Overview
Purchase to Pay Support Assistant – Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
About us:
The role is situated within the Finance, Procurement, and Analytics Directorate and is responsible for supporting the Procure to Pay (P2P) team in the delivery of its services.
This is a full-time position based at our Lavington Street Offices, Guy’s Campus, operating under an informal hybrid working arrangement. The current expectation is a minimum of two days per week on campus, with staff required to be present as necessary to meet business needs. Attendance may be more frequent during initial training, ad hoc training, and induction periods.
The Procure to Pay Services Team encompasses a range of functions, including:
- Purchasing Card Support
- P2P Support
- P2P Transactional Processing for domestic and foreign currency payments
- Expenses Support
- Studentship and Student Expenses
- Supplier Compliance and Payments Teams
About the role:
Requisitioning & P2P Support
This role provides first‑line support for queries relating to the requisitioning and payment cycle, offering clear, accurate, and timely guidance to users on raising requisitions, purchase orders, and receipting goods and services. Support is provided to resolve issues associated with goods receipting and P2P workflow tasks, including the prompt escalation of unapproved workflow items. Queries received via the P2P query helpdesk (Helix) are handled professionally and responded to in line with agreed service standards.
Invoice Processing & Transactional Support
The role supports invoice validation, purchase order matching, and the resolution of invoice holds, working collaboratively to ensure invoices are processed efficiently and accurately. Responsibilities also include assisting with automated invoice reading (AIR) query desk activities and resolving related issues. During peak periods, such as financial year end, additional support is provided to the P2P Transactional Team, along with assistance in reconciling supplier statements for key suppliers.
System Support & Technical Liaison
The postholder will liaise with the KCL System Administration Team to report, track, and resolve technical issues, system defects, or unexpected system behaviours. The role supports user acceptance testing (UAT), configuration checks, and the raising and escalation of system‑related issues as required. Accurate audit trails for system and process changes are maintained in compliance with governance, audit, and internal control requirements.
Training & Communications
The role involves delivering training and ongoing guidance to system users through a range of channels, including email, Microsoft Teams, and face‑to‑face sessions. It contributes to the development and maintenance of user guides, quick reference materials, and communications, while actively promoting compliance with P2P processes, policies, and financial controls.
Reporting & Continuous Improvement
Support is provided in the production of P2P performance metrics and routine data updates to ensure accurate and timely reporting. Recurring issues and opportunities for process improvement are identified and escalated appropriately. The role also contributes to the implementation of enhancements and continuous improvement initiatives across the P2P function.
This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract.
About you:
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- Minimum of 2 years’ experience in a customer-facing role within Purchase to Pay (P2P), Accounts Payable, finance operations, or a similar administrative environment.
- Demonstrated ability to work flexibly, take initiative, and apply a proactive, solutions-focused approach to problem solving.
- Excellent attention to detail with strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
- Strong written and spoken English, with the ability to articulate complex information clearly and confidently to diverse stakeholders.
- Confident using finance/ERP systems and Microsoft Office (Excel, Outlook, Teams).
- Proven ability to prioritise tasks effectively, manage competing demands, and consistently meet deadlines.
- Confident and professional communicator, capable of handling entrusted responsibilities and engaging effectively with internal departments, senior management, and external partners.
- Experience using IT ticketing or service management systems to log, track, and resolve queries.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in higher education or a similar environment
- Sound knowledge of Purchase to Pay (P2P) processes, including requisitions, purchase orders, invoice processing, and payments.
- Familiarity with invoice automation solutions, such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI-driven invoice recognition tools.
- Previous involvement in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) or system testing activities, with the ability to support process improvements and system enhancements.
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.
At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.
We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.
When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.
We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.
To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
