Accounts Payable Lead

At Bel, we are not just a company—we are a company on a Mission, built on 160 years of bold innovation, family values, and a commitment to social purpose. With beloved brands like Babybel®, GoGo squeeZ®, The Laughing Cow®, and Boursin®, our snacking solutions bring more than joy; they want to serve as a force for good. Our U.S. Mission? To help close the critical 80% nutrition gap by making it easier for Americans to eat more fruits, veggies, and dairy as part of their daily lives.

The company has headquarters in Chicago and New York City and operates 4 manufacturing plants in Little Chute, WI; Brookings, SD; Traverse City, MI; and Nampa, ID.  #IWorkForAllForGood

Job Description Summary

The Accounts Payable (AP) Team Lead provides day-to-day operational leadership and subject matter expertise for Accounts Payable, with a strong emphasis on SAP VIM process execution, optimization, and continuous improvement. This role supports accurate and timely invoice-to-pay processing while ensuring compliance with internal controls, accounting standards, and documentation requirements. The AP Team Lead acts as a key liaison across Bel Group (Global), Treasury, Corporate accounting, IT, Procurement, manufacturing plants, and external vendors/financial institutions. The position requires strong analytical skills to identify trends and root causes, drive solutions through cross-functional partnership, and support system enhancements – particularly related to SAP VIM.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead daily AP activities and workflow prioritization to ensure accurate, timely processing of invoices, payment proposals, and vendor inquiries.
• Provide guidance, coaching, escalation support to AP team members; ensure consistent application of policies, procedures, and controls.
• Oversee receipt, validation, coding, and processing of vendor invoices, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and proper approvals.
• Investigate invoice and payment exceptions; perform root-cause analysis, coordinate corrective actions, and implement preventive solutions.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies, SOX/internal controls (as applicable), segregation of duties, documentation retention, and audit requirements
• Review and support payment runs (Checks, ACH, Wire) to ensure accuracy and on-time execution in coordination with Treasury.
• Maintain accurate, organized records of all accounts payable transactions and documentation.
• Serve as AP system and process SME for SAP VIM, including workflow, exception handling, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with IT and business stakeholders on AP enhancements and issue resolution, including requirements definition, testing/UAT, training, and deployment support.
• Identify opportunities for automation and efficiency, drive implementation of system or process improvements.
• Generate and analyze AP reports/metrics (aging, throughput, exception trends, root-cause categories, payment accuracy); provide actionable insight to leadership.
• Support month-end and year-end activities, including GR/IR review support, accrual inputs (as applicable), and reconciliations.
• Support internal/external audits and special projects (e.g., 1099 support, bank signatory updates, BELKey, and other compliance requests).
• Performs other duties as assigned by the Sr Manager Accounts Payable

 

 

Qualifications and Competencies

• Degree in accounting or business-related field preferred OR equivalent relevant years of proven on the job experience.
• Minimum 7 years of progressive Accounts Payable experience; ideally in a multi-entity, shared services, or high-volume environment.
• SAP VIM expertise required, including demonstrated experience supporting implementation, upgrades/enhancements, or major process redesign (requirements, testing/UAT), training, go-live support).
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivots, lookups, data validation) for reconciliations, aging analysis, and reporting.
• Strong SAP AP knowledge (invoice processing, payment processing, reporting, GR/IR concepts).
• Advance excel skills (pivots, lookups, data validation; ability to analyze large data sets and identify trends/root causes).
• Proven leadership capabilities; ability to coach, train, and influence without losing accountability for outcomes.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with demonstrated ability to identify root cause, recommend solutions, and implement changes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate effectively with all levels of management.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities, deadlines, and escalations.

Performance Expectations: Demonstrate business agility, accountability, integrity, and a continuous improvement mindset. Maintain confidentiality, produces accurate work with strong diligence, meets deadlines, and builds effective relationships across functions and levels of the organization. Ability to work with and through others to accomplish goals & objectives of the Company.

Working Conditions:  Work is primarily performed in a remote environment, during regular business hours, with a minimum expectation of 40 hours per week. Occasionally, variation in work hours may be required due to special projects, deadlines, or other business needs. The physical demands of the position are representative of those required to successfully perform the essential functions of the role, and reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities.

Acknowledgement:  This job description describes the general nature and level of work performed by employee assigned to this position. It does not state or imply that these are the only duties and responsibilities assigned to the job. The employee may be required to perform other job-related duties as requested by the Bel management team. All requirements are subject to change over time and to modifications to accommodate individuals with a disability.

Total Rewards

• Base Salary: $100,000 - $115,000
• Bonus Opportunity: 12%
• PTO and Medical, Dental and Vision Benefits from Day 1
• 401k Match
• Remote 

 

Bel Brands is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, disability status or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Bel Brands also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories. It is also Bel Brand’s policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions.

 

Bel Brands is committed to recruiting, hiring and promoting people with disabilities and veterans. If you need an accommodation or assistance in using the website, please call 312-462-1500.

 

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