Finance Operations Senior Leader

Role Purpose:

Accountable for the end-to-end financial operations of logistics services within the assigned scope – from rate management and order-to-cash (billing, invoicing, collection follow-up) to procure-to-pay (carrier/vendor cost accrual, purchase orders, invoice matching and payment follow-up). The role leads a team of FINOPS professionals to deliver accurate, timely and compliant financial transactions, protect revenue and margin, reduce unbilled and aged items, and continuously improve processes through standardization, automation and digital tools. The FINOPS Leader acts as a trusted partner to Customer Experience, Operations, Finance, GSC and external customers/carriers, ensuring that financial operations enable a seamless customer experience and strong business performance.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Operational Excellence: Lead and manage the FINOPS team to deliver accurate, timely and compliant financial operations across the following key areas: 

• Rate Management: Ensure customer and carrier/vendor rates, contracts and tariffs are set up accurately and on time in the system; validate rate changes, surcharges and ad hoc charges with commercial and procurement teams to prevent revenue leakage and billing disputes.
• Service-to-Charge Consolidation & Billing: Oversee the consolidation of services into chargeable lines, timely creation of sales orders and billing documents, and issuance of accurate customer invoices in line with agreed billing cycles and customer requirements.
• Unbilled & Accrual Management: Monitor unbilled sales orders, open purchase orders and cost accruals; drive backlog clearance plans and ensure month-end cut-off and accrual accuracy.
• Accounts Payable: Ensure carrier/vendor invoices are received, validated against POs and agreed rates, and processed within SLA; manage invoice discrepancies, credit/debit notes, cancellations and revisions; follow up on payment status to avoid late payment and service disruption.
• Accounts Receivable: Coordinate with Credit & Collection, CX and customers to resolve invoice disputes, support overdue collection follow-up and minimize aged receivables.
• Tax & Local Compliance: Ensure invoices and payments comply with local tax and statutory requirements (e.g. VAT/e-invoice rules) for the countries within scope.
• Issue Ownership: Take ownership of customer/carrier issues and escalations, perform root cause analysis and ensure timely, responsible resolution with preventive actions.
• Workflow & Backlog Control: Monitor daily workflow queues, mailboxes and open items; prioritize workload and prevent backlog build-up.
• Support and/or lead other relevant tasks and projects as assigned by management.

2. Leadership & People Management

• Lead, coach and support the team to ensure effective performance, strong collaboration and continuous individual development.
• Set clear team and individual goals and KPIs aligned with organizational and functional objectives; cascade priorities and expectations transparently.
• Monitor team performance regularly through 1:1s and performance check-ins; provide timely, constructive feedback, coaching and mentorship.
• Manage the full people cycle: recruitment, onboarding, training, probation review, performance appraisal, development planning and, where needed, performance improvement actions.
• Build team capability and succession by developing subject-matter experts, cross-training members and maintaining up-to-date SOPs/IOPs and training materials.
• Plan and allocate resources effectively based on volume, complexity and priorities; manage FTE capacity, backfills, leave coverage and temporary support to ensure business continuity.
• Lead the team through change (e.g. transitions, migrations, restructuring), ensuring smooth handover and minimal impact on service levels.
• Drive a culture of accountability, ownership, continuous learning and process excellence.
• Motivate, engage and inspire team members to achieve their full potential; recognize good performance and promote employee wellbeing and engagement.

3. Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the main point of contact between key internal and external stakeholders (e.g. GSC FINOPS, PTP, OTC, CX, Operations, Commercial, Procurement, Finance/Controlling, Tax, Customers and Carriers/Vendors).
• Proactively engage stakeholders to align expectations, clarify roles and responsibilities, and agree on SLAs and ways of working.
• Manage escalations professionally and decisively; protect the team's scope and priorities while finding solutions that balance customer, business and compliance needs.
• Communicate status, risks, backlog and business impact clearly to management and stakeholders, with data-driven recommendations.
• Represent FINOPS in customer onboarding, business reviews and cross-functional projects to ensure financial requirements are considered early.
• Strengthen cross-functional collaboration with GSC and country teams to ensure clear ownership and seamless end-to-end processes.

4. Performance & KPI Management

• Own and monitor FINOPS KPIs such as invoice timeliness, billing accuracy, unbilled aging, PO/accrual accuracy, AP processing SLA, dispute rate, workflow backlog and productivity.
• Analyze KPI trends and root causes to identify issues early and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Build and maintain performance dashboards and reports to provide visibility to the team, management and stakeholders.
• Lead and actively participate in weekly/monthly KPI review meetings with GSC FINOPS, BCO and other relevant teams; follow through on agreed action plans.
• Support month-end closing activities, ensuring revenue and cost are captured completely and accurately in the correct period.

5. Continuous Improvement & Transformation

• Identify process gaps, manual effort and recurring errors; drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean/root cause analysis approaches.
• Lead or support automation and digitalization initiatives (e.g. RPA, macros/VBA, Power Automate, AI/Copilot-based invoice extraction, auto-billing) to improve accuracy, speed and productivity.
• Standardize and centralize processes across countries/scopes where relevant, and ensure SOPs/IOPs are updated after every process change.
• Participate in or lead transition, migration and system implementation projects (e.g. new systems, process redesign, scope transfers), including UAT, go-live readiness and hypercare.
• Track and report the benefits of improvement initiatives (e.g. hours saved, backlog reduction, KPI uplift).

6. Governance, Compliance & Risk Control

• Ensure all FINOPS activities are performed in compliance with SOPs/IOPs, internal controls, company policies, local regulations and audit requirements.
• Maintain proper segregation of duties, approval matrices and documentation to support internal and external audits.
• Identify and mitigate financial and operational risks such as revenue leakage, duplicate payments, late payment penalties, tax exposure and aged unbilled/unpaid items.
• Coordinate audit requests, control self-assessments and remediation of audit findings within agreed timelines.
• Ensure data quality and integrity in all financial and master data maintained by the team.

Qualification/s:

• Bachelor's degree in Logistics, Supply Chain, Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or a related field.
• 3–5+ years of relevant experience in FINOPS, billing, AP/AR or similar finance operations functions, preferably in logistics, freight forwarding, shipping or a shared service center environment.
• At least 1–2 years of experience in a supervisory or team lead role is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of end-to-end FINOPS processes (rate management, order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, accruals and month-end closing), internal controls and KPI management.
• Hands-on experience with ERP systems (SAP preferred) and logistics/operational systems.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (especially Excel and PowerPoint); Power BI or automation tools (e.g. Power Automate, VBA, Macros, RPA, AI tools) is a plus.
• Understanding of local tax and invoicing regulations (e.g. VAT, e-invoice) is an advantage.
• Experience in process improvement, transition or migration projects is an advantage.
• Fluent in English, both written and verbal.

Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
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