Accounts Payable Specialist Job Description
An accounts payable specialist job description template covering invoice processing and vendor management, plus the ATS keywords recruiters screen for.
Accounts payable rarely gets discussed in career advice the way "staff accountant" or "financial analyst" does, but it's a real, stable entry point into corporate finance with its own ladder — not a dead end and not a stepping stone you have to apologize for. A lot of career guides jump straight from "accounting degree" to "staff accountant" and skip over AP entirely, which undersells how many people build a durable career starting exactly here.
The job itself is more procedural than a general accounting seat, and that's the appeal for some candidates: you're matching invoices to purchase orders and receipts, keeping vendor records accurate, and making sure payment runs go out on schedule to the right account. It rewards precision and a genuine dislike of loose ends more than it rewards modeling skill.
What the ladder actually looks like: AP Specialist to AP Lead or Supervisor to AP Manager is the direct path, and it's a real one — plenty of AP Managers started in a seat exactly like this. AP experience also travels unusually well between industries, because every company has vendors to pay regardless of what it sells, which makes it one of the more portable entry points into finance.
Tessworth · Denver, CO
Full-time · Hybrid
$46,000 – $58,000
About the role
Tessworth is hiring an Accounts Payable Specialist to keep our vendor payments accurate and on schedule. You will process incoming invoices, match them against purchase orders and receipts, and own the payment runs that keep our vendors current and our own records clean.
You'll work closely with procurement and the accounting team, and you'll be the person vendors call when a payment question comes up — which makes clear, professional communication as much a part of this job as the data entry.
What you'll do
- Process incoming vendor invoices and match them against purchase orders and receiving documents (three-way match).
- Prepare and execute weekly ACH and check payment runs.
- Maintain accurate vendor master records, including banking details and W-9 information.
- Research and resolve invoice discrepancies and payment inquiries from vendors.
- Process employee expense reports and reconcile corporate card statements.
- Support month-end close by preparing the AP aging report and accrual schedule.
- Collect W-9s throughout the year and prepare 1099 filings at year-end.
- Flag duplicate invoices and unusual vendor activity before they become a payment error.
What we're looking for
- 1-2 years of accounts payable or general accounting experience (internships count).
- Working knowledge of the three-way match process and basic accounting principles.
- Proficiency in Excel, including basic formulas and pivot tables.
- Strong attention to detail — a coding error on an invoice is the kind of mistake this job exists to catch.
- Clear, professional written communication for vendor-facing correspondence.
- Comfortable working against a recurring weekly payment deadline.
Nice to have
- Experience with NetSuite, SAP or a comparable AP or ERP module.
- Exposure to purchase-order-based procurement systems.
- Associate's or bachelor's degree in accounting, finance or business.
- Experience handling 1099 vendor reporting at year-end.
- Prior experience in a high-volume invoice environment.
Benefits
- Medical, dental and vision coverage, with employee premiums covered in full.
- 401(k) with a 4% company match, vested immediately.
- Hybrid schedule: three days a week in the Denver office.
- Tuition assistance for continuing accounting coursework.
- Fifteen days of paid time off plus company holidays, increasing with tenure.
Salary range
As posted for this sample role. Real pay varies by employer, location and experience.
$46,000–$58,000/ yr
ATS keywords for this role
The applicant tracking system (ATS) — the recruiting software a hiring team searches and filters applicants with — will screen for these. Weight shows how central each one is to this specific posting.
Required and central (4)
Important (7)
Mentioned in passing (5)
Frequently asked questions
Is accounts payable a dead-end job, or does it lead anywhere?
It leads somewhere real. The typical path is AP Specialist to AP Lead or Supervisor to AP Manager, and from there some people move into procurement, treasury or a broader accounting management role. It's a career, not a holding pattern — plenty of AP Managers started in a seat like this one.
Do I need an accounting degree for an AP specialist role?
Often not for an entry-level seat like this one — relevant experience or an associate's degree is commonly accepted. A degree becomes more expected as you move up toward AP Manager, especially at larger companies.
What's the difference between accounts payable and accounts receivable?
Accounts payable is money the company owes to vendors — you're paying invoices. Accounts receivable is money owed to the company by customers — you're collecting on invoices. They're opposite sides of the same transaction cycle, and the day-to-day work is genuinely different.
How is this different from a staff accountant role?
An accounts payable specialist owns one function — paying vendors accurately and on time — in depth. A staff accountant works across the broader ledger and helps prepare financial statements. Both are legitimate entry points into corporate finance; they specialize in opposite directions.
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