Accounts payable and accounts receivable specialists sit in an awkward spot in the US hiring market. They're too specialized for general job boards to surface quality candidates reliably. They're experienced enough to command mid-market salaries. And they're genuinely hard to find in the current accounting shortage – particularly specialists with five-plus years of hands-on experience who can own an end-to-end AP or AR process without constant supervision.
A skilled Senior AP/AR Specialist with five to seven years of experience now commands $65,000–$95,000 annually in major US markets, plus benefits and recruiting costs. For growing companies with lean accounting teams, that total – often exceeding $100,000 in the first year – is difficult to justify for a role that frequently requires 20–30 hours of actual work per week.
The US accounting market has a specific gap at the five to seven year experience level – professionals skilled enough to work independently but still willing to do the hands-on work. AP/AR specialists sit squarely in this gap, which makes them both in demand and expensive.
The part-time need makes it worse. Many growing companies need an AP or AR specialist for 20–25 hours per week, not 40. LinkedIn, Indeed, and traditional staffing agencies are poorly optimized for this – companies either hire full-time (overpaying for hours they don't need) or settle for a less experienced candidate who fits the part-time budget.
Salary inflation is also real. A Senior AP Specialist earning $75,000 in 2021 now expects $85,000–$95,000. When benefits and recruiting fees are added, the total first-year cost for a role requiring 25 hours per week can exceed $120,000.
A Senior AP Specialist (5+ years) owns the full AP lifecycle: invoice receipt, coding, approval routing, payment processing, and vendor reconciliation. They manage Bill.com, Ramp, or Expensify independently, develop and maintain SOPs, resolve discrepancies without routine escalation, support month-end close, and communicate directly with vendors and internal stakeholders.
A Senior AR Specialist (5+ years) owns the full AR lifecycle: invoicing, collections, cash application, and AR aging management. They manage billing systems like Stripe, QuickBooks, or NetSuite independently, drive collections proactively rather than reactively, reconcile the AR subledger to the general ledger, and flag aging risk to the Controller or CFO.
The value of a strong AP/AR specialist is that they relieve the accounting manager or CFO of operational oversight – not that they execute tasks requiring constant supervision.
Vague requirements produce vague matches. Specify: full-time or part-time with hours, AP or AR or both, which systems your team uses (QuickBooks, NetSuite, Bill.com, Ramp, Stripe), whether they'll own SOP development or execute existing processes, whether month-end close support is required, whether they'll communicate directly with vendors and customers, minimum years of experience, any relevant industry context, and US time zone overlap requirements.
MAVI uses all of these in its matching process, which is why placements tend to arrive ready to contribute rather than requiring weeks of orientation.
This is not a compromise on quality. It's a structural cost advantage: accessing the same caliber of accounting professional from a global talent pool where equivalent expertise commands a lower market rate.
If your company processes 200–400 vendor invoices per month, that volume doesn't require 40 hours per week of dedicated attention. A skilled Senior AP Specialist working 20–25 hours per week through MAVI can process all invoices end-to-end, manage weekly payment runs, handle vendor inquiries, prepare AP aging and accruals for month-end close, and build out SOPs – at 50–70% less than a US full-time equivalent.
The same logic applies to AR. Companies with stable, predictable invoicing cycles often find that a part-time Senior AR Specialist covers 100% of their AR needs at significantly lower cost than a full-time US hire. Book a call to hire a pre-vetted, high-quality AP/AR Specialist minus the US salary.
50–70% less than a US-based equivalent, with no upfront fees or contract lock-ins. Contact MAVI at maviwork.com for specific pricing based on your requirements.
Yes. Part-time and fractional AP/AR placements are one of MAVI's primary use cases. Whether you need 15 or 35 hours per week, candidates are matched to your specific capacity requirements.
From initial inquiry to onboarded specialist in as few as five days.
Yes. Tool proficiency is assessed and matched during placement, so candidates are matched to your specific systems before any profile is presented.
Based on client feedback, yes – and often more so. MAVI's top-2% vetting produces specialists who own their processes autonomously without requiring constant oversight.