Senior Collections & Payments Partnerships Lead

Emporium; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 800,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Emporium in South Africa seeks a Collections Lead to oversee day-to-day performance of external debt collection agencies and payments partners. You will manage partner relationships, perform reconciliations, resolve escalations and drive continuous improvement.

The role requires strong Excel skills, regulatory understanding of SA credit laws, and experience in collections or fintech. It is an on-site position reporting to the Payments Manager.

Qualifications

• Minimum six years of relevant industry experience in collections, credit operations, payments or financial services.
• Proven track record engaging with external collection agencies or service providers and holding them accountable for delivery.
• Strong financial reconciliation capabilities, with the ability to independently investigate and explain discrepancies.
• Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, SUMIF/SUMIFS, COUNTIF/COUNTIFS, IF functions, data cleaning and validation; Excel assessment will be required.
• Confident stakeholder communication, sound analytical judgement, structured problem-solving and prioritisation.
• Understanding of South African consumer credit requirements and related regulatory acts (NCA, Debt Collectors Act); knowledge of PSP and loan management systems is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational engagement with debt collection agencies, the debt buyer, and PSP/loan management system partners.
• Monitor DCA productivity and recovery performance; identify gaps and track corrective actions.
• Facilitate DCA performance meetings to ensure SLA commitments are met.
• Complete weekly and monthly reconciliations for DCAs and debt buyers, including payovers, commissions, invoices and accruals.
• Manage complex partner and customer escalations by coordinating investigations and resolving root causes.
• Oversee quality assurance on DCA customer treatment standards and remediation of control gaps.
• Prepare clear performance insights and recommend improvements in processes, quality and automation.

Skills

Debt collection

Agency management

Financial reconciliation

Advanced Excel

Stakeholder communication

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Finance/Accounting/Business Management or Financial Services degree

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Job description

Emporium in South Africa seeks a Collections Lead to oversee day-to-day performance of external debt collection agencies and payments partners. You will manage partner relationships, perform reconciliations, resolve escalations and drive continuous improvement.

The role requires strong Excel skills, regulatory understanding of SA credit laws, and experience in collections or fintech. It is an on-site position reporting to the Payments Manager.