Travel and Expenses - Senior Manager

Nscale•Houston, TX

About The Position

Nscale is seeking a hands-on leader to own travel and expense operations end to end across its growing, multi-entity business. The role leads the T&E team and oversees expense and card approvals, employee queries, reimbursements, corporate and purchasing card programs, global policy, compliance, month-end controls, employee and approver data, vendors and platforms, and integration of acquisitions and new entities. The position is the escalation point for T&E issues and is accountable for accurate, timely data and effective service delivery.

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience in travel and expense operations, including team leadership; ideally in a high-growth or multi-entity business.
Hands-on experience with modern T&E platforms such as Payhawk, Navan, Concur, Expensify, Ramp or Brex.
Experience running corporate card programs across multiple entities and currencies.
Solid understanding of month-end close, including accruals, reconciliations and general ledger coding.
Working knowledge of T&E tax treatment and compliance across the UK, US and Europe.
Track record of applying policy consistently with senior stakeholders while remaining helpful and approachable.

Nice To Haves

NetSuite experience.

Responsibilities

Lead, hire and develop the T&E team, including filling open Analyst roles; establish a weekly operating rhythm, plan coverage and build the team's exception-handling and continuous-improvement capabilities.
Own expense and card approval queues across entities, the T&E mailbox and responses to employee and manager queries; set and report service levels for reviews, responses and reimbursements.
Coordinate reimbursement runs with Treasury across entities and currencies, and use platform controls to identify out-of-policy items before they reach the queue.
Run the corporate and purchasing card programs, including issuance, approvals, limits, virtual cards, renewals, cancellations, submission deadlines, card freezes and unfreezes, and maintaining an accurate card register with named owners.
Own global T&E and related policies, apply them consistently, operate a documented exception process, report on exceptions monthly, review travel and hotel caps using booking data, and design role- and location-specific rules.
Ensure policies and processes meet HMRC, IRS and other local tax requirements, including rules for per diems, benefits-in-kind and reimbursements.
Ensure T&E spend reaches the general ledger on time and is accurately coded by entity, department and category before syncing to NetSuite; work with Accounting on explainable movements and a documented, complete and accurate accrual process.
Reconcile card statements and travel bookings, including matching Navan bookings to actual travelers in Payhawk; maintain audit evidence and perform checks for duplicate, fraudulent or non-compliant claims; support internal and external audits.
Reconcile HRIS data with Payhawk and Navan weekly for employee and organizational changes; work with Finance Systems to automate data flows and address recurring errors.
Manage day-to-day relationships with Payhawk and Navan, including escalations, service levels, business reviews and product roadmap input; work with Treasury on card funding and travel credit facilities.
Define business requirements and test platform changes; assess whether the current platform stack can scale and contribute to renewals and future platform decisions.
Integrate acquired companies' employees, cards and policies into Nscale's T&E stack and establish T&E operations for new entities and countries.
Partner with the People team to ensure new joiners are onboarded to T&E from day one, with accessible guidance and FAQs.