Collection Head

Role & responsibilities

JOB DESCRIPTION

Vice President Collections, Loan Recovery & BPO Operations
Designation: Vice President – Collections & Recovery
Department: Collections, Recovery & Operations
Location: As per business requirement
Reporting To: Chief Executive Officer / Senior Management

Role Overview

The Vice President – Collections, Loan Recovery & BPO Operations will be responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for the company's collections and recovery business across India. The role will focus on driving collection efficiency, maximizing loan recovery, improving portfolio performance, managing large-scale BPO operations, and ensuring optimal utilization of manpower and operational resources.

The incumbent will oversee end-to-end collections across early, mid and late delinquency buckets, including field collections, tele-collections, hard-bucket recovery and legal recovery coordination. The position will also be responsible for strengthening client relationships with banks, NBFCs and financial institutions, expanding business operations, improving productivity, and building a performance-driven workforce.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

1. Collections & Loan Recovery Management

• Develop and execute collection and recovery strategies for secured and unsecured loan portfolios across different delinquency buckets.
• Drive end-to-end recovery operations, including early-stage collections, overdue EMI recovery, hard-bucket collections, NPA accounts and legal recovery coordination.
• Establish collection targets, recovery benchmarks and portfolio-level performance metrics in line with client expectations.
• Monitor collection efficiency, roll-forward and roll-back rates, delinquency trends, recovery rates and resolution of overdue accounts.
• Design differentiated recovery strategies based on portfolio risk, customer profiles, geography and delinquency stages.
• Strengthen tele-collection, field collection and hybrid collection models to maximize productivity and recovery outcomes.
• Develop escalation mechanisms and specialized recovery strategies for high-value, chronic delinquent and difficult-to-recover accounts.

2. BPO & Business Operations Management

• Lead large-scale, multi-location BPO operations covering tele-collections, field recovery, customer engagement and associated process management.
• Manage operational delivery across multiple branches, collection hubs and client accounts.
• Establish standardized SOPs, operating procedures, productivity benchmarks and performance monitoring mechanisms.
• Ensure achievement of client-defined SLAs, turnaround times, collection targets and service quality standards.
• Drive process optimization, operational efficiency, cost control and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Leverage technology, CRM platforms, dialers, analytics and performance dashboards to enhance operational effectiveness.
• Build scalable operating models to support business expansion, new client onboarding and increasing portfolio volumes.

3. Manpower Planning & Workforce Management

• Lead large-scale manpower planning, recruitment, deployment and allocation of telecallers, field collection executives, team leaders, managers and regional heads.
• Ensure adequate manpower availability in line with business volumes, collection targets, client requirements and geographical coverage.
• Develop workforce productivity benchmarks, incentive structures, performance-linked targets and accountability mechanisms.
• Monitor attendance, attrition, absenteeism, employee productivity and manpower utilization.
• Build effective leadership pipelines through training, capability development, succession planning and performance management.
• Drive employee engagement, retention, discipline and productivity across geographically distributed teams.
• Establish clear reporting structures, review mechanisms and accountability at every level of operations.

4. Client Relationship & Stakeholder Management

• Manage strategic relationships with banks, NBFCs, fintech companies and other financial institutions.
• Act as the senior escalation point for key clients, ensuring timely resolution of operational challenges and service concerns.
• Conduct periodic business reviews with clients to evaluate performance, recovery trends, operational gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Develop account-specific collection strategies in alignment with client policies, business objectives and portfolio requirements.
• Support client retention, account growth, new portfolio acquisition and expansion of existing mandates.
• Coordinate with client collection, risk, operations, compliance and legal teams to improve recovery performance.

5. Financial Performance & Business Growth

• Own collection business performance against agreed revenue, profitability, recovery and productivity targets.
• Prepare annual operating plans, budgets, manpower cost projections and resource allocation plans.
• Monitor cost per collection, cost per account, revenue per employee, productivity and contribution margins.
• Identify opportunities to improve operating leverage, optimize manpower costs and enhance business profitability.
• Partner with the business development team to support new client acquisition, proposals, commercial negotiations and operational feasibility assessments.
• Drive expansion into new geographies, portfolios and collection service offerings.

6. Compliance, Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure collections and recovery activities adhere to applicable RBI requirements, client mandates, contractual obligations and internal policies.
• Promote ethical and customer-sensitive recovery practices, including appropriate communication, confidentiality and protection of customer information.
• Ensure proper governance of field visits, tele-calling practices, customer interactions, complaint handling and recovery documentation.
• Implement quality audits, call monitoring, field audits, process controls and corrective action plans.
• Maintain accurate collection records, management reports, client documentation and audit trails.
• Coordinate with legal and compliance teams on escalated recovery cases, disputes, fraud indicators and legal proceedings.
• Establish controls to prevent misconduct, unauthorized practices, data breaches and operational losses.

7. MIS, Analytics & Performance Management

• Review daily, weekly and monthly performance dashboards covering collection efficiency, recovery rates, delinquency buckets, productivity and manpower performance.
• Use data analytics to identify underperforming portfolios, low-productivity locations and operational bottlenecks.
• Drive structured performance reviews with regional, zonal and process heads.
• Develop early-warning indicators and corrective action plans to improve collection outcomes.
• Present periodic business performance reports, forecasts, risk assessments and strategic recommendations to senior management.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Collection efficiency and recovery rate against assigned targets.
• Reduction in overdue accounts and improvement in delinquency resolution.
• Performance across early, mid and late collection buckets.
• Achievement of client SLAs and service delivery standards.
• Manpower productivity, utilization and cost optimization.
• Employee attrition, absenteeism and workforce stability.
• Client satisfaction, retention and account growth.
• Revenue growth, operating profitability and cost per collection.
• Audit scores, compliance adherence and customer grievance resolution.
• Successful implementation of process improvements and technology-led initiatives.

Educational Qualification

• MBA / PGDM in Finance, Operations, Business Administration or a related discipline preferred.
• A graduate degree is essential; relevant professional qualifications will be an advantage.

Experience & Desired Profile

• Extensive senior-level experience in collections, loan recovery, debt management or financial services operations.
• Strong exposure to large-scale BPO operations, tele-collections and field recovery management.
• Demonstrated experience in managing large, geographically distributed manpower and multi-location operations.
• Proven track record of delivering collection targets, improving recovery efficiency and managing operational costs.
• Experience handling banks, NBFCs, fintech companies and institutional clients.
• Strong understanding of collection processes across secured and unsecured lending portfolios, delinquency buckets and legal recovery coordination.
• Experience in client relationship management, operational reviews, business planning and profitability management.

Core Competencies

• Strategic leadership and business ownership.
• Strong analytical, commercial and financial acumen.
• Large-scale manpower and multi-location operations management.
• Negotiation, stakeholder management and client relationship building.
• Data-driven decision-making and problem-solving.
• Process excellence, governance and compliance orientation.
• Strong communication, leadership development and execution capabilities.

Ideal Candidate Profile

A results-oriented senior leader with a strong combination of loan recovery expertise, collections strategy, BPO operations management and large-scale workforce leadership. The ideal candidate should be capable of managing complex, multi-location operations, delivering measurable recovery outcomes, strengthening institutional client relationships and driving sustainable business growth and profitability.