3rd Party Collections Manager

Description

The 3rd Party Collections Manager is responsible for the overall management, performance, and day-to-day operations of the Third-Party Collections Department. This position provides direct leadership to collection staff and is accountable for achieving departmental collection goals while maintaining high standards of compliance, productivity, client service, and employee performance.

Requirements

Department Leadership & Management

• Directly manage the daily activities and performance of Third-Party Collectors.
• Establish clear daily, weekly, and monthly performance expectations.
• Maintain an active presence within the department and provide collectors with direction, support, and accountability throughout the workday.
• Conduct regular individual and team meetings to communicate expectations, results, strategies, challenges, and departmental priorities.
• Promote communication, teamwork, professionalism, and accountability among collection staff.
• Monitor staffing levels, schedules, attendance, workload distribution, and departmental coverage.
• Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and training new collectors.
• Conduct employee performance evaluations and recommend merit increases, promotions, disciplinary action, or additional training when appropriate.
• Address performance concerns promptly and develop performance improvement plans when necessary.

Collection Performance & Production

• Take ownership of monthly departmental collection goals and recovery performance.
• Monitor collections throughout the month and make strategy adjustments when results are below expectations.
• Establish individual collector goals that support the overall departmental collection goal.
• Monitor collector productivity, including outbound calls, accounts worked, right-party contacts, promises to pay, payments collected, kept promise rate, recovery dollars, and account penetration.
• Identify underperforming portfolios, collectors, strategies, or account segments and implement corrective measures.
• Review daily, weekly, and monthly collection reports to identify trends and opportunities.
• Ensure collectors maintain appropriate levels of account activity and follow-up.
• Assist collectors with difficult accounts, negotiations, escalated calls, and payment arrangements when necessary.
• Continuously evaluate opportunities to increase recoveries while maintaining quality and compliance standards.

Collection Strategies & Account Management

• Develop, implement, monitor, and adjust collection strategies based on portfolio performance.
• Establish appropriate account priorities, queues, campaigns, and collection workflows.
• Ensure assigned accounts are worked consistently and according to client requirements and company procedures.
• Review account inventory and placement volumes to ensure workloads are appropriately distributed.
• Monitor aging categories and prioritize accounts based on collectability, client requirements, delinquency stage, balance, and other relevant factors.
• Evaluate strategy effectiveness through measurable results and make adjustments when needed.
• Coordinate special collection campaigns or targeted account initiatives.
• Ensure collectors understand the purpose and expectations of assigned strategies.

Client & Interdepartmental Support

• Understand individual client requirements and ensure accounts are worked according to contractual and operational expectations.
• Monitor client portfolio performance and identify potential issues or opportunities for improvement.
• Assist Executive Management and Sales/Client Services with client performance discussions and reporting as needed.
• Participate in client meetings when collection operations or performance need to be addressed.
• Respond promptly to escalated client concerns involving collection activity or account handling.
• Coordinate with Accounting regarding payments, adjustments, reconciliations, direct payments, client reporting, and related matters.
• Work with Compliance regarding regulatory requirements and account handling.

Compliance & Quality 

Training & Employee Development

Reporting & Management Responsibilities

Minimum Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Management, Finance, or related field preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of third-party collections experience preferred.
• Minimum of 2-3 years of collection leadership or management experience preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing collection performance and production goals.
• Strong working knowledge of third-party collection practices and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Experience developing collection strategies and managing account portfolios.
• Experience coaching, training, and evaluating collection staff.
• Experience reviewing performance reports and using data to make operational decisions.
• Strong computer skills and ability to work effectively within collection management systems, dialer systems, Microsoft Office, and reporting platforms.

Management Expectations

The 3rd Party Collections Manager is expected to take full ownership of the performance of the Collections Department.

The Manager should not rely solely on end-of-month activity to achieve collection goals. Performance should be monitored continuously throughout the month, with strategies adjusted proactively when results indicate that goals may not be achieved.

The Manager is expected to know:

• Where the department stands against goal
• Which collectors are meeting expectations
• Which collectors require additional coaching
• Which portfolios are performing or underperforming
• Which collection strategies are producing results
• Where additional attention is required
• What corrective actions are being implemented

The position requires a hands-on leader who can balance people management, collection strategy, compliance, client expectations, and financial performance.