Senior Credit & Collections Manager

Job Introduction

DAC Beachcroft is looking to recruit a Senior Credit and Collections Manager to join our busy Finance team.  Reporting to the Head of Finance Operations, you will be responsible for leading the Credit Control management team.

Role Responsibility

• Participating as a member in the Finance Management Team and Finance Operations Management Team, preparing materials for, and attending the Finance Executive as appropriate
• Acting as the the point of contact for Cluster Heads and Business Service Directors for any escalations and high level cash collection / debt issues
• Liaising proactively with Cluster Heads and Business Service Directors driving discussions and focus
• Contributing to "Lock Up" Improvement Programme and lead or provide key support to Projects
• Developing, winning approval for, implementing and monitoring best practice to enhance collections policy
• Working with Practice Governance and Risk to recommend and implement a new credit review process for identifying and monitoring credit risk; oversee credit risk management
• Developing, implementing and monitoring dispute reporting approach, working with Practice Managers and CSG Ops to establish the optimum route of query escalation and resolution
• Working with the business to set appropriate cash collection and ageing targets
• Driving monthly cash forecasting and reporting to the Head of Finance Operations
• Heading up monthly / quarterly debt reviews with the relevant business stakeholders
• Working with the Credit Control Manager, develop the Credit Control Team review performance and talent pipeline of the Credit Controllers
• Setting bonus targets for the Credit Control team and measuring performance against targets identified.  Working with the Credit Control Manager to agree actions to recover any shortfalls in the an agreed timeframe.
• Working with the broader Finance management team to design, implement and cascade down any strategy for collections and credit within the Finance Functional Plan
• Responsibility for Credit Control headcount in line with budget; assisting the Head of Finance Operations in setting staff budgets
• Monitoring existing / new technology with the potential to improve working efficiency
• Reviewing the team structure on a regular basis to ensure it meets business requirements
• Ownership of Credit Control, reporting, ensuring its comprehensibility, relevance, timeliness integrity and accuracy; its distribution to the relevant users at the appropriate time; then setting direction of focus and driving resolution of re-occurring issues, ensuring ownership / engagement with the business

The Ideal Candidate

• Proven experience of working in a law firm or professional services organisation
• Experience of credit insurance and risk
• Significant experience of managing people, coaching and development others
• Experience of leading high performing teams demonstrating the ability to work collaboratively to achieve results
• Proven experience of setting strategic business plans
• MCICM (Grad) or equivalent experience
• Be highly credible with the ability to influence, and challenge senior stakeholders
• Exceptional people skills with a clear, persuasive communication style and a strong ability to engage others.
• Highly organised and strong attention to detail
• Flexibility in terms of a changing environment and constantly-changing workload
• Highly organised and able to handle multiple demands and deadlines simultaneously
• IT literate with good knowledge Microsoft Office products; have high levels of numeracy and analytical skills

About the Company

We are a leading international legal business with over 2,500 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We have 11 offices in the UK as well as offices in Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Miami. We also have associations/alliances with firms in Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Central America, the USA, Australia and Germany.

We are a broad-based commercial firm with a strong heritage in insurance, health and real estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory capability. We represent a wide range of clients, ranging from household names to government departments and NHS bodies. We act for all of the UK’s top-ten insurers, we are market leaders in the provision of strategic, commercial and regulatory advice to providers and commissioners in the health sector, and in real estate we advise all of the UK’s top-12 housebuilders.

We have an impressive legal pedigree, with 142 Chambers UK 2021 practice area and individual lawyer rankings. In Legal 500 UK 2021, the firm received a top tier ranking for 37 of its practice areas, and 58 DACB lawyers were singled out in the ‘Leading Individual' rankings.

Our successes have been recognised by the legal industry and the markets in which we operate. These accolades include two top prizes in the ‘Excellence in Business Development’ and ‘Excellence in Technology & Innovation’ categories of the 2020 Law Society Excellence Awards – the highest accolade for law firms in England & Wales. Our health sector team won the ‘Crisis Management Team of the Year’ award at the 2020 British Legal Awards for its support to the NHS at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our Cyber & Data Risk team received the ‘Business Development Innovation Award’ at the 2020 Legal Innovation Awards, as well as ‘Cyber Law Firm of the Year’ at the prestigious Insurance Insider Cyber Rankings Awards, for its market-leading suite of digital tools to help our clients prepare for and respond to cyber and data risk crises.

Our vision is to be leading business advisers, recognised for our insight and our outstanding commitment to clients, and for being the place where talented people want to work. For further details on our work and our culture, please visit www.dacbeachcroft.com.

Application Details

At DAC Beachcroft, we don’t just accept your differences we celebrate them.  From bespoke solutions for our clients, to treating you like an individual.  Our strength comes from your diverse ideas and bringing the whole you to work. So if you’re good at what you do, come as you are.  We welcome direct applications and are happy to talk flexible working.

We also want you to be at your very best.  Please feel free to let us know of any changes we can make at any point in the recruitment process that will help support your application.  If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV.  Your application will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.

Note for Recruitment Agencies – the DAC Beachcroft recruitment team is responsible for managing all current vacancies through direct hiring and referrals wherever possible.  We do work with recruitment agencies and where we require external support we will formally release those vacancies to the agencies on our Preferred Supplier List deemed best placed to assist us.  Speculative CVs sent by any agency to any DAC Beachcroft employee without a specific request by the recruitment team will not be accepted and with no introduction fee applicable.  Our recruitment team can be contacted at recruitment@dacbeachcroft.com

DAC Beachcroft