Accounts Payable Systems Manager

City Of Cambridge Massachusetts•Cambridge, MA

24d

About The Position

The Accounts Payable Systems Manager leads the administration, operations, and continuous improvement of the city-wide accounts payable workflow system and vendor payment processing. Reporting to the City Auditor, this role ensures municipal invoices and payments are handled in a timely, accurate, efficient, secure, and compliant manner. The manager serves as the system’s primary functional administrator and subject matter expert, overseeing digital and manual processes for invoice receipt, electronic capture, departmental approvals, audit review, exception resolution, and payment transmission. The role works with City departments, Information Technology, Finance, Procurement, software vendors, and other stakeholders to maintain effective system operations, internal controls, financial data reliability, and compliance with City policies and procedures. It resolves system and workflow issues, monitors performance, and works with users to reduce bottlenecks and improve efficiency. The manager leads process improvements, establishes performance measures, coordinates enhancements and upgrades, and supports the adoption of system changes. The position also contributes to broader financial systems modernization and automation initiatives. The manager supervises two accounts payable staff and provides functional system leadership to departmental staff involved in invoice routing, procurement matching, and workflow approvals. The position works under the general direction of the City Auditor or a designated authority, with considerable independent judgment. Work is reviewed through conferences, operational efficiency metrics, compliance audits, and the accuracy of accounts payable processing.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, information systems, business administration, or a closely related public finance field.
Five years of progressively responsible experience in accounts payable operations, fund accounting, or government financial operations.
At least two years of experience managing or functionally administering complex ERP/AP automated workflow systems.
In-depth knowledge of accounts payable processes, municipal internal controls, vendor management, and Massachusetts state and local government requirements for public disbursements.
Strong technical knowledge of enterprise financial software, automated invoice capture technologies such as OCR, electronic workflow design, system integrations, and relational database logic.
Knowledge of internal controls, segregation of duties, audit requirements, financial data integrity, and public-sector financial practices.
Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to query financial systems, analyze transaction trends, and isolate processing errors in integrated modules.
Leadership and team management skills, including workload coordination, staff support, and maintaining accuracy under weekly timelines.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to provide technical training, resolve vendor payment conflicts, and explain system processes to non-financial staff.
Proficiency with spreadsheet applications, data analytics tools such as Excel, Power BI, or SQL, reporting systems, and financial databases.
Ability to work and interact effectively with individuals and groups with a variety of identities, cultures, backgrounds, and ideologies.
An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience may be considered.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated experience supervising staff, optimizing processing workflows, leading software configuration updates, or managing financial systems projects.

Responsibilities

Manage and maintain the city-wide electronic accounts payable workflow system and ensure compliant processing of vendor invoices and payments.
Administer system configuration, routing rules, approval hierarchies, workflow logic, user roles and permissions, integrations, and related functionality.
Oversee and improve end-to-end accounts payable workflows to reduce manual intervention and improve processing efficiency.
Supervise two accounts payable staff, including assigning and coordinating work, setting performance expectations, managing schedules, and providing guidance.
Provide technical guidance and advanced troubleshooting for workflow and payment issues; identify root causes and coordinate resolutions.
Optimize routing rules, approval hierarchies, and system configuration to reduce bottlenecks and accelerate payment cycles.
Monitor processing volumes, exceptions, aging, bottlenecks, and other workflow performance measures; establish and track KPIs and service-level adherence.
Maintain internal controls and data integrity, including segregation of duties, approval requirements, access controls, audit trails, and validation checks.
Train and support City departments on invoice submission, workflow procedures, system functionality, internal controls, and process changes.
Act as the primary functional liaison for advanced vendor disputes, complex payment reconciliations, and external technical support.
Maintain system and process documentation, including configuration and security guides, workflow documentation, SOPs, training materials, and system change records.
Coordinate with IT and software vendors to evaluate performance and implement enhancements, integrations, patches, upgrades, testing, and production deployments.
Lead and support continuous improvement, automation, and financial systems modernization initiatives.
Collaborate with departments, Finance, Procurement, IT, Audit, vendors, and other stakeholders to resolve operational issues and improve system use.
Perform related duties as required.