Manager, AP Operations & Transformation

American Bath Group; Irving (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

American Bath Group is modernizing Accounts Payable across a multi-brand enterprise. We seek a hands-on AP leader to manage the current team, drive automation, strengthen controls, and partner with Finance, IT, and external partners to implement a centralized operating model.

The role emphasizes credible leadership, process design, training, KPI development, and performance management to ensure reliable payment execution and scalable growth across ABG’s business units.

Qualifications

• Direct people-leadership experience within Accounts Payable or a closely related transaction-services environment.
• Direct accountability for AP operations, supplier escalations, team performance, and service delivery.
• Meaningful ownership in an AP automation or transformation initiative involving a manual or legacy process.
• Experience leading change across process, technology, team structure, and stakeholder adoption.
• Ability to explain personal ownership of prior transformation decisions, implementation work, and outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the AP organization through ABG’s phased transition to a standardized, automated operating model.
• Maintain reliable AP service while contributing to process design, testing, and implementation readiness.
• Train, coach, and develop the AP team and manage performance against KPIs.
• Partner with Finance, IT, and external partners to drive automation and controls improvements.
• Establish governance, policies, and metrics to support scalable enterprise AP operations.

Skills

Accounts Payable leadership

Process improvement

Automation

Controls and governance

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Operational excellence

Tools

AP automation platforms

ERP systems

Job description

American Bath Group is one of the largest manufacturers of bathware products in North America, supporting residential, commercial, hospitality, and institutional markets through a portfolio of established brands.

ABG is developing a more consistent and scalable approach to enterprise transaction services, beginning with Accounts Payable.

The Opportunity

ABG is modernizing how Accounts Payable operates across a complex, multi-business environment.

The current organization supports multiple business units and technology platforms. This role will help establish more consistent processes, improve workflow visibility, introduce greater automation, strengthen controls, and expand the use of centralized services.

The manager will lead an existing AP team while working closely with Finance leadership, business stakeholders, IT, and implementation partners to shape and execute the future operating model.

Success in Year One

Success will require the manager to maintain dependable AP operations while contributing directly to process and technology transformation.

During the first year, the manager should establish credibility with the team and key stakeholders, help deliver planned implementation milestones, improve transaction visibility and automation, reduce avoidable exceptions, strengthen process controls, and prepare the organization to support broader enterprise scope.

The manager will assume increasing ownership as the transformation progresses and will ultimately help establish the operating routines, policies, performance measures, and accountability required to sustain the new model.

The Mandate

Lead the AP organization through ABG’s phased transition to a standardized, automated, controlled and increasingly centralized operating model, while protecting payment continuity, delivering the agreed transformation outcomes and building a scalable enterprise AP team.

The role combines operational leadership with transformation execution. The manager must maintain reliable AP service while contributing to future-state process design, testing, implementation readiness, training, change management, workforce planning, KPI development, and post-launch performance.

Year One Critical Outcomes

• Deliver assigned transformation milestones on schedule and meet the success measures established through the implementation process.
• Maintain reliable and accurate payment execution throughout the transition.
• Increase automation and reduce unnecessary manual intervention.
• Improve invoice-processing visibility, workflow ownership, and exception management.
• Increase team productivity and throughput through better processes, technology, and role clarity.
• Establish an operating model that can support additional business units and transaction volume.
• Strengthen AP policy, governance, access controls, and segregation of duties.
• Establish clear measures for service, productivity, quality, aging, exceptions, and operational performance.
• Prepare the AP team for future roles through assessment, development, hiring, and performance management.

Why This Role Is Hard

The manager must lead daily operations and enterprise change at the same time.

Suppliers must continue to be paid accurately and on time while processes, technology, roles, controls, and ways of working are redesigned.

The role also requires influence across business units and functions that may have different systems, processes, and priorities. The manager will need to build support for greater standardization while recognizing legitimate business differences.

Progress must be deliberate. Moving too slowly will delay the intended benefits, while changing too much at once could create unnecessary operational risk.

Leadership Profile

• A hands-on AP leader with strong knowledge of invoice processing, exception management, approvals, payments, reconciliations, and operational controls.
• A builder who has helped move a manual or fragmented AP process toward a more automated future state.
• A player-coach who can lead current operations while developing the team for new processes and responsibilities.
• A practical change leader who can explain the purpose of change and translate its impact for different stakeholder groups.
• A disciplined operator who protects service continuity during implementation.
• A credible cross-functional partner who can work effectively across Finance, business units, IT, Procurement, Operations, and external partners.
• A leader who uses operating data to define priorities, establish baselines, and improve accountability.
• A decision-maker who can apply sound practices without overengineering the solution.

Experience Requirements

• Direct people-leadership experience within Accounts Payable or a closely related transaction-services environment.
• Direct accountability for AP operations, supplier escalations, team performance, and service delivery.
• Meaningful ownership in an AP automation or transformation initiative involving a manual or legacy process.
• Experience leading change across process, technology, team structure, and stakeholder adoption.
• Ability to explain personal ownership of prior transformation decisions, implementation work, and outcomes.
• Working knowledge of AP controls, vendor setup, invoice processing, approvals, payments, reconciliations, access governance, and segregation of duties.
• Experience supporting process design, testing, implementation readiness, training, and post-launch operations.

Experience in decentralized, multi-entity, multi-system, or shared-services environments is strongly valued. Exposure to AP automation platforms is helpful but not required.

Broader procure-to-pay, workforce-planning, policy, or controls experience would also support the longer-term development of the role.

Why the Right Candidate Will Be Excited

This role provides an opportunity to help build an enterprise AP model rather than simply inherit a mature one.

The manager will join while important process, technology, governance, and operating-model decisions are still being made. That creates meaningful influence over how AP will operate, how performance will be measured, and how the organization will support future growth.

The role also offers increasing scope as additional businesses transition into the model. It is well suited for an AP leader who has already managed day-to-day operations and is ready for broader transformation and enterprise process ownership.

Why This Role Matters

Accounts Payable sits at the intersection of Finance, Procurement, Operations, suppliers, and the manufacturing supply chain.

The quality of the AP process affects payment reliability, supplier relationships, financial controls, audit readiness, operational visibility, and the ability of the organization to scale.

This manager will help shape a more consistent and durable enterprise capability that supports ABG’s businesses today and provides a stronger foundation for future growth.