Director of Accounts Payable / Disbursements

The University of Virginia seeks applicants for the position of Director of Disbursements reporting to the Interim Director, Procurement and Supplier Diversity Service and residing within UVA’s Financial Operations overseen by the Associate Vice President for Financial Operations. The Director of Disbursements is a key leader in UVA’s Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS) and has oversight of the Accounts Payable, Travel & Expense, and University Credit Card Management teams. The Accounts Payable team processes over 250,000 invoices totaling over $700 million of non-payroll disbursements annually across multiple payment types with over 15,000 suppliers. Supplier enablement is a critical function of Accounts Payable operations, including portal and conversion strategy development as well as payment processing for all non-payroll transactions for suppliers and individual payees. The Travel team manages over $12 million in travel annually across over 2,000 domestic and international travelers and 40 travel-related contracts, as well as $50 million in University Credit Card spend for both travel and procurement. The Director of Disbursement will manage approximately 10 professionals.

The Disbursement team works closely with the supplier enablement system (PaymentWorks), Procurement Marketplace (Jaggaer), and digital invoice tools (OCR), as well as Workday Financials. As a result, this position will coordinate and collaborate daily with the Director of Strategic Sourcing, Assistant Director of Business Solutions, and Director of Workday Financial Systems and Data, as well as team members from Treasury Services, Financial Operations, Financial Accounting and Reporting teams, and stakeholders across grounds. The successful candidate will be a driver of transformation, with demonstrated experience managing change initiatives to a successful implementation. The successful candidate will manage day-to-day operations to support the business strategies ensuring continuous improvement and exceptional customer service. The Director will be responsible for evaluating, developing, and implementing disbursement policies and procedures.

The ideal candidate will possess a demonstrated ability to lead in a high-volume, fast-paced transactional environment, effectively and efficiently weigh business risks, think strategically, and communicate effectively at all levels of the organization. This candidate will have deep knowledge and understanding of procurement operations, accounting practices, payment incentive programs, and Prompt Pay standards.

Work is independent and goals are set in coordination with a supervisor and leadership. Hybrid work is offered, with an emphasis on onsite support.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide strong, strategic leadership, innovation, and planning to the unit to ensure work efficiency. Maintain responsibility for management functions, including activities related to staffing such as recruitment, hiring, performance evaluation, and compensation determination.
• Direct and manage day-to-day operations of the University’s disbursement functions including accounts payable, travel and expense program, and University credit card program, and coordination regarding supplier enablement.
• Manage staff while ensuring all accounts payable, travel, expense, and credit card activities throughout the system are completed in an accurate, timely, and compliant manner.
• Develop, implement, and ensure compliance with policies and procedures necessary to support operations.
• Ensure high levels of performance, achievement of goals, and quality of results through managers and team members. Lead by example and create an environment that fosters process efficiency and effectiveness though encouraging ideas for process change.
• Support compliance and restrictions around Commonwealth of Virginia and payment procedures, including but not limited to restricted items, payment timing compliance and associated State reporting requirements.
• Oversee Federal 1099 reporting process requirements and identify system enhancements in this regard as well as business process improvements and appropriate filing protocols.
• Report on metrics to maximize effectiveness and efficiency of process area. Emphasize key performance indicators and metrics for team.
• Monitor regulatory environment to stay abreast of internal and regulatory compliance requirements. Make recommendations for policy, plan, and process modifications; implement approved changes.
• Serve as the point of contact for identifying and resolving issues affecting the processing of accounts payable, travel, expense, and credit card for both internal and external parties with a focus on customer service and resolution to highly complex issues related to payment activities.
• Assist with both internal and external audits to ensure complete, timely, and accurate responses to information requests.
• Ensure disbursement functions meet user requirements and provide services that exceed customer expectations.
• Responsible for coordinating and validating all compliance and financial controls for associated business processes, systems, and sub-systems.
• Build and maintain relationships by collaborating across units and departments to foster trust, commitment, accountability, and results.
• Analyze and evaluate business processes and recommend actions to streamline processes and improve operational efficiencies.
• Continuously monitor the effectiveness of existing technology and systems to ensure applicability and usefulness of systems.
• Accountable for developing and implementing strategic plans for the disbursement functions.
• Develop appropriate and useful measures and metrics to assess and understand department wide service levels, department and individual performance levels, customer satisfaction, and other information necessary to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of service.
• Actively support and contribute to the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• Review and approve the development and implementation of training programs and procedure manuals for disbursement functions.
• Review requests from account holders for completion, adequate support documentation, and proper approvals.
• Provide leadership in fraud education, prevention and detection; use data analytics as one of the resources
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree required or equivalent years of relevant education

Experience:

• At least ten years of relevant experience is required
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, or related field, or an equivalent number of years of experience in general accounting or financial recordkeeping is required
• Minimum five years of progressively responsible experience supervising and leading teams in a fast-paced environment is required
• Demonstrated leadership experience to motivate, support, engage, and grow a goal-oriented team is required
• Deep understanding of supplier enablement, disbursement and settlement, invoice processing, bank file, and pay cycle business processes, preferably in an Enterprise Resource Planning system of record is required
• Knowledge of accounting theories and practices and fiscal reporting; experience within a university or nonprofit environment preferred
• Practical understanding of Travel programs, including managing customer engagements, trip planning, and enterprise travel program development is required
• Keen understanding of credit card programs and related expense reporting and settlements is required
• Experience supporting audit requests and adjudicating audit findings preferred
• Ability to perform research, analyze fiscal data, and prepare comprehensive financial reports with a high level of accuracy is required
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment and still achieve assigned objectives within budget and identified timeframe is required
• Demonstrated ability to work with a diverse student, faculty, and staff population, and campus community preferred
• Demonstrated ability to understand, interpret, implement, and enforce complex system-wide policies and procedures is required
• Ability to oversee projects and manage multiple priorities is required
• Ability to interact effectively with customers, students and student organizations, campus community members, vendors, and the public is required
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing is required
• Ability to work independently, use initiative and exercise sound business judgment is required
• Confidence and ability to quickly identify, analyze, and develop creative and smart solutions to difficult problems and challenges in a demanding environment is required
• Ability to adapt to a changing environment and focus on the strategic needs of the business is required
• Exceptional organizational, project management, and multitasking skills with a proven ability to operate independently with limited supervision is required
• Prior experience with CRM, ERP, Procure-to-Pay, and Cloud-based Procurement solution systems is preferred
• Excellent analytical, problem solving, and organizational skills, and ability to calmly multi-task by prioritizing and tracking multiple projects and deadlines is required
• Highly responsive and service-oriented attitude is required
• Proven experience developing sophisticated work products and reports for diverse stakeholders, including executive leaders is required
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) is required

Licensure: Recognized technical or professional certification in privacy, procurement, or other relevant professional organizations is a preferred

Diverse and Inclusive Teams is a core value of UVAFinance: We value diversity, equity, inclusivity, and respect. We strive to create a culture where every team member feels included and valued, and where different backgrounds, perspectives, and ideas are celebrated. UVAFinance is committed to the belief that diversity in all its forms is not merely a desirable complement to excellence; it is an essential component of it. The diversity of our team itself, and our team’s commitment to the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, strengthens our ability to effectively serve staff, faculty, students, suppliers, and the University community. Within UVAFinance, we are taking these efforts seriously, both in terms of our service to the University, the community, and our commitment to our employees.

This position has an intended start date of September 2022. Applicants are encouraged to submit their materials to be considered for this position. The position will remain open until filled and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. For questions about the position or the application process, please contact Daniel Strong , Senior Academic Recruiter.

This is an Exempt level, benefited position. The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment. 

How to Apply:

Applications that do not contain all of the required documents will not receive full consideration, please note that multiple documents can be uploaded in the box.

Process for External Applicants: Please apply through Workday , and search for ‘R0040168′. Complete an application online and attach a cover letter, CV/resume, and contact information for three references (name, email address, telephone number, and address).

Process for Internal UVA Applicants: Please apply through your Workday Home page, search “Find Jobs,” and search for ‘R0040168.’ Complete an application online and attach a cover letter, CV/resume, and contact information for three references (name, email address, telephone number, and address). 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

COVID Vaccination Requirement and Guidelines

Please visit the UVA COVID-19 Job Requirements and Guidelines  webpage prior to applying for current information regarding vaccination requirements and guidelines for employment at UVA.

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person’s perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.