Founded in Japan in 1887, Kao is passionate about making a difference in people's lives with our high-quality products and services to create a Kirei Life for all – a beautiful life that respects the needs of our consumers and customers as well as the planet. We never compromise on quality and craft our products with care for the consumer and the environment. As a company driven by purpose and strong corporate values, we pride ourselves to be listed among the World´s Most Ethical Companies since 16 consecutive years. Our corporate philosophy, the Kao Way, guides us in everything we do – acting with integrity, courageously driving innovation, and treating each other with trust and respect.
The Role
The Accounts Payable Team Leader oversees the end-to-end accounts payable function and leads a team of AP specialists to ensure accurate, timely, and compliant invoice processing across EMEA. The role is responsible for service delivery in line with SLAs and OLAs, effective payment execution, and maintaining productive supplier relationships.
In addition to operational leadership, the role plays a key part in driving continuous improvement through automation, process optimisation, and adherence to accounting standards and internal controls. The Team Leader works closely with cross-functional teams including Procurement, GL, MDM, FP&A, and Treasury, and supports audits and ad hoc initiatives as required.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the point of contact for the Accounts Payable team, providing day-to-day guidance, support, training, and onboarding to ensure consistent service delivery.
- Assist the AP Manager with cross-functional collaboration, operational oversight, and ad hoc projects to ensure the smooth running of the Accounts Payable function.
- Coordinate AP operations across the EMEA region, ensuring timely and accurate invoice processing in line with SLAs, internal controls, and company policies.
- Build and maintain effective relationships with vendors and internal stakeholders, resolving queries, discrepancies, and payment-related issues promptly.
- Support process improvement and automation initiatives to enhance efficiency, accuracy, compliance, and documentation within the AP function.
- Ensure compliance with company policies, accounting standards, and regulatory requirements, supporting reporting and audit requirements as needed.
What You'll Need
- Completed Accounting qualification (MBO level or higher), with at least 5 years' relevant experience, preferably in an international SSC environment.
- Proven leadership capability with a demonstrated ability to coach, motivate, and manage team performance.
- In-depth knowledge of Accounts Payable and P2P operations within a multinational environment.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with a customer- and service-oriented mindset; fluent in English, with additional European languages an advantage.
- Solid organisational and problem-solving abilities, a proactive approach to continuous improvement, and experience working with systems such as SAP, VIM, Concur, and MS Office.
- Flexibility beyond standard working hours may be required during peak periods or month-end close.
- Additional requirements and ad hoc requests as assigned and support AP Manager as needed.
How we work: Having been selected among the World´s Most Ethical Companies for 16 consecutive years, we are a company with a purpose and strong corporate values. We never compromise on quality and craft our products with care for the consumer and the environment. At Kao, each employee can actively shape their job and their career. We work collaboratively to achieve our common goals, always aiming to deliver the best for our customers.
What we offer: A friendly and flexible work environment with competitive salaries, benefits package, ongoing development and the opportunity to enhance your skills and deliver tangible results. At Kao your voice will be heard. Your opinion really counts. We believe that change comes from taking opportunities into your own hands, so we value and reward entrepreneurial thinking and innovation.
Hiring Process: Kao embraces the diversity and the individual personalities of its people because we believe it is diversity that makes us strong. This is why we welcome applications from all areas of the global community.
Want to learn more: If you feel you are as unique as our products and want to find out why 33,000 people across the globe opted for a career with us please visit our Americas website (https://www.kao.com/americas/en/) or EMEA website (https://www.kao.com/emea/en/)
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