Job Description
Title: Collections Manager
Location: Chicago, IL (Fully Onsite)
Pay Rate: $80K-$100k based on experience
Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO, 401K
*Must come from distribution or manufacturing industry*
Are you a results-driven credit and collections professional who thrives in a fast-paced environment? Do you enjoy leading teams, optimizing processes, and making a direct impact on cash flow and risk management? If so, this role is a fantastic opportunity to take ownership of a critical function and drive meaningful results within a growing organization.
We are seeking a AR Credit Manager to lead our credit and accounts receivable team. This individual will play a key role in safeguarding company assets, optimizing collections performance, and building strong partnerships across Finance, Sales, and Operations. The right candidate will bring both strategic thinking and hands-on leadership, ensuring our credit and collections processes are efficient, compliant, and customer-focused.
What You’ll Do:
- Lead and mentor the Accounts Receivable (AR) team to achieve excellence in invoicing, reconciliation, and collections.
- Enhance processes around credit approvals, collections, risk management, and customer communications to drive efficiency and reduce DSO.
- Review and approve credit applications, set credit terms, and collaborate with Sales and Finance to align risk with business growth.
- Personally handle due diligence for major accounts to ensure informed credit decisions.
- Maintain up-to-date customer credit files, including payment history, scores, and trade credit thresholds.
- Proactively resolve invoice disputes, balancing firm collection practices with positive customer relationships.
- Deliver insightful KPI reports and dashboards to leadership, highlighting opportunities for improvement and risk mitigation.
- Identify and implement automation, process improvements, and risk reduction initiatives.
- Partner with executive leadership to forecast cash flow and optimize collections strategies.
- Ensure adequate staffing, resources, and training are in place to support a high-performing AR and Billing team.
What You Bring:
- 10+ years of progressive experience in credit and collections management.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field (preferred).
- Strong knowledge of credit-related laws, regulations, and best practices.
- Proven ability to negotiate effectively and resolve customer disputes.
- Track record of leading teams, developing talent, and driving measurable results.
- Proficiency with Excel, ERP/CRM systems (NetSuite preferred), and financial reporting tools.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to partner across departments and influence outcomes.
- Analytical mindset with exceptional attention to detail and problem-solving skills.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.
Numbers & Facts
| Location | Chicago, IL |
| Industry | Staffing/Employment Agencies |
| Salary | $80,000–$100,000 Per Year |
| Company Size | 500 to 999 employees |
| Year Founded | 1969 |
| Website | http://www.sterling-engineering.com |
About Company
Sterling Engineering has been a trusted partner for engineering, project management, and staffing solutions for over five decades. We provide exceptional engineering/technical recruitment and engineering project services to clients nationwide:
- Engineering & Technical Recruitment - With our focus on engineering, technical, and IT, Sterling has the in-depth knowledge, industry expertise, and robust employee pipeline it takes to rapidly find talent for even the most difficult to fill positions. Sterling’s extensive recruitment methodology allows us to engage the most talented employees in the marketplace. We offer exciting work and career-building opportunities for our candidates, along with expert support at every step of the process.
- Engineering Project Services – Our experienced, multi-disciplined team of project managers, engineers, and designers, led by licensed Professional Engineers (PE), provide project management, engineering, design, and Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation (CQV) to manufacturing, OEM, and R&D customers. We work on complex, highly technical projects across a number of industry sectors, and our ability to scale and seamlessly integrate at multiple levels of your organization is what differentiates us.
Sterling offers a unique combination of engineering solutions and Best of Staffing level service to help our clients and talent achieve their goals.
Skills
- Accounts Receivableunmatched
- Accounts Receivable Managementunmatched
- Analysis Skillsunmatched
- Automationunmatched
- Best Practicesunmatched
- Billingunmatched
- Business Growthunmatched
- Cash Flowunmatched
- Communication Skillsunmatched
- Credit Analysisunmatched
- Credit Processingunmatched
- Credit Reportsunmatched
- Credit and Collectionsunmatched
- Customer Relationsunmatched
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systemsunmatched
- Detail Orientedunmatched
- Distribution Servicesunmatched
- Due Diligenceunmatched
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)unmatched
- Financeunmatched
- Financial Reportingunmatched
- Forecastingunmatched
- Leadershipunmatched
- Major Accountsunmatched
- Mentoringunmatched
- Negotiation Skillsunmatched
- NetSuite CRMunmatched
- Performance Metricsunmatched
- Performance Tuning/Optimizationunmatched
- Problem Solving Skillsunmatched
- Process Improvementunmatched
- Reconciliationunmatched
- Regulationsunmatched
- Reporting Dashboardsunmatched
- Resource Managementunmatched
- Riskunmatched
- Risk Managementunmatched
- Salesunmatched
- Sales Operationsunmatched
- Talent Managementunmatched
- Team Lead/Managerunmatched
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