Finance Team Leader - Mat Leave

Payables Team Leader – Maternity Contract
QA Higher Education, Full-time
Birmingham Based (Hybrid – 2–3 Days On-Site)

Are you an experienced Accounts Payable professional with strong leadership skills and a passion for driving process improvements?

If so, we’d love to hear from you! Join our Finance function at QA Higher Education as a Payables Team Leader and help us deliver exceptional service in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
About our role: As Payables Team Leader, you’ll be responsible for leading and managing our Agent Commission Payables team (currently 6 people), ensuring the accurate and timely processing of payments to over 800 Home and International agents. Reporting to the Payables Manager, you'll also play a key role in financial reporting, process optimisation, and supplier management within our shared services environment.

Here’s some of what’s involved: (click through to see the full JD)
Lead the day-to-day operations of the agents’ accounts payable team with direct line management of five staff.
Ensure payments are made accurately and on time within agreed terms and maintain a smooth operation of weekly payment runs.
Oversee the production of weekly and monthly payment reports and provide financial analysis on payments and expenditure.
Drive process improvements and recommend best practices across systems, reconciliations, and procedures.
Set procurement policies and lead on supplier onboarding in collaboration with key stakeholders.
Maintain high standards of customer service and manage internal/external stakeholder relationships.
Ensure strong financial controls are in place and functioning effectively.

Bring your experience:
Proven experience managing an Accounts Payable team in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
Strong understanding of control account reconciliations and supplier payment processes.
Familiarity with both transactional and management accounting functions.
Comfortable working across multiple systems with intermediate to advanced Excel skills.
Previous exposure to high-growth or PE-backed organisations (desirable).
Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
Meticulous attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
Confidence in stakeholder engagement and team leadership.
Ability to review, challenge, and improve processes effectively.
A professional procurement qualification or equivalent relevant experience.

We look forward to hearing from you!

The successful candidate will undertake a Basic DBS check.

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Students preparing for undergraduate study. Working professionals looking to specialise in their field. Career changers. Everyone should be given access to outstanding higher education and our aim at QA is to make that possible.

We work with our partner universities to offer courses ranging from foundation programmes to postgraduate degrees covering subject areas including Accountancy, Business, Computing, Cyber, Digital Marketing, Events Management, Project Management and Web Development and delivered in city centre locations.

At QA Higher Education, our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world. This means we continually celebrate the diverse community different individuals cultivate. As an equal opportunity employer, we stay true to our mission by ensuring that our place can be anyone’s place.

Reference

1000008903