Sap credit & collections manager

Our client, a global fresh produce distributor, seeks an experienced SAP Credit & Collections Manager to take ownership of the company’s Credit & Collections function. This is a hands-on functional/ Business leadership role, requiring strong judgment in customer credit risk, credit decision-making, collections management, policy enforcement, and stakeholder management.

A critical component of this role will be partnering closely with the Sales and Commercial organizations. The successful candidate must have the confidence and judgment to challenge commercial requests when the associated credit risk is unacceptable, make difficult decisions when necessary, and balance business objectives with the company’s financial risk exposure.

This is a 6-month contractual position, with the potential to convert to a Full-Time Employee. Candidates must be located in the USA EST or Central timezone and be willing to work EST hours.

The Role

• Take end-to-end ownership of the Credit & Collections function and actively drive its performance and effectiveness.
• Lead and manage a team of approximately five collectors, providing direction, accountability, coaching, and support.
• Oversee customer credit risk assessment and make sound credit-related decisions based on the company’s financial exposure and risk tolerance.
• Own or administer credit approval processes, customer credit limits, and credit policies.
• Establish, communicate, and consistently enforce credit policies and procedures across the organization.
• Review and evaluate customer credit situations, payment behavior, exposure, and collection risk.
• Make difficult credit decisions when necessary, including declining or limiting credit when the associated risk is unacceptable.
• Manage escalated and challenging customer credit and collections situations and drive them toward resolution.
• Partner closely with Sales, Commercial, Finance, and other business stakeholders on customer credit and collections matters.
• Challenge requests from Sales or Commercial stakeholders when they conflict with established credit policies or create unacceptable financial risk.
• Balance commercial objectives and customer relationships with the company’s credit and financial risk exposure.
• Provide clear rationale for credit decisions and confidently communicate decisions to senior stakeholders.
• Monitor outstanding receivables, credit exposure, collection performance, and other relevant Credit & Collections metrics.
• Identify risks, gaps, trends, and issues within the Credit & Collections function and proactively drive corrective actions.
• Establish clear priorities, actions, owners, and follow-ups to ensure collection and credit-related activities continue moving forward.
• Serve as a key functional point of contact between Credit & Collections, Sales/Commercial, Finance, and other stakeholders.
• Provide regular reporting and visibility into credit risk, collections performance, escalations, outstanding issues, and key decisions.

Requirements

• Strong experience leading a Credit & Collections organization or team, ideally with direct management of collectors.
• Demonstrated experience managing and developing Credit & Collections professionals.
• Strong understanding of customer credit risk assessment and credit decision-making.
• Experience owning or administering credit approval processes, credit limits, and credit policies.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and enforce credit policies and procedures.
• Experience making independent and difficult credit decisions based on financial risk and business exposure.
• Strong experience managing challenging customer credit, collections, and accounts receivable situations.
• Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with Sales and Commercial organizations.
• Comfortable challenging Sales or business stakeholders when requested credit terms or decisions create unacceptable financial risk.
• Strong judgment and ability to balance commercial/business objectives with financial and credit risk management.
• Strong executive presence with the confidence to communicate and defend credit decisions when challenged or escalated.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, facilitation, organization, and follow-up skills.
• Proactive, assertive, resilient, and execution-focused leadership style.
• Experience working in a complex, multi-stakeholder organization.
• SAP Experience: SAP experience is valuable, particularly within Credit, Collections, Accounts Receivable, or related Finance processes.
• Experience using SAP to support Credit & Collections processes is preferred.
• SAP S/4HANA experience is a plus.
• SAP implementation or technical expertise is not required and should not be the primary focus of the candidate profile.