Team Leader - Subcontractor (Bryanston) at Maziv

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Contractor Financial Management

• Manage the end-to-end contractor payment process.
• Ensure contractor invoices are processed accurately and within agreed payment terms.
• Monitor contractor payment ageing and proactively resolve payment delays.
• Ensure all contractor payments are supported by valid customer purchase orders (POs) where required.
• Review and validate contractor claims against approved work completed.
• Ensure contractor costs are accurately recorded within the correct projects and cost centres.
• Monitor contractors spend against budgets and forecasts.
• Provide regular reporting on contractor liabilities, accruals and payment commitments.
• Drive continuous improvement of contractor payment processes and controls.

Commercial & Contract Management

• Review contractor commercials and payment models to ensure profitability and alignment with business objectives.
• Ensure contractor rates being paid align to approved contracts, schedules of rates, and negotiated pricing agreements.
• Investigate rate discrepancies and implement corrective actions.
• Support commercial negotiations with contractors where required.
• Identify and mitigate financial and commercial risks relating to contractor engagements.
• Maintain a central repository of all contractors commercial agreements and pricing schedules.
• Conduct periodic reviews of contractor profitability and performance.

Contract Governance & Compliance

• Ensure all subcontractors have valid and up-to-date Master Service Agreements (MSAs) in place.
• Monitor contract expiry dates and coordinate renewals.
• Ensure compliance with contractual obligations, approval frameworks, and procurement policies.
• Verify that all contractor invoices have the appropriate operational, project, and financial approvals before payment.
• Ensure supporting documentation is complete and audit compliant.
• Maintain contractor compliance records, including insurance, regulatory, tax, and statutory documentation.
• Support internal and external audit requirements relating to subcontractor management.

Contractor Invoice Processing Team Leadership

• Lead and manage the contractor accounts team.
• Allocate workload and monitor team productivity and service levels.
• Develop team capabilities through coaching, mentoring, and performance management.
• Establish and monitor KPIs for invoice processing accuracy, turnaround times, and query resolution.
• Ensure effective month-end and year-end close processes relating to contractor accounts.
• Promote a strong culture of accountability, customer service, and continuous improvement.

Stock Governance & Recovery

• Ensure all stock issued to contractors is accurately recorded and reconciled.
• Monitor contractor-held inventory and stock ageing.
• Investigate stock variances and implement recovery actions.
• Ensure stock recoveries, damages, losses, and write-offs are appropriately accounted for and approved.
• Work closely with Warehousing, Operations, and Procurement teams to maintain stock integrity.
• Drive improvements in stock tracking and contractor accountability processes.

Reconciliation & Financial Control

• Perform and review contractor account reconciliations.
• Reconcile contractor statements and resolve outstanding discrepancies.
• Ensure accurate accruals and provisions are raised at month-end.
• Review balance sheet accounts relating to contractors and stock.
• Ensure contractor-related financial records are complete, accurate, and support audit requirements.
• Maintain strong financial controls and segregation of duties.

Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with contractors, project teams, operations, procurement, warehousing, PMO, finance, and customers.
• Act as the escalation point for contractor payment disputes and commercial queries.
• Facilitate regular contractor review meetings.
• Partner with operational teams to resolve invoice, stock, and commercial issues.
• Communicate payment schedules, process requirements, and policy changes to contractors.

Customer Funding & Revenue Assurance

• Ensure customer POs, approvals, and commercial authorisations are obtained prior to contractor payment where applicable.
• Validate that contractor work being paid is supported by customer-approved work orders or project deliverables.
• Monitor customer-funded projects to ensure contractor costs remain recoverable.
• Assist in reducing working capital exposure by aligning contractor payments to customer collections where contractually permitted. 

Reporting & Performance Management

• Contractor spend
• Payment cycle times
• Outstanding approvals
• Unrecovered stock
• Contract compliance
• Aged contractor balances
• Open disputes and queries
• Budget versus actual contractor costs
• Develop dashboards and KPIs for contractor performance and financial management.
• Provide insights and recommendations to improve contractor profitability and operational efficiency.

Requirements

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or diploma in Finance, Accounting, Commercial Management, Supply Chain, Procurement, Business Management, or a related field.
• Minimum 2 to 5 years' relevant experience in contractor accounts, commercial finance, accounts payable, procurement, project finance, or subcontractor management.
• At least 2 to 3 years' experience leading a team or supervising a high-volume transactional finance or contractor administration function.
• Experience in the fibre, telecommunications, construction, infrastructure, engineering, or project-based services environment is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing contractor payments, statement reconciliations, rate validation, accruals, stock recoveries, disputes, and month-end close activities.
• Experience working with Master Service Agreements, schedules of rates, purchase orders, work orders, customer-funded projects, and audit evidence requirements.

Required Skills

• Strong financial control, reconciliation, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Commercial acumen and the ability to assess contractor profitability, rate structures, payment models, working capital exposure, and cost-to-complete risks.
• Strong contract interpretation and negotiation skills, with attention to commercial terms, payment conditions, liabilities, service levels, and supporting documentation.
• Excellent stakeholder management, conflict resolution, and written and verbal communication skills across contractors, Operations, PMO, Procurement, Warehousing, Finance, and customers.
• Strong leadership, coaching, workload planning, and performance management skills, with a focus on accountability and service delivery.
• Ability to manage competing deadlines, high transaction volumes, escalations, and month-end requirements while maintaining accuracy and control.
• Dashboarding and management reporting skills, with the ability to convert financial and operational data into clear actions and recommendations.

Knowledge Requirements

• Sound knowledge of accounts payable, general ledger principles, accruals, provisions, balance sheet reconciliations, budgeting, forecasting, and working capital management.
• Practical knowledge of contractor invoice validation, three-way matching where applicable, approval workflows, payment terms, retention arrangements, credits, and dispute resolution.
• Understanding of subcontractor commercial models, project costing, schedules of rates, change controls, claims validation, and margin protection.
• Knowledge of stock governance, inventory reconciliation, stock ageing, loss and damage recovery, write-off controls, and contractor-held stock accountability.
• Working knowledge of South African tax and statutory requirements relevant to contractors, including VAT, tax compliance status, company documentation, and statutory record keeping.
• Understanding of internal controls, segregation of duties, delegated authority, procurement governance, audit trails, and internal and external audit requirements.
• Knowledge of customer purchase order controls, revenue and cost matching, recoverability, funding approvals, and cash flow implications in project-based environments.
• Awareness of POPIA, document retention, confidentiality, and appropriate handling of contractor banking, tax, contractual, and personal information.