Senior Manager of Accounts Payable & AI Process Automation

At FreshDirect , we are reinventing the grocery experience.

Since day one, our mission has been simple: bring the best, freshest food directly from the farm to people’s homes — faster, fresher, and smarter than anyone else.

We’re not just a food company. We’re a technology-powered, customer-obsessed team building one of the most innovative end-to-end food supply chains in the industry. From proprietary routing systems to our state-of-the-art fulfillment center, every part of our business is designed to deliver unmatched quality, convenience, and care.

We partner directly with farmers, fishermen, and artisans to source the highest quality ingredients — then use smart data, automation, and logistics to deliver them at peak freshness.

It’s grocery shopping reimagined — and we’re just getting started.

If you’re passionate about innovation, care deeply about what people eat, and want to help build the future of food, we’d love to meet you.

The Role

We are seeking a dedicated and experienced Senior Manager of Accounts Payable & Process Automation, to own the end-to-end AP function and lead our AP managers and team. This key role will involve setting AP strategy, driving automation and AI-enabled process improvement, ensuring tax and regulatory compliance, and partnering across Finance and IT to keep pace with FreshDirect’s fast-moving, high-volume business.

What You’ll Do

• Provide strategic leadership to the Accounts Payable team, fostering a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Set clear objectives, coach AP managers and supervisors, and ensure ongoing professional development.
• Own the end-to-end AP process, ensuring timely and accurate processing of invoices and credits, proper sales tax and 1099 compliance, and reliable, easily accessible recordkeeping across a high-volume, cold-chain business.
• Design and enforce a strong internal control environment for Accounts Payable, ensuring compliance with period-end closing requirements and all relevant accounting standards and regulatory requirements.
• Continuously evaluate and enhance AP processes through automation and AI, including invoice capture (e.g., Esker), robotic process automation (e.g., Power Automate), and machine-learning-assisted matching and GR/IR anomaly detection, to reduce manual work and improve accuracy and scalability as the business evolves.
• Lead AP’s role in ERP and financial systems optimization, partnering with IT to configure new tools and transition the team and business partners onto enhanced platforms.
• Manage vendor contractual arrangements and discount-term negotiations in partnership with Merchandising, and own vendor master governance and strategic vendor relationships.
• Manage coordination of all external, internal, and compliance audits involving Accounts Payable, and oversee timely completion of regulatory reporting, such as the 1099 process.
• Develop and maintain robust AP policies and procedures that support standardization, risk mitigation, and scalable growth. Ensure alignment with industry best practices and FreshDirect’s operational priorities.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI across accounting and finance workflows beyond AP — including AR, close, reconciliations, reporting, and tax — to reduce manual effort, strengthen controls, and speed up turnaround times. Champion AI adoption across FreshDirect, sharing lessons learned from automation journey with other departments and serving as a go-to resource for teams exploring how AI can improve their own processes.

What You’ll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field (CPA a plus).
• 5+ years of progressive accounting/AP experience, with at least 3+ years managing managers or multi-level teams. Experience in a private equity-backed company is a plus.
• Experience in an inventory-driven industry (three-way match, PO exceptions, pricing variations, freight claims, etc.); cold-chain or grocery/perishables experience a plus.
• Experience sponsoring or leading finance automation or AI initiatives strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in ERP systems such as SAP, as well as advanced Excel skills.
• Proven ability to lead and develop teams, with excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a keen attention to detail.

Our Values at FreshDirect

We live these values every day:

A Passion for our customers …