Manager, Trade Credit Services - Collections

Position Purpose:

Role Summary

Sitting within the collections department, the Dispute Resolution Manager provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for the identification, investigation, and resolution of commercial invoice disputes, short payments, and customer deductions. This role acts as the critical bridge between collections and broader operations, focusing on accelerating cash flow by removing payment bottlenecks, minimizing uncollectible balances, and driving cross-functional root-cause analysis to prevent recurring billing issues.

Key Responsibilities

Dispute Governance & Workflow: Establish and optimize standard operating procedures, deduction codes, and strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for identifying, routing, and resolving customer disputes.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Sales, Customer Service, Billing, Logistics, and Pricing teams to orchestrate rapid investigations into pricing errors, shipping discrepancies, or contract compliance issues.
Root-Cause Analytics: Analyze dispute and deduction trends to identify systemic organizational issues. Deliver actionable data and recommendations to operational leaders to eliminate the root causes of recurring billing errors.
Team Leadership & Coaching: Manage, mentor, and audit a dedicated team of dispute analysts, ensuring efficient workload distribution and high-quality investigation practices.
High-Value Escalations: Act as the ultimate escalation point for complex, high-dollar, or legally sensitive payment disputes, directly negotiating commercial settlements or structuring formal credit/debit adjustments.
Performance Metrics & Reporting: Define, track, and present key departmental metrics to executive leadership, including Days Disputes Outstanding (DDO), dispute aging brackets, root-cause distribution, and total dollar volume cleared.

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:

This Position typically reports to the Sr. Manager or Director, Pro Trade Credit
This Position has 6 Direct Reports

Travel Requirements:

Typically requires overnight travel 5% to 20% of the time.

Physical Requirements:

Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions, there may be a need to move or lift light articles.

Working Conditions:

Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Minimum Qualifications:

Must be at least 18 years old
Must be legally permitted to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications:

Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite
Demonstrated ability to collaborate and work effectively with cross-functional teams
Ability to draw accurate conclusions from financial documentation
Demonstrated project management skills
Ability to negotiate, handle complaints, settle disputes, and resolve grievances with both internal and external customers
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
3+ years’ experience in commercial trade credit management and/or supervisory capacity in credit servicing center and underwriting teams.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Competencies:
An understanding and knowledge of the principles/disciplines of commercial underwriting and credit program administration.
People and team management skills
A strong grasp of credit and customer service/call center management skills. Able to manage/coordinate customer servicing levels. Understands how to structure and manage staffing, manage collections and effective receivables management relative to operational structure and servicing needs.
Sound understanding of lien based lending and effective receivables management strategies.
Ability to leverage data and analysis to craft a well-thought story and business case. Very strong communication skills to deliver business cases and gain support for process development and business strategies. Demonstrated decisiveness and sound decision-making skills.
Able to think strategically about business problems and opportunities and to focus efforts on strategies that most closely support key company initiatives.

Minimum Education:

The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.

Preferred Education:

The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.

Minimum Years of Work Experience:

6

Preferred Years of Work Experience:

6

Minimum Leadership Experience:

3

Preferred Leadership Experience:

3

Certifications:

None

Competencies:

Decision Quality
Collaborates
Drives Engagement
Ensures Accountability
Plans and Aligns
Communicates Effectively
Customer Focus
Develops Talent
Drives Results
Manages Conflict