Overview
This role supports the purchase order and invoice cycle for the Enterprise Laboratory Instrument Services (ELIS) program. Responsibilities include raising purchase orders from approved requisitions, matching receipts and invoices, investigating mismatches, and processing vendor payments to agreed terms across every site in the region.
Responsibilities
Purchase order processing
- Raise and issue purchase orders from approved requisitions, ensuring the correct vendor, price, coding, cost center, and asset reference.
- Confirm purchase orders match the quote and the contract price before issuance.
- Maintain open purchase order status and close completed items to ensure the open commitment position is accurate.
- Follow up on purchase orders that stall in approval or with the vendor.
Invoice verification and payment
- Match invoices to purchase orders and receipts; investigate any discrepancies among the three.
- Confirm evidence exists that work was performed and documented before approving an invoice (do not approve based on signature alone).
- Route invoices to the site for confirmation when the evidence is not already in the system of record.
- Process approved invoices for payment to agreed terms and track payment performance.
- Hold and query invoices that do not meet standards; document reasons rather than clearing a backlog.
Disputes and corrections
- Resolve price, quantity, and scope discrepancies directly with vendors.
- Process credits, rebills, and corrections and confirm they post correctly.
- Escalate to the Sourcing Coordinator when discrepancies relate to contract or pricing rather than invoicing error.
- Escalate to the Director when a vendor pattern of incorrect invoicing emerges.
Reconciliation and reporting
- Reconcile work order completion data against invoices with the Master Data Analysts.
- Reconcile open purchase order and accrual position at period end.
- Provide spend, commitment, and payment data for site budget cycles, client reporting, and audits.
- Flag spend that appears outside the entitlement position so it can be investigated.
Control and compliance
- Maintain segregation of duties between requisition, approval, and payment.
- Meet client procurement policy and organizational financial control requirements.
- Maintain a traceable record from requisition to payment for every transaction.
- Support internal and client audits using that record.
Escort and vendor hosting when on site
- Escort is a standing expectation of every role on this program.
- When present at a client site, escort and host OEM and third-party personnel on request, regardless of whose scope the instrument sits in.
- Confirm third-party personnel are inducted, badged, and compliant with client site access and safety requirements before they enter a laboratory.
- Confirm the work performed matches what was authorized and the service record is complete before the third party leaves site.
- Escalate immediately if a third party arrives unannounced or attempts work outside the authorized scope.
Qualifications
- 2+ years of experience in accounts payable, purchase order processing, or a comparable transactional finance role.
- Demonstrated experience matching invoice to purchase order and receipt, and investigating mismatches rather than clearing them.
- Experience resolving invoice and pricing disputes directly with vendors.
- Strong spreadsheet skills, including lookup and reconciliation techniques.
- Experience with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or purchasing platform.
- Experience with a CMMS as a source of work order evidence preferred.
- Ability to hold an invoice and explain why it is held, even under pressure to clear a backlog.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a regulated or technical service environment.
Education / Special Training
- Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree preferred in finance, business, or accounting; equivalent experience considered.
- Training in GxP, data integrity, and financial control provided or required.
- Purchasing platform and CMMS training provided after hire.
Required Competencies
- Evidence Discipline: does not approve an invoice on a signature alone.
- Accuracy: gets the coding, asset reference, and match right the first time.
- Persistence: resolves discrepancies with the vendor rather than escalating immediately.
- Control Mindset: maintains segregation of duties even when inconvenient.
- Timeliness: pays to terms.
- Communication: explains a held invoice clearly to a vendor and to a site.
- Integrity: admits mistakes, is direct and truthful, and acts in the best interest of clients, employees, and the organization.
Success Measures
- Invoices approved with evidence of work performed (measured on sampled transactions).
- Payment performance to agreed terms.
- Invoice-to-purchase-order-to-receipt match rate.
- Disputes resolved without escalation.
- Accuracy of open purchase order and accrual position at period end.
- Work order to invoice reconciliation completed per cycle.
- Identification and escalation of spend outside the entitlement position.
- Audit outcomes on the requisition-to-payment record.
Location & Work Environment
- Remote, office-based work.
- No routine client site presence.
- Where a site visit is required: presence in active laboratory environments, including areas with biological, chemical, electrical, and cryogenic hazards, with required personal protective equipment.
- Travel approximately 5 percent for training and program meetings.
Compensation & Benefits
Safety Requirements
- Abide by and follow safety policies, procedures, and injury and illness prevention expectations.
- Maintain a safe working environment for self and others when visiting customer sites, laboratories, offices, or operational environments.
- Follow applicable customer site safety requirements, OSHA guidelines, and laboratory or facility-specific procedures as required.
- Complete required safety training assignments on time.
Additional Information
- This position description does not list every activity, duty, and responsibility of the position and may be altered.
- Equal Employment Opportunity: equal employment opportunities are provided without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics; compliance with applicable federal, state, and local nondiscrimination laws.
- At-will employment: this does not act as a contract of employment.