Senior Accountant

Summary:

This is a Group-level senior accounting role based in India, with end-to-end coverage across all PayTabs entities. The successful candidate will partner with entity finance owners to run the multi-entity month-end cycle — revenue invoicing, AP, bank reconciliations, JVs, AR, statutory filings — and will lead the automation agenda across the Group, progressively replacing manual steps with Xero-native automation, scripted workflows (Python preferred) and AI-assisted tooling. The role sits inside the CFO office and works directly with the Deputy Group CFO and Group Controller.

Key Responsibilities:

•Across entities, extract monthly transaction and revenue data from PT2 and equivalent dashboards; prepare per-counterparty calculation files (fees × volumes, net of rebates/caps); raise invoices in Xero against bank and partner customers; coordinate transmission to bank AP contacts and SMB-style supplier portals; track acknowledgements.

•For applicable entities, filter paid setup and service-use fees from the Merchant dashboard each month; consolidate into the Xero invoice import template; post invoices in Xero; match collections during bank reconciliation.

•Record vendor invoices for Group entities (telecom, utilities, professional services, payment processors such as Network International, Visa/Mastercard, etc.) in Xero with correct VAT/GST treatment, GL coding and cost centre; route for approval per the Group AP policy; coordinate with entity-level AP intake.

•Import monthly bank statements for all entities (including the GIB statement for KSA — the most complex layout in the Group) into Xero; match incoming collections against open invoices using PT2 transaction IDs; post non-invoice items (charges, interest, transfers); clear open items at close.

•Maintain prepaid and provision schedules for each entity; compute monthly releases and true-ups; post manual JVs in Xero with full supporting documentation; partner with the JV reviewer in each entity.

•Pull weekly AR aging from Xero across entities, cross-reference with PT2 and equivalent dashboards, and circulate a standard aging file to bank/partner counterparties and internal stakeholders; lead structured collections follow-up; escalate appropriately.

•Coordinate quarterly KSA VAT (BT Arabia & EBG via Baker Tilly), MISA survey, UAE VAT (FTA), Egypt tax filings, Bahrain NBR, and India GST (in support of OGS Paylab India compliance calendar); reconcile to GL; resolve variances; ensure full audit trail across entities.

•Handle merchant requests for VAT/GST-compliant invoice corrections (tax number, description, date, etc.) across entities; verify originals; issue corrected invoices or credit notes via Xero; respond within agreed SLA.

•Support the monthly Group consolidation by ensuring entity TBs are clean, intercompany is reconciled, and FX/eliminations are properly captured; partner with the Group Controller on consolidation adjustments.

•Maintain SOPs and a Group SharePoint workspace covering all entity finance processes; support entity audits (ADGM, ZATCA, FTA, statutory auditors); ensure controls (segregation of duties, approval matrices, evidence trails) are respected across the Group.

Key Competencies/Skillsets:

•Demonstrated proficiency with Xero — bills, invoices, bank feeds and reconciliations, manual journals, tracking categories, multi-entity setups, and the Xero invoice/bill import templates. Candidates without Xero will not be considered unless they bring transferable depth (e.g., NetSuite/QuickBooks Online with a clear Xero learning plan).

•Working knowledge of Indian GST (returns, reconciliations, e-invoicing) and exposure to at least one GCC tax regime — ZATCA (KSA), FTA (UAE), Egypt or Bahrain. Willingness to learn the others on the job is required.

•Strong Excel skills: tables, advanced lookups, dynamic arrays, Power Query for data cleaning, pivot-driven reporting. Comfortable building reusable, audit-friendly templates.

•Evidence of automation mindset — concrete examples of manual processes the candidate has redesigned, scripted, or eliminated (with measurable time saved).

•Fluent written and spoken English. Comfortable communicating with stakeholders across India, KSA, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications:

•Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or equivalent. Professional qualification (CA, CPA, ACCA, CMA) strongly preferred; part-qualified candidates with strong automation profiles will be considered.

•6+ years of hands-on accounting experience including end-to-end month-end close ownership in a multi-entity environment, AR/AP, bank reconciliations, manual JVs, and statutory submissions.

•Practical experience using AI tools in a finance context — e.g., extracting data from PDF invoices, generating reconciliation commentary, drafting variance analysis, building structured workbooks via prompt-driven workflows. Familiarity with Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or equivalent.

•Python proficiency for finance use cases: pandas for data wrangling, openpyxl/xlsxwriter for spreadsheet automation, requests for API integrations, basic scripting for scheduled workflows. Production-grade software engineering is not required; clean, reproducible scripts are.

•Exposure to the Xero API and/or third-party integrators (e.g., Hubdoc, Dext) for bill capture and bank feeds.

•Prior experience in payment processing, payment orchestration, acquiring, PSPs, or fintech — understanding of merchant settlement, MDR/IC++/blended pricing, and counterparty billing models.

•Multi-jurisdiction tax exposure across GCC and India; experience supporting Big-4 audits (KPMG, EY, PwC, Deloitte) or equivalents (Moore JFC Group, Baker Tilly).

•Experience with SQL and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent) for finance dashboards.

•Familiarity with SharePoint as a controlled documentation environment, including version control and access management.