Accounts Payable Specialist

About the role:

ZEISS India is part of Carl Zeiss AG, Germany, with operations spanning Medical Technology, Industrial Quality & Research, Consumer Markets and Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology. The India organization manages significant cross-border transactions with ZEISS affiliates and vendors across 40+ countries.

The Analyst – International & Intercompany Payments will be responsible for the complete execution and control of international vendor payments and intercompany settlements, while also driving improvements in efficiency, automation, compliance and payment processes.

Key Responsibilities

1. International Payments

• Manage end-to-end foreign currency payments for imports, services, royalties, professional fees, logistics, reimbursements and advance payments.
• Validate invoices, POs, goods receipts, contracts, tax documents, bank details and import documentation.
• Execute payment runs across multiple currencies, banks and payment methods.
• Manage payment rejections, returns, recalls, amendments and bank queries.
• Resolve vendor payment issues and ensure timely closure of ageing items.

2. Intercompany Payments

• Process payments to ZEISS group companies in line with treasury, transfer pricing and intercompany policies.
• Manage intercompany reconciliation, netting and settlement activities.
• Resolve mismatches and ageing balances before month/quarter-end.
• Coordinate with global finance teams and Group Treasury on settlement schedules and cut-offs.
• Ensure appropriate documentation and tax treatment for intercompany transactions.

3. Banking & Treasury

• Operate bank portals and payment platforms for payment initiation, authorization and tracking.
• Handle documentation required for outward remittances and coordinate with banks until payment closure.
• Provide payment forecasts and cash-flow inputs to Treasury.
• Reconcile bank statements and investigate unidentified/unapplied transactions.
• Monitor bank charges, FX spreads and correspondent bank deductions.
• Support FX exposure reporting.

4. Tax, Regulatory & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with FEMA, RBI regulations and applicable purpose codes for international payments.
• Manage withholding tax requirements under Section 195 and DTAA.
• Validate TRC, Form 10F, No-PE declarations and coordinate Form 15CA/15CB.
• Ensure correct GST/IGST and reverse-charge treatment for imports and import of services.
• Monitor IDPMS/EDPMS, Bills of Entry and advance remittance regularization.
• Maintain complete audit documentation.
• Ensure maker-checker, segregation of duties and payment authorization controls.
• Strengthen fraud-prevention measures such as bank-detail verification, duplicate vendor checks and sanctions screening.

5. SAP & Systems

• Work extensively on SAP S/4HANA, including invoice verification, vendor accounting, payment runs and bank reconciliation.
• Experience with MIRO, F110, DMEE/DMEEX, Bank Communication Management and Electronic Bank Statements is preferred.
• Maintain vendor master data and payment-related information.
• Work with systems/IT teams on testing, enhancements and issue resolution.
• Use tools such as VIM/OCR, SAP Ariba, Concur, treasury systems and BI tools.
• Improve and automate payment and ageing reports.

6. Process Improvement & Automation

• Map and analyze the complete payment process to identify bottlenecks, rework and unnecessary handoffs.
• Benchmark ZEISS processes against global MNC, GBS/shared-services and APQC-type best practices.
• Drive improvements in:
• Straight-through processing
• Payment cycle time
• First-pass accuracy
• Cost per transaction
• Exception/rework rates
• Payment accuracy
• Identify opportunities for RPA, AI-assisted document processing, workflow automation, rules-based validation and ISO 20022 readiness.
• Use structured problem-solving/Lean/Six Sigma approaches.
• Contribute to global process standardization.

7. Stakeholder Management

• Work closely with vendors, ZEISS affiliates, Group Treasury in Germany, Finance, Tax, Procurement, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Logistics, Customs, Legal, IT, banks and tax consultants.
• Act as the key contact for international payment matters.
• Proactively identify payment/documentation issues that could impact critical imports or supply continuity.
• Communicate effectively with global and senior stakeholders and escalate issues with facts and recommendations.

8. Reporting & Month-End

• Support month-end and quarter-end activities including reconciliations, accruals, GR/IR, intercompany confirmations, ageing and FX-related activities.
• Prepare management reports covering payment performance, ageing, exceptions, compliance and improvement initiatives.
• Provide analytics for payment terms, banking routes, currency management and working-capital optimization.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Must Have:

• B.Com/M.Com/MBA Finance or CA Inter/CMA Inter.
• 4–5 years of relevant Accounts Payable experience, specifically with hands-on ownership of international/foreign currency payments.
• Strong SAP experience, preferably S/4HANA.
• Practical knowledge of:
• FEMA & RBI regulations
• Section 195 withholding tax
• DTAA
• TRC & Form 10F
• Form 15CA/15CB
• Purpose codes
• Experience with bank portals and end-to-end international payment processing.
• Strong Excel skills including lookups, pivots and reconciliation.
• Excellent English communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• Demonstrated experience of personally implementing a process improvement, preferably supported by measurable before-and-after results.

Good to Have:

• MNC/GCC/Shared Services/GBS experience, particularly with European headquarters.
• Manufacturing/import-intensive business experience.
• Knowledge of IDPMS, EDPMS, Bills of Entry and customs documentation.
• Intercompany netting, in-house banking or payment factory experience.
• SWIFT gpi, ISO 20022, host-to-host banking integration.
• Lean/Six Sigma certification.
• Power BI, Power Platform, SQL, RPA or AI-based automation exposure.
• Strong internal controls and audit experience.