Role Overview
The Senior Manager – Outbound Collections is responsible for leading end-to-end outbound collections operations, driving recovery performance, optimizing contact strategies, and ensuring compliance with regulatory and client standards. The role requires strategic leadership across dialer-led campaigns, analytics-driven collections, and large-scale team management in a BPO/utility environment.
Key Responsibilities
1. Operational Leadership
- Lead and manage outbound collections operations (voice, digital, and blended campaigns).
- Own delivery of key KPIs including:
- Cash collection / recovery rates
- Contact rate
- Promise-to-pay (PTP) conversion
- Broken promise follow-up effectiveness
- Drive daily, weekly, and monthly performance governance across pods/teams.
2. Collections Strategy & Optimization
- Define and implement outbound collections strategies across the full debt lifecycle (early, mid, late stage).
- Optimize dialer strategy including:
- Lead prioritization
- Campaign segmentation
- Call cadence and retry logic
- Partner with analytics teams to leverage data-driven interventions (e.g., payment behavior, vulnerability flags, contact probability).
- Introduce multi-channel engagement strategies (calls, SMS, email).
3. Client & Stakeholder Management
- Act as primary interface for client leadership on collections performance.
- Present performance insights, improvement plans, and transformation roadmaps.
- Align delivery with client frameworks (e.g., CARE+, regulatory guidelines, vulnerability handling in utilities).
4. Financial & Commercial Ownership
- Own collections-related revenue levers and cost efficiency.
- Drive productivity improvements through:
- Workforce optimization
- Automation and digital enablement
- Support contract governance and margin improvement initiatives.
5. People Leadership & Capability Building
- Lead large teams (Operations Managers, Team Leaders, Analysts).
- Build a high-performance culture focused on results, compliance, and customer experience.
- Drive coaching frameworks for:
- Negotiation and collections skill enhancement
- Empathy and vulnerability handling
- Ensure succession planning and leadership readiness.
6. Governance, Risk & Compliance
- Ensure adherence to regulatory and compliance requirements (e.g., vulnerable customer handling, fair collections practices).
- Drive QA, audit readiness, and process adherence.
- Manage escalations, complaints, and regulatory risks effectively.
7. Transformation & Continuous Improvement
- Lead transformation initiatives such as:
- AI-driven collections (e.g., next best action, prioritization engines)
- Dialer and CRM enhancements
- Automation of follow-ups and reminders
- Identify and eliminate inefficiencies across processes.
- Drive adoption of best practices across inbound-outbound integration.
Key Skills & Competencies
- Strong expertise in outbound collections operations (preferably utilities or telecom)
- Deep understanding of collections lifecycle and strategies
- Experience with dialers, CRM systems, and analytics tools
- Data-driven decision making and performance management
- Strong stakeholder and client management skills
- Leadership of large-scale operations (500+ FTE preferred)
- Strong understanding of compliance and regulatory frameworks
Preferred Experience
- 12–18 years of experience in BPO / shared services
- 5+ years in a leadership role managing outbound collections
- Exposure to UK utilities / regulated environments is highly preferred
- Experience in transformation (automation, AI, digital collections)
Success Measures (KPIs)
- Collection efficiency / recovery %
- Contact rate improvement
- PTP to payment conversion
- Reduction in delinquency aging
- QA / compliance scores
- Cost-to-collect reduction
- Employee engagement and attrition
Leadership Expectations
- Drives accountability and results orientation
- Balances commercial outcomes with customer fairness
- Champions transformation and innovation
- Leads with strong governance and operational discipline
