Your role We are looking for an experienced Head of Accounts Payable to head up our purchase ledger team. The successful candidate will lead a team of 12 including 3 senior team members and 9 purchase ledger clerks. The key aspects of the role will be setting a clear direction for the team, reviewing systems and processes and implementing change to right size the department to support the growth of the business, build strong supplier relationships and work closely with the wider business to develop a value adding department. The business has, and is, experiencing rapid growth and the Head of Accounts Payable will play a key role in managing and developing relationships with critical stock and non-stock suppliers, ensuring supplier and business needs are met on a timely basis to minimise potential disruption to the business. Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities Lead a team of 12, including the current purchase ledger manager, setting a clear direction for the team and providing decisive leadership through a time of growth. Identifying personal development needs within the team and creating an environment and culture of development and progression to enhance of the overall structure and performance of the team. Build and maintain relationships with key UK and international suppliers. Meet regularly with key suppliers and help develop their understanding of how PLT works and develop a deep understanding of our suppliers and their processes to ensure efficient working practices are put in place and maintained by the wider purchase ledger team. Review current processes and identify areas for potential improvement. Drive change through the department and put in place best practice processes and controls to ensure the most efficient approach is adopted within the department. Implement systematic change through analysing the root cause of processing issues and developing changes to address identified issues. Support the purchase ledger team with supplier management and query resolution, acting as the key escalation point for supplier disputes, working proactively with the team and suppliers to bring disputes to a timely and satisfactory resolution for all parties. Build relationships with other departments within the business, key relationships will include buying, merchandising and warehouse and utilise these relationships to develop process improvements and manage supplier relationships and disputes. Develop understanding of different department working practices and assess the impact of these on the purchase ledger team and identify potential process improvements to enhance working relationships and practices. Develop reporting into the wider business including key KPI reporting. Implement processes and controls to effectively manage a growing FOB operation Candidate experience and skills Retail experience is preferable, but not critical, but candidate must have extensive experience working across both stock and non-stock. Strong communication skills and the ability to quickly build and develop relationships both within the business and with our key supplier base. Ability to provide succinct and specific reporting to departments throughout the business focussed on individual department needs and priorities. Strong leadership skills with the ability to identify strengths and weaknesses within teams and to embed a culture of development. Experience and confidence to drive change in teams including a background in identifying process and control improvements and implementing these within businesses to drive improvements in efficiency of performance. Experience dealing with supplier disputes and resolution, working closely with multiple teams (internally and externally) to seek timely actions to ensure no disruption to the business. Desire and drive to develop a deep understanding of our business and culture. Strong excel and systems experience necessary. The business currently operates on Sage 200 for all aspects of purchase ledger. Due to the evolving nature of our organisation, this job description is not exhaustive. While this job description will be reviewed and updated periodically, the job holder may from time to time be required to carry out tasks which are not detailed in this document.