Collections Operations Manager at Prodigy Finance

What you will do in the role:

• The Collections Operations Manager will focus primarily on the day-to-day operations of the debt collections team. The role will require a hands-on approach and will see the successful candidate taking responsibility for managing team leaders and collectors, monitoring performance, providing guidance, coaching, support and ensuring that targets are met.   

Roles & Responsibilities:

Team Supervision: 

• Responsible for day-to-day collections operations management. 
• Lead and supervise team leaders, monitor collections performance, and provide guidance, coaching, and support to ensure that targets are met.

Strategy implementation: 

• Implement appropriate tactical collections, recoveries and forbearance strategies. 
• Drive and track various campaigns, including script design and approval, prioritisation of accounts,  as well as using data insights to optimise collections performance.

Process Management and Optimization: 

• Continuously review and update processes to identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies in the collections process and implement changes to streamline operations, improve efficiency and effectiveness and ensure regulatory compliance.

Performance monitoring and management: 

• Conduct a daily review of collections data and track progress against collections KPIs and SLAs. 
• Analyse data and other relevant information to identify trends, bottlenecks and opportunities and make changes as required to optimise team performance and ensure delivery against set objectives. 

Technology and Automation Integration: 

• Evaluate and integrate technology and automation tools. 
• Work with Product and Tech teams to spec and implement enhancements in systems and processes to streamline processes and improve productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. 
• Be a key stakeholder with the relevant product and tech teams to help drive business improvements aligned with business strategy and operational constraints/opportunities.

Ownership of  the collections SOPs and process documentation: 

• Design and maintain accurate and up-to-date Collections SOPs and process documentation and ensure that they are aligned to current processes and policies to ensure consistency and compliance.

Change management: 

• Working with the Change Matrix Team as the RSC Domain change captain for collections.
• Take responsibility for ensuring that the information regarding a change is shared effectively among the team members in your area of responsibility and all actions and training required to ensure the effective rollout of a change occurs.

Customer experience:

• Role model customer service (written and verbal) and collaborate with the Head of Collections, TLs  and other stakeholders to implement operational changes to address customer pain points and improve the overall customer experience. 
• Participate in internal customer decision-making forums. 

Workflow Management and Resource Allocation: 

• Optimise team performance by designing and managing workflows to ensure efficient collections processes, ensuring that resources align with daily, weekly and monthly goals and strategies at an operational level through hiring, managing the team schedules, shifts and workloads, as well as reassigning tasks and/or redistributing workloads as required.
• Provide input on staffing needs and technological requirements to the Head of Collections. 

Escalations and complaints management: 

• Act as the second level of escalation for complex or escalated customer interactions, disputes and negotiations. 
• Work with the complaints team, analyse complaints data and use the insights to implement changes. 
• Conduct/Address RCA’s and escalate customer experience gaps and opportunities to the Head of Collections and relevant business areas as required and collaborate with the relevant parties to implement the required changes. 

Quality Assurance:  

• Work with the Quality Assurance Team to analyse quality assurance scores and calibrate with the QA Team to identify any gaps in compliance with regulatory requirements, processes, systems, and people training and work together with TLs to implement the relevant changes and ensure that the requisite training and coaching is provided to the agents. 

Recruitment: 

• Grow our team strength by recruiting as needed for Cape Town collections operations vacancies.

Talent management: 

• Motivate and develop the collections team leaders and the collections team through goal-setting, delegation, training, coaching and performance reviews.
• Conduct a needs analysis and work with the Training Team and, where necessary, the People Team to ensure that the team receives the right level of training as required.

Reporting: 

• Weekly and monthly performance reporting to the Head of Collections and the business on collections performance and trends and providing data-driven insights for strategic decision-making.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Tertiary qualification in a relevant field
• Proven track record of success working in the collections/recoveries industry
• Three to five years of leadership experience within the collections/recoveries industry
• Strong communication skills and a track record of working with a global consumer base
• Ability to communicate with people at all levels, from recent university graduates to established working professionals
• Solid working experience in the debt review process
• Solid understanding of the full Debt Management lifecycle
• Strong project management skills and a track record for successfully planning, executing and completing projects. 
• Passion for solving complex customer problems
• High level of customer-centricity, as well as learning and change agility