Accounts Payable Lead

Since 1929, ESTEVE has been driven by a clear and powerful purpose: improve people’s lives. Headquartered in Barcelona, we are a global pharmaceutical company with affiliates in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, the UK, and the USA, as well as world-class production sites in Mexico and China supporting our global CMO business.

We are on an exciting growth journey, transforming into a leading international specialty pharma company, focused on highly specialized medicines that address unmet medical needs. At the heart of everything we do are our core values: people matter, transparency, and accountability.

We care, we do: Our commitment goes beyond medicine. We care about making a positive impact on people, the environment, and the way we do business.

Mission

Lead the Accounts Payable function for Iberia, ensuring high-quality service delivery, business continuity, compliance, and operational excellence across the Procure-to-Pay process. Manage and develop the Iberia AP team, act as a key business partner for internal stakeholders, and actively drive process improvements, standardization, automation, and transformation initiatives aligned with global finance objectives.

Role

• Own and lead the Accounts Payable operations for Iberia, ensuring efficient, compliant, and business-oriented service delivery.
• Supervise, coach, and develop the AP team, fostering accountability, engagement, knowledge sharing, and continuous professional growth.
• Monitor team performance through KPIs and SLAs, ensuring service quality, operational efficiency, and timely issue resolution.
• Act as the primary point of contact for Iberia business stakeholders, building strong relationships and ensuring alignment between business needs and AP operations.
• Provide functional leadership and expert guidance on Accounts Payable processes, controls, systems, and policies.
• Ensure timely and accurate processing of supplier invoices, payments, employee expenses, and vendor master data activities.
• Lead the resolution of complex operational issues, escalations, supplier disputes, and system-related incidents.
• Identify, prioritize, and implement process improvement opportunities to enhance efficiency, controls, user experience, and service quality.
• Actively participate in global and regional transformation projects, promoting best practices, harmonization, automation, and digitalization initiatives.
• Support the design and implementation of new processes, SAP enhancements, system upgrades, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, internal controls, audit requirements, and regulatory obligations.
• Monitor operational risks and implement corrective actions to strengthen process governance and control effectiveness.Collaborate closely with Procurement, Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Internal Audit, IT, and Shared Service teams to optimize end-to-end P2P processes.
• Analyze operational performance, identify trends, and provide actionable insights to support decision-making and business objectives.
• Support internal and external audits, acting as a subject matter expert for Accounts Payable processes and controls.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, operational excellence, customer service, and proactive problem-solving across the AP organization.

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in Accounts Payable, Finance Operations, or Shared Services.
• Experience as a technical AP expert supporting global processes.
• Participate in initiatives aimed at enhancing process efficiency, automation, and operational excellence.
• Experience participating in SAP implementations, finance transformation, shared service migrations, or process standardization projects is highly valued.
• Experience managing stakeholder relationships across different functions and organizational levels.

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field.
• Additional certifications in Finance, Accounting, SAP, Process Improvement, or Project Management are valued.

Specific Knowledge

• Strong expertise in Accounts Payable end-to-end processes.
• Proven people leadership and team management capabilities.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and collaborate across functions and organizational levels.
• Strong business orientation with the ability to balance operational excellence and business needs.
• Knowledge of Lean, process optimization methodologies, and automation tools is considered a plus.

Ready to join us on our purpose to improve people’s lives?  Become part of a team where your passion can make a real difference.