SME Collections Supervisor

About the Role
The SME Collections Supervisor owns end-to-end recovery performance on an assigned SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) lending portfolio, from early delinquency through to legal handover. This role combines desk-based portfolio management, in-person field engagement with business owners, and day-to-day governance of third-party collection agencies.

Key Responsibilities
Portfolio Management

• Own collections performance on the assigned SME portfolio across all delinquency buckets, with accountability for roll rates, cure rates, and net recoveries.
• Segment accounts by exposure, DPD, business health, and collateral or guarantee position, and set treatment strategy per segment.
• Negotiate and structure repayment plans, settlements, and restructures within delegated authority, escalating exceptions with a clear commercial rationale.
• Identify early warning signals (falling account turnover, returned cheques, trade licence expiry, owner travel) and act before accounts roll.
• Prepare legal-referral files (statements of account, guarantees, returned cheques, contact history) and coordinate with external counsel on civil cases, execution, and travel ban proceedings.

Field Visits

• Plan and conduct field visits to business premises and guarantors, prioritised by exposure and risk.
• Verify business continuity, operating status, and asset position, and document findings in a structured visit report within 24 hours.
• Hold face-to-face negotiations with business owners and decision-makers to secure PTPs (Promises to Pay), restructures, or settlements.
• Run skip tracing on absconding or non-contactable customers using internal data, trade licence records, and field intelligence.

Third-party Agency Management

• Manage day-to-day relationships with assigned collection agencies, including allocation, recall, and re-allocation of accounts.
• Track agency performance against SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and scorecards: recovery rate by bucket, PTP kept rate, contact coverage, and complaint rate.
• Run monthly performance reviews, call and visit quality audits, and conduct compliance checks against CBUAE (Central Bank of the UAE) consumer protection and fair-collection standards.
• Validate agency commission invoices against actual collections before approval.
• Recommend agency onboarding, warning, or exit decisions with performance evidence.

Performance Tracking

• Analyse collection performance on the portfolio and agencies (recoveries, PTP kept rate, roll, and cure by bucket) to see what is working and what is not.
• Build and maintain a performance dashboard covering portfolio, field, and agency results, and use it to adjust priorities week to week.
• Flag deteriorating trends early and propose practical corrective actions.

Reporting, Compliance and Team

• Produce weekly and monthly MIS (Management Information System) reporting on portfolio health, recoveries, legal pipeline, and agency performance.
• Ensure all collection activity complies with the SME Collection SOP, CBUAE regulations, and internal policy.
• Supervise and coach in-house SME collectors where assigned, including daily huddles, case reviews, and quality scoring.

Requirements
Experience

• Minimum 2 years of hands-on experience in SME or commercial collections within a bank, finance company, fintech lender, or collection agency.
• Proven track record of conducting field visits and negotiating directly with business owners.
• Experience managing or working closely with third-party collection agencies.
• Working knowledge of the UAE legal recovery process, including returned cheque cases, civil claims, and execution.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or a related field preferred.

Skills

• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Sharp negotiation skills, with the ability to read a business's financial position and structure a realistic repayment.
• Good analytical ability: able to analyse collection performance, spot trends, and build a clear performance dashboard in Excel (pivot tables, lookups, charts). Able to read financial statements and bank statements to assess a business's repayment capacity.
• Working knowledge of CBUAE regulations on collections and consumer protection.
• Valid UAE driving licence and willingness to travel across the UAE.

Personal Attributes

• High confidence and presence in face-to-face, high-stakes conversations with business owners and senior stakeholders.
• Firm but professional: holds a position under pressure without escalating conflict.
• Results-driven, data-led, and self-managing, comfortable owning a portfolio with limited supervision.
• High integrity and sound judgement on settlement and restructure decisions.