Accounts Payable Accountant

Accounts Payable Accountant

Garden Grove, CA

Harbinger is an American commercial electric vehicle (EV) company on a mission to transform an industry starving for innovation. Harbinger's best-in-class team of EV, battery, and drivetrain experts have pooled their deep experience to bring a first-of-its-kind EV platform to support the growing demand for medium-duty EVs and Hybrids. Harbinger: Familiar Form, Revolutionary Foundation.

We are seeking an experienced, self-directed Accounts Payable Accountant to own the full procure-to-pay (P2P) cycle across multiple legal entities and business units. The right candidate brings solid GAAP knowledge, familiarity with SOX internal controls, and the professional maturity to work accurately and independently in a dynamic, multi-entity environment. This is not a role for someone who needs everything figured out before they can be effective. You will be expected to execute at a high level, stay organized under competing demands, identify and clearly communicate issues to management, and adapt as processes and systems evolve around you.

What You'll Walk Into

We believe in being upfront about the environment you're joining:

The Current Environment

• A multi-entity, multi-business-unit structure requiring careful entity-level coding and cost allocation
• AP processes that are being actively assessed and improved by management
• Data quality issues that are being identified and remediated your accuracy and attention to detail matters here
• Systems that may be mid-configuration or in transition
• A team rebuilding its foundation reliability, consistency, and clear communication will be valued above all

If you're the kind of person who looks at that list and thinks "I can work in this," we want to talk.

Key Responsibilities

Full-Cycle AP Processing Multi-Entity Environment

• Process high-volume invoices accurately across multiple legal entities and business units, with correct entity, GL, and cost center coding on every transaction
• Apply intercompany and cross-entity coding rules correctly; escalate ambiguous allocations rather than guessing
• Perform 2-way and 3-way PO matching for both direct (inventory/production) and indirect (operating expense) vendor invoices
• Understand the distinction between direct and indirect spend and apply the appropriate controls, approval workflows, and coding for each
• Manage payment runs (ACH, wire, check); monitor aging and ensure accuracy of payment terms across all entities
• Maintain vendor master data, collect W-8/W-9s, and support year-end 1099/1042 preparation and filing

Tax Abatements Applied Knowledge

• Maintain working knowledge of which tax abatements apply to the company, which entities and transaction types they cover, and when they are in effect
• Review vendor invoices for sales tax charges and apply informed judgment: know when a tax charge is correct, when it should be disputed, and when we are responsible for remitting tax directly
• Professionally dispute incorrect tax billings with vendors, providing clear documentation of the applicable abatement
• Escalate ambiguous tax situations to management rather than processing through incorrect charges

GR/IR Reconciliation & Controls

• Perform regular GR/IR (Goods Receipt / Invoice Receipt) reconciliation to ensure receipts and invoices are matched and cleared on a timely basis
• Investigate and resolve GR/IR open items: unmatched receipts, invoices without receipts, quantity and price variances
• Coordinate with procurement and receiving to clear aged GR/IR items and prevent subledger distortion
• Follow established internal controls consistently: proper approvals, documentation, and segregation of duties
• Maintain complete, audit-ready records for every transaction; support internal and external audit requests

Month-End Close

• Prepare month-end AP accruals across all entities; ensure liabilities are captured at the correct entity level before close
• Reconcile the AP subledger to the general ledger at the entity level and resolve open items on schedule
• Deliver accurate AP aging reports and close deliverables by established deadlines

Issue Identification & Communication

• When something doesn't look right a duplicate, a mismatch, a missing approval, an incorrect tax charge catch it, document it, and bring it to management promptly
• Participate in UAT for system changes or upgrades: execute assigned test scenarios, note discrepancies, and report findings clearly to management
• Provide clear, timely status updates so management can make informed decisions
• Adapt readily when processes, systems, or priorities change; maintain accuracy through transitions

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain professional relationships with both direct and indirect vendors; manage vendor statements and reconciliations
• Communicate clearly with internal stakeholders (procurement, operations, finance) to resolve coding, matching, and approval issues efficiently

Qualifications

Required

• 37+ years of full-cycle accounts payable experience
• Prior experience in a multi-entity or multi-business-unit environment with entity-level coding and allocation requirements
• Demonstrated knowledge of GAAP as it applies to AP: accruals, cutoff, prepaid vs. expense treatment, liability recognition
• Working familiarity with SOX internal controls in an AP environment: approvals, documentation, audit trails, segregation of duties
• Deep, working knowledge of the end-to-end P2P process for both direct and indirect spend categories
• Hands-on GR/IR reconciliation experience: investigating variances, clearing open items, coordinating with procurement and receiving
• Practical understanding of sales tax concepts including tax-exempt transactions, abatements, and when to dispute a vendor's tax charge
• Experience with ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Dynamics 365, or similar)
• Strong Excel skills: pivot tables, VLOOKUPs/XLOOKUPs, reconciliation workbooks
• Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy
• Highly organized: able to manage multiple open items, entities, and deadlines simultaneously without dropping the ball
• Clear, professional communicator: knows when to ask, when to escalate, and how to explain an issue without prompting

Preferred

• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• Experience working in a high-change or transitional environment and maintaining accuracy throughout
• Prior UAT participation for an ERP implementation, upgrade, or AP tool deployment
• AP automation platform experience (Bill.com, Tipalti, Coupa, or similar)
• Prior experience in a SOX-compliant or publicly traded company

Key Benefits & Perks: Comprehensive Health, Dental & Vision (HDV) 100% employee covered Early-stage Stock Options Robust Retirement Savings (401k, HSA, FSA) Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) & Parental Leave Annual Vacation Bonus Wellness & Fertility Benefits Cell Phone Stipend Complimentary Meals & Stocked Kitchens

California Pay Range

$75,000 - $90,000 USD

Equal Opportunity Harbinger is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. Harbinger is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at View email address on click.appcast.io. Candidate Data Privacy Harbinger may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes ("Candidate Personal Data"). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional