Summary of Position:The Director, Credit and Collections serves as the enterprise leader responsible for credit risk management, collections strategy, and cash optimization for a high-volume, low-margin, $1B+ foodservice distribution business. This role owns the company's credit governance framework, drives disciplined collections execution, and partners cross-functionally to balance profitable growth with prudent risk management, improved cash flow, and reduced days sales outstanding (DSO). The Director oversees the corporate accounts receivable portfolio, leads scalable credit and collections operations, and ensures proactive identification and mitigation of customer credit risk.
Duties & Responsibilities:- Own enterprise-wide credit and collections strategy to optimize DSO, cash flow, and working capital performance
- Establish, approve, and enforce customer credit policies, terms, limits, escalations, credit holds, and revocations.
- Provide executive oversight of the corporate A/R portfolio, including high-risk, high-dollar, and strategic customer accounts.
- Partner with Sales leadership to align credit decisions with growth objectives while protecting enterprise cash and margin.
- Collaborate with Finance to forecast bad debt exposure, reserves, and customer default risk.
- Lead and develop a multi-level credit and collections team, setting performance expectations, productivity goals, and succession plans.
- Own collection performance outcomes, including aging bucket reduction, dispute resolution, and recovery strategies.
- Serve as the senior point of contact for complex customer negotiations, escalations, and executive-level discussions.
- Oversee litigation strategy, settlements, and recovery actions in partnership with Legal and external counsel.
- Manage relationships and performance of third-party collection agencies and asset recovery partners.
- Leverage systems and analytics (ERP, AR automation, CRM) to drive efficiency, transparency, and risk insight.
- Report portfolio risk, performance trends, and actionable recommendations to senior leadership.
- Lead change initiatives related to policy updates, systems implementations, and organizational scaling.
Success Measures (12-18 Months):- Measurable reduction in DSO and past-due A/R exposure
- Improved accuracy of bad debt forecasting and reserve planning.
- Strong alignment with Sales on credit discipline and customer risk evaluation.
- Scalable credit governance and collections process supporting growth.
- A high-performing, well-developed credit and collections leadership team.
Minimum Requirements:- Education - Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, or a related discipline required; advanced degree a plus.
- 10+ years of progressive credit and collections experience in a high-volume distribution, foodservice, logistics, or transportation environment.
- 5+ years of senior leadership or manager-of-managers experience.
- Deep knowledge of credit risk assessment, collections strategy, litigation processes, and customer negotiations.
- Strong analytical capability with experience managing large datasets across multiple systems.
- Proven ability to influence cross-functional leaders and drive enterprise-level outcomes.
- Experience with ERP and A/R automation platforms (Business Central, NetSuite, YayPay, VersaPay, Salesforce preferred).
