Senior Manager, Collections & Recoveries

🛡️Senior Manager, Collections & Recoveries

🌍 Hybrid, 2 days per week in office (or as role requires)

📍 Manchester, XYZ Building 2, Floor 1, Suite 5, Hardman Boulevard, M3 3AQ

📂 Operations

🕒 Full Time

Who we are

Jaja is a UK‑based consumer finance business with a simple mission: to empower customers to buy, borrow and build using smart tech, strong data, and clear design. We launched our digital credit card in 2018 and we’re continuing to grow, with new products and experiences in the pipeline. Our goal is to strip out unnecessary complexity and give people more control over their money — or as we put it, Make Simple. Our values guide how we work: Care Deeply. Adapt & Thrive. Challenge Everything. Go For It. Own It. Make It Simple. We’re scaling quickly, and there’s a lot of exciting change happening across the business.

As a Senior Manager, Collections & Recoveries you’ll make sure we’re there for our customers when they need us most — whether they’re already in financial difficulty or showing early signs that they could be heading that way. Your focus will be on delivering good customer outcomes, in line with Consumer Duty, while protecting the commercial health of the business.

You’ll lead our Collections & Recoveries operation day to day: a compact in-house team (based in our Manchester hub and working remotely), plus the third-party partners who support us across the lifecycle. You’ll set clear goals, motivate your team to achieve them, and continually improve how we work.

Digital is at the heart of what we do, so you’ll be confident using data, automation and digital self-service to make collections simpler for customers and more efficient for us.

This is a hands-on role. You’ll get stuck in while keeping sight of the bigger picture. You’ll be comfortable managing resources and relationships across multiple areas, and you’ll work closely with colleagues across the business — including risk, data, product, operations, compliance and finance — to make sure the support we offer customers reflects our mission and values. You’ll also bring structure, sound governance, disciplined planning and authentic people leadership. You’ll engage confidently with colleagues at every level, and you’ll relish stepping outside your comfort zone when new challenges come up — which, in a scaling business, they regularly will.

Your Responsibilities Will Include

• Lead the day-to-day running of Collections & Recoveries end to end — in-house operations, debt collection and recoveries partners, and specialist services — owning performance against clear operational KPIs and customer outcome measures, resourcing and capacity planning, and robust first-line oversight of key controls and risks.
• Shape and deliver a digital-first contact strategy across in-app, self-service, messaging, email, SMS and voice, working closely with Data & Analytics. Use segmentation, behavioural insight and test-and-learn to engage customers earlier, increase self-serve resolution, and make every interaction simpler and more effective for customers, and more efficient for us.
• Identify and responsibly adopt automation and AI-enabled tools — such as conversational AI, speech and text analytics, and propensity models — where they improve customer outcomes and efficiency, with the right human oversight, testing and controls in place.
• Own our collections policies, processes and procedures, keeping them clear, current and designed around good customer outcomes, alongside strong business results.
• Ensure customers approaching or in financial difficulty, or in persistent debt, are offered appropriate and sustainable forbearance and support — including affordable repayment arrangements, Breathing Space and referrals to free debt advice — and that customers with characteristics of vulnerability are identified early, recorded appropriately and receive fair, tailored support.
• Ensure all collections and recoveries activity complies with relevant laws, regulation and industry guidance, including CONC 7 and the FCA’s rules on borrowers in financial difficulty, Consumer Duty, the FCA’s guidance on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers (FG21/1) and the Debt Respite Scheme. Evidence good customer outcomes through clear MI, quality assurance, outcomes testing and complaints root-cause analysis, contribute to our Consumer Duty reporting, and act as a key point of contact for regulatory and industry engagement on collections topics.
• Bring the outside in — keep us ahead of regulatory change (including Consumer Credit Act reform), emerging best practice and new technology, and share the insight that helps the business think ahead.
• Work across the business — including Credit Risk, Finance, Product and Complaints — and with external partners so that collections activity and outcomes are well understood, arrears forecasts and impairment drivers are well informed, recoveries are optimised and delinquency is minimised — above all by helping customers get back to financial health as quickly as possible. Hold our third-party partners to the same standard of customer care we expect of ourselves, through outcomes-focused MI, quality assurance and regular audits.
• Lead, coach and empower a hybrid Collections & Recoveries team: set clear goals, give timely and constructive feedback, recognise great work, and own the team’s development plan — building capability in areas such as vulnerability, digital and data skills. Look after colleague wellbeing in a role that can be emotionally demanding, and build an engaged, inclusive and high-performing culture where everyone feels confident to do the right thing for customers.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Significant experience leading collections and recoveries operations within UK consumer credit, ideally in credit cards or unsecured lending
• A strong, practical and current understanding of the UK regulatory framework for consumer credit collections, including CONC 7, the FCA’s rules on borrowers in financial difficulty, Consumer Duty, the fair treatment of vulnerable customers and Breathing Space — and how to evidence good customer outcomes
• A track record of using data, technology and digital channels to improve customer outcomes and operational performance — striking the right balance between great customer outcomes and a lean, efficient and robust operating model
• Comfort with data: you can interpret and challenge MI, set up and read tests, and use insight to make decisions
• Experience of managing third-party collections and recoveries partners, with outcomes-focused oversight and assurance
• An experienced people leader who can coach, motivate and empower teams in a hybrid working model to achieve and exceed their goals, while looking after their wellbeing
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to lead change effectively. You build strong, collaborative relationships across teams and work through challenges to get things done
• Credibility with stakeholders at all levels, built on experience, business knowledge, market insight and best practice. You reach balanced decisions quickly and keep things moving
• Resilience and ownership — you stay steady under pressure, take accountability, and see things through

Nice to have

• A relevant professional qualification, such as CICM
• Experience in a fast-growing or digital-first lender
• Hands-on experience implementing AI-enabled or automation tools (e.g. conversational AI, speech analytics) in a regulated environment

What's in it for you?

• The chance to make a real impact in a growing business on a mission to change the face of the consumer finance industry forever
• Competitive salary
• Pension contributions, including Salary Exchange facility
• Annual bonus potential
• Private medical cover
• 25 days annual leave (FTE) plus UK bank holidays (with an additional day added for each full calendar year worked, up to a maximum of 30 days).
• Your birthday off each year as an additional day's leave
• 4x life insurance cover
• Option to join our company health insurance programme, provided by Vitality
• Access to our confidential Employee assistance programme

We're committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to thrive. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and encourage applications from LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, neurodivergent individuals, and those from ethnic minority and diverse religious backgrounds. We believe that different perspectives strengthen our team, drive innovation, and help us better serve our customers. If you require any adjustments or support during the recruitment process, please make a note on your application.