Head of Accounts Payable

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG's shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization's extensive global network. The Group's operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

Role Description

The Head of Accounts Payable leads Accounts Payable and vendor lifecycle operations across SMBC's Americas Division, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, strong governance, and compliance. The role oversees operational performance, risk controls, and transformation initiatives, partnering with Corporate Accounting, Legal Entity Controllers, Tax, Legal, Human Resources, Operations, Treasury, Technology, and subsidiaries.

Role Objectives

• Set strategy and operating model for Accounts Payable (AP) across the Americas.
• Own the risk & control framework for AP and vendor master data.
• Monitor KPIs and SLA performance, deliver executive reporting.
• Lead end-to-end invoice-to-pay processing and vendor master governance.
• Oversee period-close activities related to AP.
• Drive issue resolution and root-cause remediation.
• Ensure compliance with local regulations and tax requirements.
• Serve as business owner for Oracle EBS/Cloud AP and Coupa.
• Manage AP policies, procedures and controls to ensure compliance.
• Lead automation and process-improvement initiatives.
• Support internal, external audits and regulatory reviews.
• Develop and coach a high-performing team.

Performance Metrics

• Invoice cycle time and first-pass match rate.
• Aged AP, exception rate, duplicate prevention.
• Vendor master data accuracy and onboarding cycle time.
• Audit results and SOX control effectiveness.
• Automation and touchless-processing adoption.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, Finance, or related field.
• 10-15+ years' experience in Accounts Payable leadership, ideally within banking or financial services.
• Expertise with Oracle E-Business Suite/Fusion (Cloud) and AP automation tools.
• Proficiency in e-invoicing within Coupa compliance as a service.
• Strong audit, controls, and KPI management experience.
• Strong understanding of global payment systems, tax regulations and compliance and third party risk frameworks
• Exceptional analytical, cross-functional leadership, communication and process improvement skills.
• Experience leading cloud migrations, P2P transformations, and shared services or captive center oversight.

Key Competencies

• Leadership & Influence: inspire teams; drives accountability and results across functions.
• Risk & Control Mindset: designs effective policies, approval matrices, and monitoring to withstand audits.
• Operational Rigor: masters invoice-to-pay processes; ensures data quality and on-time, accurate payments.
• Technology Fluency: leverages Oracle AP and Coupa; partners with Tech to automate and standardize.
• Stakeholder Management: partners with Corporate Accounting, HR, Tax and subsidiaries; communicate clearly with executives.

#LI-RCH

SMBC's employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.

SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during candidacy for applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at View email address on click.appcast.io.