Accounts Payable Administrator

It’s the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone’s contribution and realising the unique power of teams, together we win.   As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!    

We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves, from when and where you work, to how you dress; we focus on outputs.  

Want to find more about our amazing benefits?

To provide truly outstanding client service we work as one team.  Our Business Operations Group is made up of business professionals who work with our legal professionals to provide market leading expertise to our clients.  The Groups include; Finance, Operations, HR, Clients & Markets, IT, Risk and the Executive Leadership team.

Our Finance team is made up of over 40 people who work from a variety of our office locations. The work is split into four core areas; Financial Accounting, Financial Operations, Business Partnering and Partner Services.

The team work closely with our other business operations teams to provide a first class service. They are responsible for the sound financial management of the firm, including cash flow, budgeting, internal and external reporting and audit. They have responsibilities for the safe-keeping and operating of our clients’ funds held on account and also deal with payroll, credit control, work-in progress, partner finances and tax returns. The team also provide bespoke finance business partnering support to all other areas of the business.

We are looking for an Accounts Payable (AP) Administrator to join our Finance team, part of the firm’s Business Operations group.  This role is a 12 month fixed term contract.

Your key duties will be:

• ensuring all invoices are checked, approved and input in line with month end deadlines
• ensuring counsel and expert invoices are processed and paid in line with client requirements
• minimising overdue invoices in line with payment terms
• reviewing and processing Direct Debits
• creating new Vendor accounts
• accurate postings for employee expenses & company credit cards
• resolving Vendor queries
• facilitating and learning processing within our new PMS system
• creditors Ledger Housekeeping
• statement reconciliations
• acting as an advocate of the AP Policies in all instances

Skills and experience you will have:

• previous experience in a similar role, preferably within the legal sector
• knowledge of Axxia / Aderant systems is desirable
• strong Excel skills with the ability to manipulate data and present it well; experience of pivot tables and vlookups is an advantage
• a proven track record of resolving queries and meeting targets
• a proven track record of providing stakeholders an excellent service
• demonstrable ability to work efficiently and effectively under pressure of deadlines, including experience in prioritising competing workloads and managing external parties’ expectations

Key competencies you will need:

• analytical and highly organised
• excellent attention to detail and high degree of accuracy is imperative
• the ability to build strong relationships and influence internal and external stakeholders
• strong commercial focus and good business acumen
• the ability to recognise an issue or opportunity and work with the AP Team Leader to effectively implement

We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work.

We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we’re keen to be flexible, after all, we value what you do, not where you do it.

We have hubs in Birmingham, Leicester, London, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon and Sheffield. This role will a hybrid of home based work with travel as required into Birmingham or one of our other West Midlands hubs 

Please be aware, for some vacancies, where we receive high numbers of applications we may need to bring the close date forward.

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found here.

Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.