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OpenAI · 3 days ago

Accounts Payable Leader

San Francisco, CA

Full-time

Hybrid

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

8+ years exp

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. The Accounts Payable Leader will own AP strategy and execution, manage relationships with stakeholders, and lead a team to ensure efficient payment processes and compliance.

Agentic AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AIGenerative AIMachine LearningNatural Language ProcessingSaaS

Growth Opportunities

Responsibilities

End-to-end ownership (Indirect & Direct): intake, 2/3-way match, exception handling, disbursements, vendor inquiries, and close activities

Escalation lead: act as the primary escalation point; partner closely with the hiring manager and Accounting to rapidly resolve complex exceptions, payment holds, and close blockers

Stand up Direct foundations: partner with hardware and operations stakeholders to define and launch asset management and receiving processes required for 3-way match—including building where processes don’t yet exist

Scale for growth: improve cycle time, first-pass yield, and on-time payment; strengthen PO discipline and receiving alignment; drive root-cause reduction of top exceptions

Controls & compliance: maintain SOX-aligned approvals and documentation; ensure segregation of duties; lead internal/external audit requests and remediation

Automation & design: design and implement ERP/AP workflow, OCR/approvals, and integration hygiene to reduce manual touchpoints; partner with Procurement and Accounting on data quality

Vendor experience: enable self-service where possible; resolve escalations (price/qty/tax mismatches, credits, banking); negotiate operational terms with Finance/Procurement partners

People & partners: manage, mentor, and develop AP staff; oversee BPO/offshore capacity with clear SLAs/KPIs and a continuous-improvement cadence

Reporting & comms: own AP dashboards and narratives—aging, cycle time, exceptions, payment forecast, cash needs, and risk themes; communicate progress to leadership

Qualification

Accounts PayableERP/AP AutomationSOX ComplianceTeam Leadership2-/3-way MatchPO DisciplineTax HandlingMonth-end CloseOracle FusionCommunication SkillsProblem SolvingMentoring

Required

8+ years of experience in Accounts Payable or Accounting, including 3+ years leading teams or programs across both Indirect and Direct spend types

Experience in high-growth, scaling environments, balancing long-term process design with hands-on execution

Deep technical proficiency in 2-/3-way match, PO discipline, tax handling (sales/use/VAT), and month-end close (accruals, reconciliations)

Experience designing and automating AP workflows, leveraging ERP/AP automation, OCR, approval routing, and RPA

Strong controls mindset aligned to SOX, and ability to confidently partner with Accounting, Procurement, FP&A, and Supply Chain

Hands-on experience with tools like Oracle Fusion, Zip, Navan, VNDLY, Brightflag, Jira, or similar enterprise platforms—especially in integrated environments

Proven experience across Indirect and Direct spend, ideally in high-growth, scaling environments