Head of Accounts Payable

Driven to create unique home-grown food concepts that bring people together, the Independent Food Company is a UAE-based hospitality company with multiple concepts under its umbrella – SALT, Parker’s, Somewhere, Public, Soil, Shalwa and Kumo.

We are presently seeking to hire a highly qualified Head of Accounts Payable to establish and Stand up Accounts Payable as a controlled, scalable function across all brands and entities, owning the full Procure-to-Pay cycle. The role exists to remove the single biggest source of key-person risk, manual processing, and control exposure in the back office: ~3,000 supplier invoices a month processed by hand, no digital approval workflow, no enforced 3-way match, an uncleaned vendor master, and approvals bottlenecked through one inbox. The first six months are about getting control, automating the grind, and building a clean, auditable P2P engine — before the function merges into the Finance CoE in Phase 2.

SCOPE OF FUNCTION (PHASE 1)

• Invoice processing & booking — ~3,000 invoices/month across all entities (supplier, utility, rent, aggregator-commission, intercompany)
• Payment runs & treasury interface — scheduled runs, bank-API payment files, payment-release controls, cash-flow input to Treasury
• 3-way match & controls — PO ↔ GRN ↔ invoice matching, exception handling, duplicate & fraud prevention, approval workflow
• Vendor master & supplier management — onboarding (KYC/AML, UBO), master-data hygiene, supplier rationalisation, statement reconciliation
• Import, landed cost & stock-in-transit — coordination with shipping line (Maersk) on in-transit stock, customs/duty accruals, landed-cost capture (currently unowned)[AA3.1]
• Staff & expense payables — petty cash, employee expense claims, corporate-card reconciliation

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Take control of the P2P cycle: Own end-to-end AP from PO to payment; establish a documented, controlled, auditable process across all entities.
• Implement a digital approval workflow: Replace the daily 2–3 ad-hoc approval emails with a system-based, DOA-aligned workflow routed by threshold; eliminate paper and print-outs.
• Enforce 3-way match & SoD: PO–GRN–invoice match on >95% of POs; segregate invoice entry, approval, and payment release; maker-checker on vendor bank-detail changes.
• Eliminate duplicate & fraudulent payments: Build duplicate-invoice controls, supplier-bank validation, and an exception log; target zero duplicate payments post-controls.
• Clean & govern the vendor master: De-duplicate and deactivate dormant vendors; complete KYC/AML and UBO capture; no new vendor without complete documentation and AP/CoE sign-off.
• Drive AP automation (OCR/AI): Deploy OCR/AI invoice capture to take the ~3,000-invoice manual load off the team; target >80% auto-capture and >40% cut in processing time.
• Own payment terms & working capital: Standardise and extend supplier terms (target +10 days DPO) without service disruption; manage the payment calendar and supplier relationships.
• Reconcile aggregators & intercompany: Own reconciliation of aggregator commissions (Talabat / Careem / Deliveroo) and intercompany payables — clear ownership for who books what.
• Close the stock-in-transit gap: Establish visibility and accrual discipline over shipped / in-transit stock (incl. Maersk), customs and duty, and landed cost — currently no owner.
• Fix physical & process controls: Address control gaps in the AP / warehouse environment (e.g., no CCTV coverage), goods-receipt integrity, and document retention.
• Build & document SOPs: Every AP transaction class with a documented, version-controlled SOP; cross-train to remove key-person risk.
• Prepare for the Phase 2 merge: Align process, controls, and master data to CoE standards so AP folds cleanly into Financial Control at 6–9 months.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Qualified or part-qualified accountant — CMA / ACCA / CA or equivalent; strong P2P specialisation
• 8–12 years in Accounts Payable / P2P, including 3+ years leading an AP team in a multi-entity environment
• F&B, hospitality, retail, or high-volume multi-outlet background strongly preferred
• Proven track record automating AP (OCR / invoice-capture / workflow) and cleaning vendor master data
• Strong NetSuite (or equivalent ERP) AP-module expertise; comfortable with bank-API payments and approval-workflow tools
• Working knowledge of UAE VAT input-tax rules, WPS, and KYC/AML & UBO requirements for vendor onboarding
• Hands-on, control-minded leader able to run high-volume processing while raising the control bar