Credit Officer

Lactalis India; Chennai; On-site; INR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Lactalis India is seeking a detail-oriented Credit Officer for its Chennai Shared Services Centre. The role covers day-to-day O2C activities including AR ageing reviews, collections, dispute management, and customer interaction to ensure timely payments and accurate financial reporting.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in Credit Control/AR, strong SAP and Excel skills, and excellent communication. Relocation to Chennai is required with full on-site work.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Credit Control & Accounts Receivable finance roles.
• Proficiency in SAP and MS Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables).
• Strong understanding of O2C processes, reconciliation, and customer account management.

Responsibilities

• Manage collections and overdue accounts to improve cash flow.
• Provide weekly/monthly commentary on overdue accounts and AR reporting.
• Investigate short payments and coordinate with sales for credits/adjustments.
• Process cash applications, remittances, and unapplied cash reviews.
• Address and resolve customer queries related to invoices and payments.
• Ensure compliance with policies and collaborate with billing, treasury, and sales teams.

Skills

Credit control

Accounts receivable

SAP

MS Excel

O2C processes

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

English proficiency

Education

15 years formal education (English as medium)

Tools

SAP

MS Excel

Job description

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Credit Officer responsible for managing the delivery of day-to-day activities within the Order to Cash (O2C) function/process, (for e.g., AR Ageing Review, Collections, Dispute Management, Customer Handling & Interaction, ) at our Shared Services Centre in Chennai. The ideal candidate will have hands‑on experience in Credit & AR operations, and the ability to collaborate with cross‑functional teams to ensure timely collections and accurate financial reporting.

Key responsibilities for the Credit Officer will include:

Managing credit and receivable accounts to contribute to the organization’s overall financial stability and profitability by minimizing credit risk and improving collection efficiency

Service Delivery - Collections

• Collection of overdue accounts
• Proactively contact customers (including by email, phone or customer portal) regarding past‑due invoices to secure payment and resolve collection issues
• Build relationships with assigned customers to perform effective collections
• Prepare mail merge for weekly dunning process
• Execute weekly stop supply process
• Monitor daily banking for accounts that are on stop supply
• Escalate overdue accounts to collections agencies or legal action when required

Service Delivery - Reporting

• Provide weekly and monthly commentary on overdue accounts
• Maintain collection notes and activity logs in AR system
• Account reconciliations & monthly excel statements for specific customers
• Weekly Metcash uploads

Provide month end reporting as required, e reason codes

Service Delivery – Dispute Management/Customer Queries

• Investigate short payments and validate deductions
• Coordinate with the sales team for resolution and issuance of credit notes
• Coordinate with Resolve team for resolution on POD and delivery queries
• Customer Queries

Address and resolve customer queries related to invoices, payments, and account statements quickly and efficiently

Service Delivery – Cash Application

• Payments Allocations
• Follow up with customers to obtain missing remittance
• Customer Refunds
• Prepare customer refund requests
• Unapplied Credits/ Receipts Management
• Reviewing and analyzing periodic unapplied cash & credits reports
• Direct Debits
• Provide verified documentation for loading DDA by Master Data
• Follow up on DD Dishonors

Other

• Ensure compliance with company policies, accounting principles, and relevant regulations.
• Work closely with the sales, billing, and treasury teams to ensure smooth AR operations
• Stay informed about best practices in O2C function
• Reduce risk by proactively communicating and escalating issues immediately to Credit Manager
• Operational Excellence
• Process Improvements
• 5+ years of previous work experience in Credit Control & Accounts Receivable related finance roles
• Proficiency in ERP systems (SAP) and MS Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, etc.).
• Strong understanding of O2C processes, reconciliation, and customer account management
• Stakeholder management skills essential for communication with onshore team
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
• Proven experience working in FMCG, SSC or other high volume industry.
• communicate in both written and spoken form.
• Personnel shall provide evidence of English proficiency equivalent to IELTS 7.0 in each of the four components (Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking). Acceptable equivalent tests include (but are not limited to):
• TOEFL iBT
• Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency
• Any other internationally recognised English language proficiency assessment demonstrating an equivalent level.

If the individual has not completed a test, the completion of at least 15 years of formal education with English as the primary language of instruction shall also be accepted as evidence of English proficiency.

Candidate must relocate to Chennai and its complete WFO.