Collections Manager

Job title: Collections Manager (Business Cash Advance)

Reporting to: Head of Collections

Location: Cape Town

ALL STAFF APPOINTMENTS WILL BE MADE WITH DUE CONSIDERATION OF THE COMPANY’S EE TARGETS

WHAT WE DO

Lula is an innovative and human-focused FinTech company on a mission to help small businesses optimise their cash flow. Our purpose is to help SMEs manage their businesses better, faster, and more simply, so they can spend more time doing what they love.

If you’re looking for a new place to call ‘home’ that believes in the potential of the broader SME landscape in South Africa and a place where you’ll work with awesome people - then Lula’s the place for you!

We’re making business banking fast, human, Lula!

OUR VALUES

Collaborative - we’re a clan and work together as a team, always towards a common goal

Committed - we’re accountable and follow through no matter the challenge

Curious - we look for better ways to do things and make a positive difference

Connected - we stay close to, learn from and look to understand each other and our customers

Compassionate - we go out of our way to care about our colleagues, our customers and our community

OVERALL PURPOSE

This is a fantastic opportunity for a seasoned Collections Manager to work in a growing fintech business. The Collections Manager position will look after our BCA collections team. This role is crucial in ensuring the financial health and stability of the business by minimizing bad debt and maximizing cash flow through effective collections management strategies. As a collections manager, you would oversee the process of collecting overdue payments from merchants. Your role would involve a variety of tasks including

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Developing Collection Strategies: Creating and implementing effective strategies for collecting outstanding debts while maintaining positive customer relationships
• Managing BCA Collections Team: Supervising a team of collections analysts, assigning tasks, and providing guidance and support as needed, including overseeing third-party collection agencies, monitoring performance and ensuring timely debt recovery
• Collaboration with Legal Teams/External Debt Collections Agencies: Work closely with internal and external legal counsel to ensure appropriate legal action is taken when required with a view to always recover funds
• Process Improvement: Identify and implement process improvements to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the collections process, and drive increased recoveries.
• Contacting Customers: Communicating with customers via phone and email to remind them of overdue payments, negotiate payment plans, and resolve any issues or disputes.
• Reporting and Analysis: Generating reports on collections performance, analyzing data to identify trends or areas for improvement, and providing regular updates to management.
• Compliance: Ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations governing debt collection practices, such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
• Team coordination: Working closely with the Head of Collections on issue escalation, ensuring merchant problems are tracked, resolved and followed-up on
• Collaboration and continuous improvement: Work closely with the credit management team to maintain and enhance high-quality decision-making processes, with a focus on improving overall portfolio performance
• Training Support: Identify training gaps among analysts and work with the credit management team to address these gaps effectively
• Customer-Centric: Using ideas and solutions to meet customer needs ensuring that their expressed and underlying needs are satisfied
• Credit Lifecycle Expertise: Demonstrate a solid understanding of the credit lifecycle, including collection processes
• Platform Proficiency: Develop a deep understanding of our lending platform to ensure effective decision-making
• Understanding and keeping up to date on the latest technology developments and technical issues affecting your accounts
• Ad-Hoc Projects: Be prepared to engage in other ad-hoc projects as needed to support the team's objectives
• Running other key operational tasks linked to the monitoring of the portfolio on book on a regular basis

THE COMPETENCIES WE’RE AFTER

• Excellent problem-solving skills
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail
• Excellent influencing skills
• Ability to develop and implement collection management policies and procedures.
• Resilience
• Fun-loving, team-player - you enjoy helping your team members out and will step up to assist even when your work is done.
• Start-up mentality - you understand we are all in this together.

THE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• Matric certificate/Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Law, or a related field. Equivalent work experience may be considered.
• Minimum 5 years Collections, Legal Compliance experience in Fintech, Banking, Financial Services or similar field; plus 2 years people management or supervisory experience.
• Ideally you will have some commercial/SME credit experience.
• Strong numeracy abilities
• Strong understanding of debt collection laws and regulations, as well as legal processes related to debt recovery.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to handle difficult conversations and resolve conflicts. Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Please note that all appointments are subject to our background checking process, which may include Credit, Criminal and any other job inherent checks