(Senior) Debt Collections Manager (m/f/d)

Pliant; London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A rapidly growing financial services company is hiring a (Senior) Debt Collections Manager to establish and oversee their collections strategy in the UK and US. The candidate will develop effective processes, manage vendors, and ensure compliance with legal standards while contributing to a dynamic team environment. This role requires strong analytical skills and a commitment to operational excellence, offering flexibility and opportunities for professional growth.

Benefits

Attractive remuneration

Flat hierarchy and transparent communication

Flexibility to work remotely

Company card for lunches and coffee

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in debt collections across UK and US.
• Track record in leadership and project management.
• Affinity for data and technology.

Responsibilities

• Develop and calibrate debt collections strategy for UK and US markets.
• Handle high-profile cases and manage external vendor relationships.
• Provide analytics for data-driven decision making.

Skills

Project Management

Analytical Thinking

Professional Communication

Education

Degree in Law or Business Administration

Tools

IT Systems for Debt Collections

Job description

ABOUT US

Since 2020, Pliant has been on a mission to rethink credit cards and empower companies to grow by providing a smart way to pay that scale with their business. With our app and API-based solutions, Pliant allows companies to issue physical and virtual credit cards, automate payment processes, track spending, and seamlessly integrate these data into their finance stack.

Pliant is growing quickly. With our expansion into 30 international markets, we believe that people, passion, and diversity are the key ingredients to our future success. Our growing team of 180+ Plianteers come from 35 nationalities and work remotely or in a hybrid environment from our headquarters in the heart of Berlin. And we’re looking for more talented and committed people to join us on our journey!

ABOUT THE ROLE

As the (Senior) Debt Collections Manager (m/f/d) you will build our debt collections strategy for the UK and US markets and be responsible for the performance of which. You will set up and optimize cross-functional debt collection processes, but you will also lend a hand yourself to gain frontline knowledge. You will enable internal teams and external vendors to recover overdue receivables from SME customers in our UK, US and beyond, and ensure they operate according to set SLAs. You cooperate with functional teams and stakeholders across our organization and vendors, and will be their trusted touchpoint for debt collections-related matters and more.

You will work closely with the Credit and Operations teams, and interact with Data and Legal.

This will be a hybrid role based in London, UK with some travel to Berlin.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Strategy: Develop and regularly calibrate our debt collections strategy for all relevant countries to maximize net recovery rates. Iterate policies and SOPs.
• CRM: Provide CRM with insights you draw from empirical evidence to effectively influence our risk appetite. Support the development of credit enhancements such as guarantees, pledges and assignments.
• Vendor management: Select, onboard and steer external collection agencies and law firms across all relevant countries, including the negotiation of terms and SLAs, monitoring and steering of performance, and cost control.
• Legal operations: Operate the legal aspects of our debt collections practice, including with our financing partners and vendors, ensuring that we can efficiently enforce our claims. Coordinate the drafting and execution of legal documents with our Legal team and external law firms and partners.
• Case handling: Handle selective high-profile cases yourself, including communications with customers, law firms, financing partners and our management.
• Reporting & data analysis: Further automate the NPL and debt collections reporting, ensuring that data is relevant, accurate, up to date and provided on time. Identify missing data points and help build pipelines, databases and dashboards.
• Training & decision making: Draw conclusions from empirical data and present it to stakeholders to impact data-driven decision making. Provide internal teams with insights and advice on debt collections-related matters to foster mutual learning across our organization.
• Innovation: Dive into workflows and IT systems, understand how to systematize them and continuously improve them together with us. Establish expert knowledge within your domain and regularly challenge it.
• Communication: Facilitate the identification and resolution of business problems through concise communications. Foster fact-based and efficient decision making. Develop trusted and performance-based relationships with internal and external parties.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Preferably degree in law, or business administration.
• 5-10 years of hands-on experience in debt collections of SME exposures across UK and US, either with a financial institution, collection agency or law firm. Other geographies are considered a plus.
• Track record in leadership and project management.
• Affinity for data and tech, and ability to establish technical solutions from scoping to implementation. Experience with IT systems used for debt collections.
• Analytical thinking and ability to quickly understand new problems and systems, and work out solutions.
• Determination and desire to work within and across teams and organizations to achieve the best results for our customers and for Pliant.
• Professional communication skills in English and solid command of German (additional languages are a plus).

WHAT WE OFFER

• The opportunity to work in a growing team with big responsibilities that thrives on a strong exchange of knowledge and excellence
• Attractive remuneration
• Flat hierarchy and transparent communication in a relaxed, professional atmosphere
• Opportunity to develop your talent in a dynamic team with ambitious goals
• Flexibility and possibility to work remotely
• Company card with a monthly allowance for lunches, coffee, etc. with co-workers