Senior Collections Strategy Specialist in Cheshire, Warrington

We now have the opportunity to join us within the newly formed Collections Strategy & Performance team. This role will be responsible for the design and optimisation of end-to-end collections and recoveries strategies across all portfolios. It will own the strategy governance routines, develop product/portfolio-specific strategy plans, and partner across the business to deliver fast and safe change that balances customer outcomes with commercial performance.

The role holder will look after strategy design and execution by designing, documenting and testing strategy changes as well as building and maintaining monthly plans and the framework, overseeing implementation quality and readiness. Key tasks include defining strategy KPIs/KRIs and ensuring MI gives a clear view of conduct, credit and operational risk, leading the analysis of performance trends, root causes and customer outcome evidence.

The role will support the ownership governance routines for strategy, policy and process; maintain clear audit trails and decision logs as well as the alignment to risk appetite and Consumer Duty. Embedding vulnerability and fair value considerations and leading external benchmarking and horizon scanning will be important.

This role can operate from either our Head Office campus in Binley, Coventry or our Manchester office but travel to both locations will be required occasionally. A team-led hybrid working arrangement is in place.

Benefits:

• 28 days holiday a year plus bank holidays and a holiday buy/sell scheme
• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• Personal pension with matched contributions
• Life assurance (6 times annual salary)

Find out more about the fantastic benefits of joining Coventry Building Society.

About you:

To be successful you’ll be a recognised Line 1 subject-matter expert for collections strategy, governance and customer outcome design with the ability to build strong partnerships with Risk (Line 2), Ops, Compliance, IT, and Change to ensure safe, consistent and customer-focused delivery.

To be successful in this role it’s essential you have:

• Strong collections and consumer duty experience within UK retail banking.
• Experience in collections strategy design.
• Strong command of governance, control frameworks and risk appetite in a Line 1 environment.
• Skilled in translating data/MI into strategy decisions.
• Confident in influencing senior stakeholders and Exec.
• Proven track record designing and delivering multi-portfolio collections strategies.
• Deep understanding of forbearance tools, contact strategies and customer outcome testing.
• Experience leading change (requirements, testing, implementation, PIR) and operating robust change control.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including committee/pack writing and clear rationale setting.
• Ability to set direction and coach others.

Desirable experience will be:

• Understanding of the importance of customer care.
• Knowledge of both secured and unsecured collections.
• Working knowledge of SAS/SQL and decision systems to guide design and testing (hands-on ability advantageous).
• Leading a team.

About us:

In 2025, Coventry Building Society purchased The Co-operative Bank. Bringing together our purpose-led building society with the UK's original ethical bank was the start of an exciting journey. Trusted by over four million people, we’re a mutually owned business free from shareholders, and with our combined experience of almost 300 years, our ethics and dedication will continue to guide us. Together, we have shared values and an ethical approach towards our members, customers and colleagues.

We’re officially recognised as a 'Great Place to Work' and our benefits go beyond basic pay, with a discretionary bonus scheme, a culture of reward and recognition and comprehensive support for wellbeing. We’re serious about equality, of race, age, faith, disability, and sexual orientation and we celebrate diversity. By working together, we know you’ll build more than just a career with us.

Flexibility and why it matters:

We understand the need for flexibility, so wherever possible, we’ll consider alternative working patterns. Have a chat with us before you apply to see what the possibilities are for this role.

Proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer:

We’re proud to offer an interview or assessment to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for our vacancies. As part of the application process, disabled applicants can opt in for the Disability Confident Interview Scheme. If there are ever occasions where it is not practicable to interview all candidates that meet the essential criteria, such as when we receive a high number of applications, we commit to interviewing disabled candidates who best meet the minimum essential and desirable criteria.