Senior Collections Officer

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**YOUR ROLE IN A NUTSHELL**:
The Senior Collections Officer contributes to the success of GroupM New Zealand through the provision of exceptional collection service to their assigned agencies and clients, maximising their cash flow and reducing their exposure to bad debts.

They do this by having a strong sense of ownership of their Agencies and through working in partnership with their Agencies commercial and client teams to drive achievement of results.

The purpose of the Senior Collections Officer role is to collect debtor payments to the agreed terms, manage aged debt and delinquent accounts through continuous client contact as well as the provision of regular Debtors reports to the Agencies.

The role requires a highly motivated and experienced collector with a strong focus on achievement of results and ownership of assigned ledger/s. The ability to build strong relationships with agency commercial and client teams and leverage these to affect positive outcomes is key to this role.

It requires a high level of accuracy, great verbal and written communication skills and attention to detail to ensure that aged debt matters are resolved, managed and addressed at a high standard.

**WHAT YOU WILL SPEND YOUR TIME DOING**:
**Collections**:

- Ownership of a material or strategic collections portfolio
- Effectively manage the collections portfolio to agreed targets and metrics - agreed % of overdue AR
- Undertake assigned collections activities daily
- Proactively identify accounts issues and work with agencies to resolve independently
- Manage complex account issues and resolve independently
- Identify disputed items through client contact & communicate these concisely to agencies client teams.
- Manage collection and resolution of disputed items through regular client team engagement & follow up.

**Relationship Management**
- Build solid relationships with clients and agencies to bring in arrears and commit to payment plans
- Proactive independent engagement of senior stakeholders such as Commercial Directors on a regular basis
- Run regular debtors meetings independently with commercial teams to review ledger & agree corrective action.

**Reporting**
- Perform debtor reconciliations
- Produce debtor's report/s in agreed format for agencies with clear, informative commentary on aged issues per SOX requirements.
- Produce ad-hoc debtors lists and report's for clients, agencies commercial teams and client teams as required.
- Performing month end preparation and other ad-hoc duties
- Undertake month end risk management and exception reporting on risk platform
- Assist with cash entry & allocation as required
- Processing of reports & claims for insured entities.

**Team Membership**
- Mentor and train new team members or more junior team members
- Demonstrate and encourage a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration
- Participate in regular performance conversations
- Attend team and other meetings
- Practice courteous assertiveness with all interactions
- Demonstrate the behaviours expected from the team and customers
- Demonstrate the WPP AUNZ Personal Attributes
- Provide strong emphasis on providing 'needs based' customer service
- Maintain professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications; and establishing personal networks
- Work with management to solve matters as appropriate

**Process Improvement**
- Identify and communicate process improvement opportunities and opportunities for automation of processes
- Support ad hoc and continuous improvement projects driven internally by WPPAUNZ Group initiatives
- Write process documentation and/or provide feedback and assistance with documentation

**SKILLS & EXPERIENCE**:

- 5 plus years' collections experience within a medium to large corporation, ideally having experience working in Media / creative / digital related industries
- Experience in a SOX environment (highly regarded)
- Experience in managing material or complex portfolios
- Proactive approach to collections issues and problem solving
- Demonstrated ability in achieving company targets for collections
- Sound experience with complex collections issues and reconciliations eg misallocations, multiple invoices, PO reconciliations
- Experience in building and maintaining strong stake