Sr. Manager Pro Credit - Collections & DIsputes

Position Purpose:

The Senior Manager of Pro Trade Credit Collections will provide strategic leadership for the Collections and Disputes teams, guiding the development and execution of collection strategies that maximize cash flow, reduce bad debt exposure, and protect company assets. This role will oversee the dedicated Collections and Disputes organization, ensuring disciplined policy enforcement, effective risk mitigation, and alignment with broader commercial and financial objectives.

The ideal candidate will be a data-driven leader with demonstrated ability to translate complex analytics into executive-level business insights, optimize workflows through modern automation tools such as Bectran, and effectively balance risk management discipline with strategic commercial objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Team Leadership, Development & Governance: Provide strategic leadership, coaching, and performance management for the Collections and Disputes teams while fostering a culture of accountability, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. Oversee workforce planning, onboarding, training, competency development, and team structure to ensure consistent execution of regulatory requirements, system processes, SOPs, compliance expectations, and industry best practices.
• Policy & Procedure Management: Establish, maintain, and enforce standardized collections and dispute policies, procedures, and operating rhythms to support consistent execution, effective controls, and scalable business practices across the organization.

Collections, Credit Holds & Financial Authority

• Credit Hold, Order Release & Risk Governance: Establish and manage governance for credit holds, order releases, and past-due account restrictions, including defined thresholds and escalation protocols that balance risk mitigation, cash flow protection, and commercial continuity.
• Escalation, Negotiation & Financial Authority: Serve as the senior escalation point for complex, high-value account matters, including dispute settlements, payment accommodations, and bad-debt write-offs within established corporate authority limits and prior to executive escalation.
• Credit & Collections Partnership: Maintain strong alignment between Collections, Disputes, and Credit teams to support proactive risk identification, timely account resolution, and consistent portfolio management practices.

Commercial Alignment & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Sales, Operations & Commercial Partnership: Partner with regional Sales and Operations leaders to resolve complex account disputes, develop commercially balanced financial solutions, secure past-due balances, preserve customer relationships, and support profitable growth.

Legal & Vendor Management

• Litigation & Third-Party Vendor Management: Serve as the primary administrative liaison for litigation-related matters and manage relationships with third-party collection agencies and external counsel to ensure performance, recovery, compliance, and cost-effectiveness standards are achieved.

Data Analytics & Executive Reporting

• Performance Metrics & Executive Reporting: Define, monitor, and report on key portfolio performance indicators, including Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), Collection Effectiveness Index (CEI), bad debt ratios, collection trends, macroeconomic risks, at-risk accounts, and operational bottlenecks.
• Data-Driven Business Insights: Translate portfolio data into actionable business intelligence through automated dashboards and executive-ready reporting that inform strategic decision-making, operational priorities, and continuous improvement opportunities.

Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Compliance & Controls: Ensure collection practices, third-party engagements, and credit structures comply with applicable commercial credit regulations, legal requirements, internal controls, and company policies.
• Process Optimization: Lead regular reviews of administrative, operational, and system workflows to identify bottlenecks, eliminate redundancies, strengthen controls, and improve efficiency across the Collections and Disputes organization.

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:

• Typically reports to Director Credit Services
• Accountable for direct supervision of the work activities of others. In addition to personnel issues -- including selection, termination, performance appraisal and professional development of subordinates.

Travel Requirements:

• Typically requires overnight travel 5% to 20% of the time.

Physical Requirements:

• Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.

Working Conditions:

• Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Must be eighteen years of age or older.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience: Minimum of 8 years of progressive commercial credit and collections experience, including 4-5 years in a leadership capacity managing large collections and dispute teams and high-volume commercial portfolios.

• Subject Matter Expertise: Advanced knowledge of commercial trade credit, corporate debt collections, dispute resolution, and litigation processes.

• Technical & Soft Skills

• Systems & Reporting Capabilities: Demonstrated experience with credit and collections management platforms, preferably Bectran or similar credit-to-cash automation tools, with advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and data visualization platforms such as Power BI or Tableau.

• Analytical & Executive Communication Skills: Proven ability to develop automated reporting frameworks, interpret financial metrics, and present data-driven insights clearly to executive leadership.

• Leadership Presence & Collaboration: Strong negotiation, conflict resolution, and cross-functional partnership skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, navigate complex customer situations, and make sound decisions when risk thresholds are exceeded.

Minimum Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field required.

Minimum Years of Work Experience:

• 7

Certifications:

• Professional certifications such as Certified Credit Executive (CCE), Certified International Credit Professional (CICP), or comparable designations through the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) are preferred.

Competencies:

• A thorough working knowledge of the principles/disciplines of credit marketing, including Account Acquisition & Activation, Loyalty Marketing, Sales Promotion, etc.
• A thorough understanding and knowledge of the principles/disciplines of the retail industry.
• A strong grasp of Project Management skills and requirements. A proven record of developing new financial products and/or services
• Able to manage/coordinate multiple, simultaneous projects. Understands Time Management skills and uses those skills to deal with unplanned projects and interruptions. Both demonstrates and teaches those skills to direct reports.
• Able to think strategically about business problems and opportunities and to focus efforts on projects that most closely support key company initiatives.
• Very strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Ability to leverage data and analysis to craft a well-thought story utilizing Power Point.
• Demonstrated decisiveness and sound decision making skills and demonstrated strong results in managed projects
• Demonstrated strong results in managed projects