Senior Credit Controller – Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
About us:
Join a Leading University at the Heart of London. King’s College London’s Finance Department is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented individual to join our exceptional Credit Control team as a Senior Credit Controller.
As part of the Finance, Procurement, Strategic Planning and Analytics Directorate (FPSPA), the Credit Control team manages the invoicing and collection of over £750 million annually in tuition, residence, and commercial income from students, sponsors, embassies, the Student Loan Company, and other customers.
This is an exciting opportunity to become part of a dynamic, collaborative, and high‑performing team within one of the world’s most prestigious universities. The successful candidate will play a critical role in overseeing the credit control function—ensuring timely and accurate receivables management and supporting the financial sustainability of the institution.
About the role:
King’s College London is seeking a proactive, detail‑oriented, and motivated individual to join our Credit Control team as a Senior Credit Controller. In this pivotal role, you will work closely with the Section Supervisor and wider team to manage the university’s debt in line with the university’s credit policy, contributing to the financial health of a world‑renowned institution while working in a collaborative, high‑performing environment.
Debt Recovery and Reporting: The role is responsible for the recovery of outstanding university fee balances in accordance with institutional policies and procedures. This includes monitoring overdue accounts, engaging with relevant parties to secure payment, and taking appropriate action to recover unpaid amounts. The role also involves producing accurate and professional reports for management with excellent attention to detail, outlining the status of recovery efforts and identifying any notable issues or trends affecting university fee collection.
Customer Service Management: Oversight of high volumes of inbound communications—emails and phone calls—from a range of stakeholders regarding university fee matters. The postholder is expected to manage and respond to these inquiries promptly and effectively, ensuring compliance with service level agreements (SLAs) and maintaining a consistently high standard of customer service and satisfaction.
Proactive Communication: A proactive and professional approach to engaging with individuals and third parties regarding outstanding university fee accounts, focusing on prompt resolution and constructive communication to support positive relationships.
Collaboration and Query Resolution: Working closely with internal departments, external stakeholders, and legal representatives to resolve complex fee‑related queries. Responsibilities include investigating issues thoroughly, providing accurate and timely information, and facilitating effective collaboration to ensure prompt and professional resolution of disputes or misunderstandings.
Payment Arrangements: Evaluating requests for payment extensions or instalment plans related to university fees, reviewing financial information, making informed decisions, and establishing suitable payment arrangements. Ongoing responsibilities include monitoring adherence to agreed terms and taking appropriate action in cases of non‑compliance, such as renegotiating terms or initiating escalation procedures.
Escalation and Recommendation: When internal recovery efforts are exhausted, advising senior staff on appropriate next steps for unresolved university fee accounts and recommending escalation actions such as referral to external collection agencies in line with institutional policies.
Team Performance and Objectives: Collaboration with colleagues to achieve individual and team objectives by sharing knowledge, providing support across tasks and actively participating in the delivery of performance targets.
Process Improvement: Promoting continuous improvement, participating in initiatives to enhance operational effectiveness, identifying opportunities for improvement, contributing to or leading short‑term projects, and implementing changes that deliver measurable benefits.
Documentation and Review: Maintaining accurate and up‑to‑date documentation of processes and system configurations to ensure clear procedures, central storage, and regular review for compliance, staff training and ongoing improvement initiatives.
Analytical and Escalation Handling: Strong analytical abilities and meticulous attention to detail to evaluate processes, identify inefficiencies and challenge suboptimal practices. Key escalation point for resolving complex issues accurately and guiding other departments collaboratively.
Overpayment Processing: Managing the accurate processing of overpayments in line with institutional policies and regulatory requirements, including anti‑fraud and anti‑money laundering standards. Handling refunds across multiple payment methods and coordinating external loan scheme administration to allocate funds to fees and refund surplus balances.
Additional Support: During off‑peak periods in the fee collection cycle, the role holder may be required to support the RMID team across their Pre‑Award, Post‑Award and Credit Control activities.
Note: The responsibilities above may not be exhaustive. The post holder will be expected to undertake tasks reasonably expected within the scope and grading of the post.
About you:
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- Relevant Qualification or Experience: Holds a degree or a recognised financial qualification (e.g., CICM, AAT, ACCA), or equivalent practical experience in a finance or credit control role.
- Debt Management Experience: Minimum of 12 months’ experience handling complex debt‑related queries, demonstrating efficiency in managing high volumes within strict deadlines.
- Proven Success in Debt Collection: Track record of achieving positive results in high‑volume debt collection, including effective recovery strategies and maintaining customer relationships.
- Strong Organisational & Time Management Skills: Able to prioritise and manage workload independently, handle tight deadlines, and process high volumes of inquiries with accuracy and efficiency.
- Numeracy & Advanced IT Skills: High level of numerical accuracy and confidence using Excel (including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and data analysis tools), with general proficiency in standard office software.
- Attention to Detail and Professionalism: Demonstrates a meticulous and professional approach, ensuring high standards of accuracy, autonomy in task management, and consistent quality of work.
- Effective Communication and Autonomy: Able to work independently and communicate clearly with internal and external stakeholders, translating complex information into clear, accessible language.
- Solution‑Focused and Improvement‑Minded: Positive attitude with a commitment to continuous improvement, actively contributing to process and system enhancements across the team.
Desirable criteria
- Higher Education Experience: Experience in a university or academic setting, with knowledge of tuition fee structures, academic cycles, and student/sponsor debt processes.
- Student and Finance Systems: Familiarity with SITS or SAM for student records, and Unit4 ERP (Agresso) for finance and reporting functions.
- Financial Compliance Knowledge: Understanding of financial controls, anti‑fraud regulations (e.g. Money Laundering, Proceeds of Crime Act), and risk awareness in financial operations.
- Data Protection Awareness: Knowledge of GDPR and data protection principles, particularly in handling financial and personal data securely.
Equality and Diversity
At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative are great strengths of the university.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.
We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.
When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.
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