Credit Control Team Leader in Leeds

Leeds (Garforth) – Hybrid with 1 day a week in the office

Reporting to the Financial Controller, this role is responsible for the end-to-end management of the Group’s credit control and cash collection lifecycle. You will ensure optimal liquidity and working capital management by driving accurate, timely broker reporting and robust debt recovery processes. Beyond core transactional responsibilities, you will act as a subject matter expert, taking ownership of credit control policies, system integrity, and process improvement initiatives. As the primary day-to-day contact for our brokers, you will balance firm recovery efforts with the maintenance of strong commercial relationships. This role is pivotal in providing the Financial Controller with actionable insights into the working capital cycle, ensuring that our financial control environment is efficient, compliant, and fully aligned with the Group’s strategic objectives.

Key Accountabilities

• Strategic Team Leadership: Provide day-to-day oversight, coaching, and performance management for the credit control team, ensuring all staff are equipped to meet collection targets and maintain high professional standards.
• Aged Debt Governance: Take ownership of the accuracy of aged debt reporting (30/60/90+ days). Provide the Financial Controller with value-add analysis that highlights key trends, identifies risk concentrations, and supports informed cash flow forecasting.
• Proactive Debt Recovery: Lead the strategy for managing aged debt across all Broker and Coverholder accounts. Implement tailored collection tactics to minimize bad debt exposure while upholding the Group’s commercial reputation.
• Revenue & Reconciliation Integrity: Oversee the end-to-end premium collection and reconciliation lifecycle. Ensure that all receipts are processed accurately and that any discrepancies in underwriting premiums are identified and rectified promptly.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as the primary credit liaison between the Finance, Underwriting, and Operations teams. Facilitate the swift resolution of complex disputes or operational bottlenecks that hinder the collection process.
• Compliance & Audit Excellence: Ensure all credit control activities are fully documented and compliant with internal controls and external audit requirements. Maintain "audit-ready" records that reflect robust financial governance.
• Continuous Process Improvement: Critically evaluate existing credit control workflows. Identify and implement process enhancements or automation opportunities to increase collection efficiency, reduce overdue balances and improve scalability.

Skills And Knowledge

• Insurance Credit Expertise: Strong experience managing broker and cover holder debt, aged receivables, and complex premium reconciliations.
• Technical Insurance Knowledge: Solid understanding of bordereaux processes, binding authorities, insurer settlements, and fiduciary money principles.
• Relationship & Negotiation: Confident in managing broker relationships, resolving disputes, and influencing timely payment while successfully maintaining commercial partnerships.
• Risk Management: Proven ability to assess credit risk, identify exposure risks, and escalation issues effectively to protect insurer capacity and cash flow.
• Analytical & Operational: Ability to identify inefficiencies and drive the streamlining of credit control and reconciliation processes.
• Commercial Insight: Familiarity with broader broker relationships, underwriting workflows, and complex premium settlement cycles.
• Process Improvement: Demonstrated success in process automation or workflow optimisation within a finance function.

Experience and Qualifications

• Core Credit Control: Significant experience in credit control or accounts receivable, ideally gained within insurance, MGA, broker, or broader financial services environments.
• B2B Debt Management: Proven experience managing complex B2B debt, with a specific focus on broker, cover holder, or insurer relationships.
• Technical Accounting: Demonstrated expertise in premium reconciliation, aged debt management, and the nuances of high-volume cash allocation.
• Leadership: Previous experience in a team leadership or supervisory capacity, with a focus on mentoring staff and overseeing operational workflows.
• Regulatory Compliance: Experience working in a highly regulated environment, specifically with exposure to audit processes and internal compliance frameworks.
• Professional Development: Active pursuit or completion of a relevant professional qualification (e.g., CICM, AAT, ACCA, or CIMA) would be highly advantageous.

Sounds like you? We at Bspoke are ready so if this role sounds like you apply today!