Temporary Senior Accounts Payable Specialist

Forbes • Jersey City, NJ

14h • Remote

About The Position

Forbes is seeking an experienced, analytical, and highly independent Senior Accounts Payable Specialist for a three-month temporary assignment, with the potential to extend. The role is a hands-on operational partner to the AP Director, taking ownership of day-to-day accounts payable activities and ensuring invoices, approvals, payments, and reporting are accurate and timely. This is not a people-management role. Preference is given to candidates in the New York/New Jersey tri-state area. The position is open only to candidates residing in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, or Washington. The role may evolve, and additional duties may be assigned as business needs change.

Requirements

• 5–7+ years of progressive accounts payable or related accounting experience, including substantial independent ownership of AP workflows.
• Strong understanding of general ledger coding, accruals, reconciliations, internal controls, and the impact of AP activity on financial reporting and cash requirements.
• Ability to analyze data, recognize patterns, investigate exceptions, and solve unfamiliar problems without step-by-step direction.
• Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, and analysis of large transaction lists; proficiency with Microsoft Office.
• Hands-on experience with ERP and expense systems.
• Excellent organizational skills, written and verbal communication, attention to detail, and ability to prioritize competing deadlines.
• Initiative and sound judgment, including knowing when to decide independently and when to escalate control, compliance, or financial risks.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Concur.
• Experience with Carta AP.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage daily AP priorities, including invoice intake, coding, approval follow-up, exception resolution, and payment preparation; monitor work in progress and address bottlenecks and approaching deadlines.
• Process and review invoices and Concur expense reports for accuracy, coding, documentation, approvals, and policy compliance, and perform transactional work as business needs require.
• Investigate complex or recurring invoice discrepancies, duplicate payments, vendor disputes, and missing information; identify root causes, recommend solutions, and escalate material issues with a proposed course of action.
• Review AP aging and open items, investigate unusual or stale balances, support reconciliations and accruals, and work with the accounting team on an accurate, timely month-end close.
• Prepare and initiate domestic and international wire and ACH payment runs in accordance with approval requirements, segregation-of-duties controls, and security procedures; flag unusual or urgent payment requests.
• Coordinate vendor onboarding, maintain vendor master data, obtain and review W-9/W-8 documentation, respond to vendor inquiries, and support annual 1099 reporting.
• Serve as a point of contact for employees, vendors, and Finance colleagues; resolve routine operational issues independently and keep the AP Director informed of significant risks, exceptions, and trends.
• Use ERP reports and Excel to identify errors, recurring issues, and workflow improvements; recommend practical improvements using system functionality, automation, and approved AI tools where appropriate.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed