the centralization of AP and help define how the function operates globally.

Job responsibilities

• Own and govern global Accounts Payable processes, ensuring consistent execution, accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with internal policies, controls, and regulatory requirements.

• Lead the transition and stabilization of AP activities into the global COE, defining standard operating procedures and scalable, future-ready process designs.

• Drive AP transformation through automation, AI, and digital tools, reducing manual work, improving controls, and enhancing efficiency and data quality.

• Partner with regional finance teams, controllers, and procurement stakeholders to enable seamless, end-to-end execution of AP across geographies.

• Define, track, and analyze AP performance metrics, using dashboards and analytics to identify risks, inefficiencies, and improvement opportunities.

• Ensure AP processes are audit-ready by maintaining strong documentation, transparency, and control discipline; support internal and external audits as required.

• Mentor and develop AP team members within the COE, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement enabled by technology.

• Act as a subject matter expert for global AP, advising stakeholders on best practices, process governance, and emerging automation and AI solutions.

Job qualifications

Technical Skills

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Commerce, or a related discipline.

• 7+ years of progressive experience in Accounts Payable or Procure-to-Pay operations, including leadership of global or multi-entity teams.

• Demonstrated success in driving automation, digitization, or AI-enabled solutions in AP or related finance processes.

• Strong understanding of end-to-end procure-to-pay processes, including policies, controls, compliance, and opportunities for technology-enabled improvement.

• Experience leading and developing distributed teams across multiple countries, fostering collaboration and accountability in a global setting.

• Strong written and verbal English communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across geographies and levels of seniority.

• Flexibility to adjust working hours to align with stakeholders in other time zones.

• Proven ability to independently problem-solve and exercise sound judgment in fast-moving environments.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel (data analysis, reconciliation, and reporting) and familiarity with automation tools and analytics platforms.

Professional Skills

• You have a demonstrated independent ability to effectively prioritize and manage multiple tasks to meet deadlines, paying close attention to detail.

• You have experience and adept at effectively communicating conclusions and recommending action steps.

• You have a demonstrated ability to be effective without a mandate, relying on relationship-building, credibility and influence skills in an individual capacity and in a team setting.

• You have strong analytical and problem solving skills.

• You have strong stakeholder management skills to support and leverage the team.

• You have previous experience managing people.

• You can lead new initiatives and projects and evolve finance function.

Other things to know

Learning & Development

There is no one-size-fits-all career path at Thoughtworks: however you want to develop your career is entirely up to you. But we also balance autonomy with the strength of our cultivation culture. This means your career is supported by interactive tools, numerous development programs and teammates who want to help you grow. We see value in helping each other be our best and that extends to empowering our employees in their career journeys.

About Thoughtworks

Thoughtworks is a dynamic and inclusive community of bright and supportive colleagues who are revolutionizing tech. As a leading technology consultancy, we’re pushing boundaries through our purposeful and impactful work. For 30+ years, we’ve delivered extraordinary impact together with our clients by helping them solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator. Bring your brilliant expertise and commitment for continuous learning to Thoughtworks. Together, let’s be extraordinary.

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