Accounts Payable Manager

The Accounts Payable Manager leads, directs, and develops a high-performing team of ten remote accounts payable professionals responsible for the full disbursement cycle. This role is accountable for ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payment processing for vendor invoices and employee travel reimbursements in accordance with the Prime Contract, Department of Energy (DOE) requirements, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), OMB Circular A-123, and Argonne policies and procedures.

This is a highly visible and demanding leadership role operating in a complex environment. The Accounts Payable Manager must navigate complicated systems, detailed and interdependent business processes, regulatory and contractual requirements, audit expectations, and the operational implications of doing business within a DOE laboratory. Success in this role requires strong technical expertise, sound judgment, resilience, and the ability to lead a large team with diverse work styles, personalities, and levels of experience, while also driving much-needed process improvements and efficiencies across the function.

The Accounts Payable Manager will strengthen the function’s foundation - defining roles and responsibilities across the disbursement cycle, building consistent processes, and establishing performance metrics to ensure service excellence, compliance, internal control effectiveness, and timely processing. This position partners broadly across Accounting, Procurement, Travel, Business Systems, and Laboratory divisions to resolve issues, improve service delivery, reduce inefficiencies, and strengthen end-to-end disbursement processes. The role also has significant responsibility for identifying operational pain points, prioritizing improvement opportunities, and leading projects that modernize, streamline, and standardize workflows in a way that supports both compliance and customer needs.

In addition, the Accounts Payable Manager leads, motivates, and develops staff by setting clear expectations, coaching and counseling employees, managing performance, building accountability, fostering collaboration, and supporting a positive and inclusive team culture. The manager must balance day-to-day operational execution with strategic process improvement, while maintaining strong internal partnerships and modeling Argonne’s Core Values of Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the accounts payable function for the Laboratory’s total disbursement cycle.
• Ensure compliance with the Prime Contract, DOE requirements, CAS, GAAP, OMB Circular A-123, and Argonne policies and procedures.
• Oversee timely and accurate processing of vendor invoices, employee travel expense reimbursements, and related payment activities.

• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and accountability across procure-to-pay processes, partnering with Procurement, Business Systems, and other stakeholders to define ownership where it is not yet formally documented.

• Manage a large and diverse remote team of accounts payable professionals, providing leadership, coaching, mentoring, accountability, and performance management.
• Navigate and optimize complex financial systems, interfaces, and workflows that support accounts payable operations.
• Establish, track, and report key operational and compliance metrics to ensure effective performance and service delivery.
• Maintain, review, and update disbursement policies, procedures, and internal controls.
• Proactively identify process breakdowns, inefficiencies, and risks; develop and implement practical, sustainable improvements.
• Lead and support cross-functional initiatives to improve systems, controls, customer support, and end-to-end process flow.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with internal stakeholders across the Laboratory to resolve issues and advance operational goals.
• Support audit readiness and respond effectively to internal and external reviews, inquiries, and compliance requirements.
• Exercise sound judgment in addressing escalated issues, competing priorities, and sensitive or high-impact matters.
• Leaders at Argonne are expected to demonstrate a high level of competency, including strategic agility, team building, clear communication, trust-building, and accountability.

Position Requirements

• Preferred knowledge of and experience with Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and OMB Circular A-123.
• Strong understanding of accounts payable operations, including invoice processing, disbursements, internal controls, and 3-way match processes.
• Experience working in a complex, highly regulated environment with significant compliance, contractual, and audit implications; DOE or federal contractor experience preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to lead within complicated systems and processes and to manage operational complexity effectively.  Comfort operating within system, procurement, and regulatory constraints (e.g., FedRAMP), with skill in identifying practical, sustainable improvements within those boundaries.

• Experience designing or maturing operational processes, controls, and performance metrics in an environment where formal structure is still developing.
• Proven leadership experience supervising, developing, and motivating a large team with diverse personalities, communication styles, and levels of expertise.
• Demonstrated skill in project management and leading process improvement initiatives from identification through implementation.
• Strong teaming and collaboration skills, including the ability to work effectively across departments to ensure smooth process flow and issue resolution.
• Demonstrated interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate information to varied audiences.
• Proven ability to be highly responsive, meet demanding deadlines, and prioritize projects, work tasks, and issues in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to promote, lead, and sustain positive change, particularly in environments with longstanding process challenges and opportunities for efficiency.
• Strong analytical skills, high accuracy level, and attention to detail.
• Ability to independently identify and articulate problems, propose alternatives, and implement effective solutions.
• Ability to balance strategic improvement efforts with daily operational demands.
• Ability to model Argonne’s Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork.