Collections Manager

About CleanHarbors
Clean Harbors Inc. (www.cleanharbors.com) is a NYSE listed US based $6.5 billion company. Clean Harbors was founded in 1980 near Boston by Mr. Alan S. McKim, who today remains the company’s Chairman and CEO.
Everywhere industry meets environment, Clean Harbors is on-site, providing premier environmental, energy and industrial services. Clean Harbors employs a dedicated workforce of 18,000 employees and has over 450 service locations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Beyond addressing the environmental needs of its more than 300,000 customers, the Company has been on the front lines of addressing some of the largest emergency response events in North America of the past several decades including the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the anthrax attacks in New York, the 2015 avian flu outbreak that devastated the poultry industry, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Sandy, and the oil pipeline breaks that affected the Yellowstone and Kalamazoo rivers, along with other major chemical releases into the environment.
Clean Harbors India has been strategically established as the Global Capability Center (GCC) to serve our parent company. We take pride in serving some of the most tech savvy business stakeholders at Clean Harbors. The GCC employees form part of our globally integrated teams that provide cutting-edge IT solutions and production support across platforms. Our shared services teams work seamlessly with their global counterparts in providing critical 24x7 support in various functions including Finance, HR, Procurement, IT and Operations. Our aggressive growth plans open significant career advancement opportunities for our employees.

Overview: 

As a Collections Manager, you will be instrumental in managing and optimizing the collections process for our organization. This role requires a professional with deep domain knowledge, team leadership capabilities, and a proactive approach toward process optimization and stakeholder alignment. The candidate will play a critical role in driving cash flow improvement, reducing DSO, and minimizing bad debt while ensuring a culture of accountability, transparency, and customer-centricity within the team. Your primary responsibility will be to lead a group of Team Leads to effectively manage our outstanding accounts receivable. You will collaborate with various stakeholders, including Sales, Operations, Finance, and Legal teams, to ensure that the collections function aligns with the company's financial goals and objectives. You will be called on to demonstrate your leadership skills, contribute to our financial success, and ensure the stability of our accounts receivable.

Responsibilities

Pre-requisites: 

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business administration, or a related field. 
• Proven experience as a Collections Manager or in a similar leadership role within a large organization, preferably in a multinational environment. 
• 12+ years of total experience with at least 5 years in leading collections teams in a shared services or multinational environment. 
• Hands-on experience in managing large portfolios / teams 
• In-depth understanding of end-to-end collections processes, credit risk assessment, dispute management, and customer account reconciliation. 
• Familiarity with O2C cycle and its integration with upstream/downstream finance processes (invoicing, cash apps, billing, customer master data). 
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify patterns, and develop actionable insights. 
• Exceptional communication and negotiation skills to interact with internal stakeholders and key customers. 
• Demonstrated success in building and leading high-performing, customer-focused teams. 
• Ability to coach, mentor, and retain talent, with a focus on performance metrics and engagement. 
• Proficiency in using collection tools, software, and financial systems. 
• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills to deal with customers, sales teams, and senior finance leaders. 
• Conflict resolution and stakeholder management skills in a cross-functional setup. 
• Problem-solving skills and the ability to handle challenging situations. 
• Data-driven approach to collections strategy and decision-making. 
• Experience in root cause analysis, aging trend analysis, and defining collection effectiveness KPIs. 

Responsibilities/Expectations from the role: 

• Oversee and manage a group of Team Leads, providing leadership, guidance, and support to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the collections process. 
• Drive and execute effective collections strategies to achieve cash collection targets, reduce DSO, and minimize aged receivables. 
• Monitor collection activities, track performance metrics, and generate reports for management, providing insights and recommendations for improvement. 
• Collaborate with Operations, Sales, and Customer Service teams to identify and resolve disputes, billing discrepancies, and payment delays, ensuring timely resolution and maintaining positive customer relationships. 
• Lead interactions with key customers, especially on escalated or high-value accounts, with clear action planning and resolution pathways. 
• Generate and present weekly/monthly dashboards on collection performance, risks, and opportunities to leadership. 
• Provide insights and forecasts to support working capital and cash flow planning. 
• Stay updated on industry best practices, regulations, and changes in credit reporting and collections laws to ensure compliance and make necessary adjustments to the collections process. 
• Coach Team Leads to lead their teams in pursuit of continuous improvement, and to develop existing talent. 
• Represent team for Business Governance meetings with on-site. Deep understanding of the business to be able to address issues being raised by On-site partners. Play the role of POC at GCC 
• Ensure key collection strategies are being implemented and adhered to by the team. Should proactively work with leads and AMs and collate feedback on strategies and report to management. 
• Identify automation and process improvement opportunities across collections workflows. 
• Ensure adherence to audit, compliance, and internal control standards. 

Qualifications

Preferred Attributes: 

• Resilient leader with a strong bias for execution 
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and matrixed environment 
• Agile mindset to adapt strategies to business realities 
• Strong customer orientation with commercial acumen 
• Proven ability to drive continuous improvement initiatives