Accounts Receivable Team Lead (Europe)

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

About the role

Global Business Services (GBS) manages the financial processes for Kerry. Our multilingual and customer-focused employees concentrate on supplying cost effective, compliant and value add services to ensure sustainable growth for Kerry. Here in GBS, we work alongside our site colleagues to support the following services; Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Site Support, MDG, Finance and Inter-Company Invoice Processing, amongst other functions.

The GBS AR Credit Risk Team Lead reports into the AR Manager and has responsibility for a team of Collectors / Accounting Executives.

Key responsibilities

• Manage a team of Collectors in the effort to collect outstanding debts from Kerry customers.
• Manage and report on the Collections team’s KPI’s, auditing the process on day-to-day basis to ensure daily targets are met.
• Manage the team’s efficiency and deal with any escalated cases from the team.
• Perform monthly AR Book Close process and accounting activities.
• Run relevant AR metrics and publish / report these metrics to senior management (daily, weekly, monthly).
• Implement targets and strategy and actions to achieve the team’s target.
• Providing weekly updates on top customers by countries contributing to highest overdue.
• Ensure that all Credit Control policies, internal Standard Operating Procedures and Standard Routines are adhered to.
• Actively engage with Customers who have defaulted on payment and take prompt action to ensure these cases are being monitored and closely followed up. Work closely with customers for getting PTP’s and payment plans detailed against outstanding debts.
• Provide timely escalations to the AR Manager for any disputes in collections.
• Regularly review all overdue outstanding accounts to determine the cause of non-payment and to take appropriate actions to recover such outstanding amounts.
• Coordinate with Sales, Customer Service, Commercial Finance and Key Account Managers to ensure on-time order releases. Be able to provide reports on demand to facilitate decision making.
• Review customer accounts to alleviate risk factors arising from new / existing Customers.
• Mentor, coach and develop team members and support workplace learning.
• Train and successfully on-board any new employees to the team. Continuously review processes, develop opportunities for improvements and manage changes.
• Work closely with stakeholders to drive a results-oriented relationship.

Qualifications and skills

• Candidate must possess at least a university degree in Accounting / Commerce / Finance and / or a professional Accountancy qualification (candidate currently pursuing a professional accountancy qualification is encouraged to apply).
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in Accounts Receivable function, with specific experience in the area of Collections.
• Must have in-depth knowledge of SAP.
• Advanced MS Office skills (including MS Excel and PowerPoint).
• Flexible and able to handle timelines and deadlines.
• Positive attitude, team player.
• Ability to prioritize, organize, problem solve, and manage your time.
• Strong attention to detail; accuracy in work.
• Experience of working in a multicultural, international environment.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate in fluent English, in a clear manner to colleagues and customers.