Manager, Vendor Management

The manager will be responsible for growing and maintaining relationships with collections vendors accountable for the recovery of revenue and customer premise equipment, the completion of the non-pay disconnect work orders, and the supporting of Receivables Management processes.  The manager will be the primary resource for day-to-day business needs and performance results for Field Collections and Accounts Receivable vendor activities.  Key to this role is the ability to manage others by influence and cross-functional collaboration to achieve and exceed targets.  Applicants must have a verifiable track record in managing vendor relationships, improving collections performance, managerial experience, and interpersonal communication skills. 

The manager must communicate effectively with vendors and other departments to ensure collections revenue and expenses, CPE and budget requirements are met, and the relationships with Cox's customers are preserved.

The manager will keep accurate records and meticulous transaction documentation to manage collections revenue and equipment recovery, Non-pay disconnects, and Field Collection outsourced processes.  The manager will collaborate with Receivables Management leadership, communicate with leadership and finance to meet budget expectations, account for vendor set-up, and with Atlanta leadership regarding potential vendors and pricing.  

The manager may be required to travel 20-40% to vendor sites to conduct reviews, maintain relationships, and/or build relationships with potential vendors.  The manager must stay informed about pricing and products and monitor issues impacting the customer-vendor relationship and the relationship with Cox customers.

• Point of contact for the Receivables Management, Field Collections, Non-Pay Disconnect, and Equipment recovery vendors, build and maintain vendor relationships and optimize vendor sourcing based on performance and compliance with service levels, communicate goals and performance expectations, and manage resources to achieve desired business results.
• Develop criteria for and conduct RFPs, negotiate contracts and service level agreements, perform verification and compliance for all vendors, and audit pricing and compliance.
• Manage operational challenges and drive resolution of technology, service, or collections issues; facilitate weekly/monthly meetings with vendors to discuss performance, issues, and risks and improve processes to optimize recovery results.
• Ensure adequate and consistent secure data transfers between enterprise and outsourced vendors.
• Review, approve, and/or dispute vendor invoices every month
• Review & monitor vendor's performance metrics  for productivity and results, recognize and recommend operational and support improvements, initiate or implement action plans to improve quality and service to ensure achievement of call center collections department goals and objectives 
• Performs risk assessments as specified by the FTC, FCRA, CPNI, and FDCPA; oversees remediation of identified risks and ensures compliance with FDCPA and other collections state and/or federal regulations
• Through effective partnerships with boundary partners, develop and maintain processes for evaluating vendor performance, agent rosters, schedule process and training through monitoring, side-by-side / ride-along quality assurance reviews, and various reports to recommend changes as needed to the vendors based on performance to ensure alignment with Cox collections strategies. 
• Monitor and analyze trend reports, backlog reports, rolling reports, and daily reports and follow up on information gathered through the analytics and reporting. 
• Enables administration and facilitation of communication to and from Operations, Call Center Collections, and other support departments. 
• Collection, analysis, and reporting of historical vendor performance statistics, multi-vendor comparison reports, and performance statistics 
• Manage the development of annual operating budgets and re-forecasts as necessary.
• Handle customer complaints and escalations as necessary and ensure vendor practices are managed and aligned to preserve the integrity of Cox's relationship with our customers. 

Minimum

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline (i.e. Finance, Business, etc.) and 6 years' experience in a related field (i.e. Collections, Finance, Business Operations, etc.). The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master's degree and 4 years' experience; a Ph.D. and 1 year experience in a related field; or 10 years' experience in a related field
• 1+ year of experience in management or lead role
• Requires proficiency in MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MS Access, MS Project and Visio, Oracle Essbase/Sage reporting and knowledge of SQL, Oracle, Oracle Discoverer
• Thorough understanding of applicable state and federal collection laws
• Managerial and interpersonal communication skills, proven leadership abilities, strong interpersonal skills, excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Exposure to process redesign, quality assurance testing, requirements gathering and documenting, workflow diagramming and analysis, and working with IT/Engineering/Training resources
• Must have a verifiable track record in improving collections and equipment recovery performance
• Must be self-motivated, detail-oriented; demonstrated analytical skills and ability to make quick decisions

Preferred 

• BS/BA degree in related discipline strongly desired (i.e. Finance, Business, etc.) 
• 2 or more years of experience in a management role or leading cross functional projects
• Experience in telecommunications, credit and collections, recoveries and vendor management and/or 3rd party collections

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Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page .

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