Collections Operations Manager (Residential) (Cheadle)

Benefits of working at Together:

• 26 days holiday, and a day off for your birthday (increasing with service to 30 days), plus bank holidays
• Free access to company holiday homes
• Buy & sell holidays
• Discretionary annual bonus plus an additional Shared Reward Bonus
• Matched pension contribution
• Health cash plan plus Private medical insurance
• Life assurance and Critical illness cover
• Travel season ticket loans and Ride to work scheme
• Free local gym access
• Local bar / restaurant discounts

Company Description:

We’re Together. For over 50 years, we’ve helped thousands of people, businesses and professionals unlock their property ambitions with our common-sense approach to mortgages and secured loans. We take the time to understand our customers and our door is always open, so we can often help when other lenders can’t or won’t. Based in Cheadle, Cheshire, our 750 colleagues help our customers throughout the UK, backed by the power of a £7 billion loan book.

As a Collections Operations Manager (Residential) you will lead the end-to-end operational delivery for our regulated mortgage customers in financial difficulty across pre-arrears, early arrears, forbearance, litigation and repossession. The role will create clear accountability for the full residential customer journey, ensuring great customer outcomes, effective management of the arrears portfolio, support for vulnerable customers and robust conduct and regulatory control, and efficient recovery strategies for customers and the business.

As a Collections Operations Manager (Residential) we are looking for someone to:

• Lead the day-to-day operations across the end to end regulated Mortgage Collections and Recoveries journey
• Ensure the teams deliver good customer outcomes and experience
• Oversee high-volume collections activity and specialist case management across residential regulated accounts, ensuring activity is appropriately segmented by customer circumstances, vulnerability, affordability, risk, exposure and recoverability
• Act as the point of escalation and decision maker for complex residential regulated cases, including vulnerable customers, non-responsive customers, unsustainable arrangements, litigation referral, possession strategy, settlement proposals and exit routes
• Maintain effective contact, case management and recovery strategies that support early intervention, sustainable forbearance where appropriate, and timely progression to recovery action where required
• Ensure adherence to regulated collections and recoveries policies, procedures, mandates, conduct expectations, Consumer Duty requirements and agreed governance frameworks
• Partner closely with Credit Risk, Portfolio Risk, Legal, Asset Management, Recoveries, Finance, Strategy, Data and third-party suppliers to optimise residential customer outcomes and protect the Group’s balance sheet and reputation
• Use MI, portfolio insight and root-cause analysis to improve residential treatment strategies, prioritise effort, reduce avoidable arrears progression and increase operational effectiveness
• Support transformation, automation and service modernisation initiatives, including improved workflow, contact strategy, decisioning, data quality and performance reporting
• Maintain robust operational governance, including quality assurance, issue management, risk event management, audit readiness, supplier oversight and clear decisioning records
• Deliver a supportive, career-focused coaching culture where colleagues have clear objectives, understand the role they play in delivering fair customer and business outcomes, and receive regular high-quality management intervention
• Ensure colleagues are recruited, onboarded, trained and managed in line with business and regulatory expectations, with appropriate capability development and succession planning
• Role model Together’s beliefs, champion inclusion and contribute to the delivery of the firm’s wider objectives across customers, colleagues, communities and sustainability

Qualifications:

Essential:

• Significant operational leadership experience within residential mortgage Collections and Recoveries environment
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end residential regulated collections and recoveries lifecycle, including forbearance, vulnerable customers, litigation and possession
• Experience leading managers, collections representatives, specialist case handlers, customer support teams or operational specialists in a regulated, performance-led environment
• Strong customer and risk judgement with the ability to balance customer circumstances, affordability, vulnerability, asset position, recoverability, legal options, cost, time and risk appetite
• Good understanding of residential secured lending, mortgage arrears management standards, regulated customer treatment, conduct risk, Consumer Duty expectations and credit risk controls
• Experience using operational MI, portfolio insight, segmentation and performance data to diagnose issues, prioritise effort and improve outcomes
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience working across Credit Risk, Legal, Asset Management, Finance, Operations, Strategy and third-party suppliers
• Understanding of legal and recovery routes relevant to residential secured lending, including litigation, possession, enforcement, asset sale, settlement and shortfall recovery options
• Proven ability to operate with strong governance, clear decisioning records, effective controls and appropriate challenge in a regulated environment
• Confident communicator with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, lead through change and translate strategy into operational execution

Leadership Capabilities and Behaviours:

• Customer and conduct focused: makes balanced decisions that support fair customer outcomes while protecting value, reducing loss and delivering sustainable business outcomes
• Outcome focused: creates clarity, pace and accountability across operational priorities, case progression and performance delivery
• Risk-aware: embeds disciplined controls, governance, mandate adherence, conduct standards and assurance into everyday residential regulated collections and recoveries activity
• Collaborative: works across residential operations, credit, legal, asset management, finance and supplier teams to remove friction and improve the end to end journey
• Inclusive leader: builds capable, engaged teams where colleagues understand expectations and are supported to perform and develop
• Change-orientated: identifies opportunities to simplify, automate and modernise residential regulated collections and recoveries delivery

Together embraces diversity and inclusion, and are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Not only do we welcome difference – we celebrate it, support it and really value our colleagues for who they are. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.