Senior Manager: Credit & Customer Operations

The Core Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

The Core Group through iStore Finance is seeking a senior operations leader to own the full customer operations journey—from manual credit assessment and onboarding to servicing, support and arrears collections. This hands-on role requires leading through managers, building operating disciplines and aligning performance, risk, compliance and customer experience with business growth.

You will drive process improvements and automation while ensuring regulatory and audit readiness across key SA

Qualifications

• 10-15 years' experience in financial services or consumer credit operations.
• Senior operations or management experience leading multiple functional managers.
• Experience across lending, credit assessment, fraud, compliance, CS and/or collections.
• Understanding of SA regulatory environment: FICA, NCA, POPIA, NCR.
• Fraud risk management skills and detection systems are essential.
• Comfort with loan management systems and MI/reporting platforms; advanced Excel is helpful.
• Bachelor's degree in Business/Finance/Risk Management is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead Risk Operations, Customer Support and Collections Managers for delivery.
• Set SLAs, quality standards and performance metrics across operations.
• Own end-to-end customer operations journey from onboarding to arrears collections.
• Track turnaround times, quality, CX and cost-to-serve; address gaps.
• Drive process improvements and automation with Product/Data/Systems.
• Oversee manual credit decisioning, fraud controls and policy effectiveness.
• Ensure compliance with FICA, NCA, POPIA and NCR; manage audits.
• Escalate unresolved issues and drive corrective actions.
• Represent operations in strategic portfolio discussions; manage capacity/risk impact.
• Maintain consolidated MI for Executive: iStore Finance.

Skills

Leadership

Operations leadership

Credit risk management

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder collaboration

MI reporting

Analytical thinking

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance/Business

Tools

Loan management systems

Credit decisioning tools

MI reporting platforms

Job description

About the role

iStore Finance provides consumer credit to customers purchasing Apple products through iStore retail stores and digital channels. We are looking for a senior operations leader to take ownership of the full customer operations journey - from manual credit assessment and onboarding through to customer support, servicing and collections.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can lead through managers, build strong operating disciplines and keep performance, risk, compliance and customer experience moving in the same direction as the business grows.

What you'll be responsible for

• Lead, coach and hold the Risk Operations, Customer Support and Collections Managers accountable for delivery across their teams.
• Set clear SLAs, quality standards and performance measures across all operational functions, and make sure they are consistently managed.
• Own the end-to-end customer operations journey, including manual credit assessment, onboarding, servicing, customer support and arrears collections.
• Track turnaround times, quality, customer experience and cost-to-serve, and step in quickly where performance is off track.
• Drive process improvement and automation across the operations value chain in partnership with Product, Data/MI and Systems/Engineering.
• Through the Risk Operations Manager, oversee manual credit decisioning, fraud controls, regulatory compliance and the ongoing effectiveness of credit policy and decisioning rules.
• Ensure iStore Finance meets its obligations under FICA, the NCA, POPIA and relevant NCR requirements, and that audits, regulatory reviews and material risks are managed through to closure.
• Through the Customer Support Manager, ensure customer queries, disputes and service requests are resolved fairly, accurately and within agreed turnaround times.
• Through the Collections Manager, ensure internal and external collections activity delivers against recovery targets while maintaining a fair and compliant customer experience.
• Own escalations that cannot be resolved at manager level and use complaint and query trends to drive corrective action across the business.
• Represent operations in strategic and portfolio discussions, bringing a clear view of capacity, risk, compliance and customer impact.
• Oversee the effective use of loan management, credit decisioning, dialler and CRM/case management systems, and maintain consolidated operational MI for the Executive: iStore Finance.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and relevant external partners, including collection agencies, credit bureaux and regulators.

What we're looking for

• 10-15 years' experience in financial services or consumer credit operations, with at least 4 years in a senior operations or management role.
• Proven experience leading multiple functional managers, not only individual contributors.
• Strong working experience across consumer lending or retail finance operations, with exposure to credit assessment, fraud, compliance, customer service and/or collections.
• A practical understanding of the South African credit and financial services regulatory environment, including FICA, the NCA, POPIA, the Debt Collectors Act and NCR requirements.
• A sound understanding of fraud risk management, including fraud strategy, controls and detection systems.
• Comfort working across loan management systems, credit decisioning tools and MI/reporting platforms; advanced Excel is essential.
• A Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Risk Management or a related field is advantageous, but not essential.

It would be an advantage if you have

• Experience launching or scaling a consumer lending, BNPL or retail finance operation.
• Experience working closely with a compliance or credit risk function within a credit provider or FIC accountable institution.
• Experience overseeing fraud strategy or fraud detection capability in consumer lending, retail finance or payments.
• Exposure to digitally enabled credit assessment, collections or customer service platforms, or to point-of-sale consumer lending.

What you'll bring

• Strong senior leadership and the ability to build capable, accountable management teams.
• Commercial judgement with a good balance between growth, risk, compliance and customer outcomes.
• An analytical, MI-led approach to decision-making.
• Confidence engaging at executive level and across different business functions.
• High integrity, resilience and accountability, with the ability to operate well in a growing, changing environment.