Senior Manager - Hardship & Mortgage Collections

ORDE Financial Pty; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

ORDE Financial Pty in Melbourne seeks an experienced Senior Manager to lead the Customer Assist division, including early arrears, hardship, and governance, reporting to the Head of Customer Assist. The role supports strategic direction, operational performance and continuous improvement across the function.

The successful candidate will collaborate with Compliance, Credit, Legal, Operations, Complaints, Client Services, Digital and Finance to deliver strong customer outcomes while maintaining

Qualifications

• Eight years’ experience in a similar capacity.
• Strong background in collections, hardship, complaints or financial services operations.
• Ability to provide senior leadership and direction in a busy operational function.
• Comfort with data, reporting and operational insights to identify trends and opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Act as delegate for the Head of Customer Assist, providing senior leadership and coverage across the division.
• Support strategic direction, operating plan and priorities for the Customer Assist division.
• Drive operational excellence through continuous improvement, automation opportunities and reporting enhancements.
• Lead early arrears strategy and customer engagement to prevent progression to later-stage arrears.
• Lead hardship and extra care outcomes, including assessment standards and sustainable outcomes.
• Oversee complaints, quality assurance and hindsight reviews across hardship and payment arrangements.
• Monitor performance measures such as roll rates, cure rates and service levels; report to executive and Board as needed.
• Provide leadership oversight of risk events, audits, regulatory obligations and governance activities across the division.
• Collaborate with Compliance, Credit, Legal, Operations, Complaints, Client Services, Digital and Finance to deliver outcomes.
• Lead capability uplift through coaching, onboarding, training and development with ORDE’s Flexible, Fair and Forthright approach.

Skills

Senior leadership

Collections

Hardship

Complaints handling

Financial services ops

Data & reporting

Continuous improvement

Job description

About Orde Financial

ORDE is a nonbank lender of 200+ employees built exclusively for brokers, combining human and credit expertise with innovative technology to help brokers build stronger futures for their clients. We reflect the reality of today’s borrowers, from SMEs with complex needs to near-prime clients seeking clearer paths forward.

About Orde Financial

ORDE is a nonbank lender of 200+ employees built exclusively for brokers, combining human and credit expertise with innovative technology to help brokers build stronger futures for their clients. We reflect the reality of today’s borrowers, from SMEs with complex needs to near-prime clients seeking clearer paths forward.

Since 2020, ORDE has funded more than $10b in loans and supported over 16,000 borrowers – all through brokers. We offer Residential, Commercial, SMSF and Construction loans and other specialised solutions, with fast decisions, deep credit insight and a streamlined digital experience.

We are passionate (and a bit obsessed…) about being disruptive and pushing hard to improve the experience and results for mortgage brokers. Our purpose “Built for Brokers” is clear and simple and defines our entire strategy (delivering better experiences, more value and opportunity, anticipating more needs and communicating more solutions, for brokers and their customers).

About The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Manager to support the Head of Customer Assist in leading the Customer Assist division, including early arrears, hardship, extra care customer matters, governance, operational performance, capability development and continuous improvement.

The role will provide senior leadership support to the Head of Customer Assist and provides leadership coverage across the division when required, including during periods of leave, peak workload, operational change or business growth. The successful candidate will be expected to provide strategic and operational leadership support and be capable of managing the broader Customer Assist function in the Head of Customer Assist's absence.

The role will work closely with the Senior Manager, Late Stage & Mortgagee in Possession and other key business stakeholders to ensure a coordinated approach across the end-to-end customer assistance journey, regulatory obligations and customer outcomes.

Your Key Responsibilities Will Include

• Act as delegate for the Head of Customer Assist where required, providing senior leadership support, decision making, stakeholder management and coverage across the division.
• Support the Head of Customer Assist in developing and executing the strategic direction, operating plan and priorities for the Customer Assist division.
• Drive operational excellence through continuous improvement, workflow optimisation, automation opportunities, reporting enhancements and removal of operational roadblocks.
• Lead early arrears strategy, including customer engagement, early intervention and prevention of accounts progressing into later-stage arrears.
• Lead hardship and extra care outcomes, including assessment standards, decision making, vulnerable customer management, complex cases, payment arrangements and sustainable customer assistance outcomes.
• Oversee complaints, quality assurance and hindsight reviews across hardship, payment arrangements and customer communications.
• Monitor Customer Assist performance measures, including roll rates, cure rates, hardship outcomes, complaint trends, service levels, portfolio risks and emerging issues.
• Contribute to executive, risk committee and Board reporting relating to Customer Assist performance, customer outcomes, portfolio trends and operational risks.
• Provide leadership oversight of risk events, audits, regulatory obligations, governance activities and process standardisation across the division.
• Partner with the Senior Manager, Late Stage and Mortgagee in Possession, and key stakeholders across Compliance, Credit, Legal, Operations, Complaints, Client Services, Digital and Finance to deliver strong customer and business outcomes.
• Lead capability uplift across the team through coaching, onboarding, training and development, while promoting ORDE’s Flexible, Fair and Forthright approach.

Why would we choose you?

• You bring at least eight years’ experience in a similar capacity, with a strong background in collections, hardship, complaints or financial services operations.
• You are comfortable stepping into a senior leadership role and providing support, guidance and direction across a busy operational function.
• You can balance customer outcomes, regulatory obligations and commercial considerations in a practical and considered way.
• You have strong judgement and are confident making decisions, escalating risks and managing complex or sensitive customer matters.
• You are proactive, organised and able to drive priorities forward without needing constant direction.
• You enjoy building capability in others and are confident coaching, supporting and developing team members.
• You are comfortable working with data, reporting and operational insights to identify trends, risks and opportunities for improvement.
• You have a continuous improvement mindset and are always looking for ways to simplify processes, improve controls and deliver better outcomes.
• You build strong relationships across teams and can work effectively with stakeholders across Compliance, Credit, Legal, Operations, Complaints, Client Services, Digital and Finance.
• You are collaborative, accountable and comfortable working in a growing business where priorities can shift, and no two days are the same.

Why would you choose us?

• We are a fast-growing successful company.
• We think it’s exciting to be part of a team which is building something which will make a difference.
• We are focused, disruptive, think outside of the box and will encourage you to try new things.
• We really care about our people and want them to have the best experience of their career.
• We guarantee fun, a challenge, learning and growth!
• We embrace being challenged through diversity of thoughts.
• We have a highly collaborative culture and provide an inclusive, enjoyable office experience for all staff.
• We are Melbourne based and think being in the office all together is important and we think working from home is too: three days in the office (Mon-Tues-Thurs), two days at home.
• We remunerate well and reward high performance.