Global Head of Collections
Department: Collections & Recoveries
Employment Type: Permanent
Location: London
Reporting To: Kasper Thomsen
Description
YouLend is hiring a Global Head of Collections to take ownership of collections performance across every market we lend in.
This is a build role rather than a caretaker role. You will inherit a capable 35-person function and a set of processes that were designed for a smaller, simpler business. Your job is to turn that into a global powerhouse with a deliberate strategy behind it: advanced analytics, segmentation, treatment paths, contact strategy, and a performance cadence that holds all of it together.
You will own the numbers outright. Cure rates, repayment speeds, cost-to-collect, and losses are yours – and you will be expected to move them. Once accounts hit collections, they are in your portfolio, and you own them.
Key Responsibilities
The Team
You will lead a global team of 35 people through five managers:
- UK and Europe (London) : We are operating our eight European jurisdictions out of London with plans to set up the German team (five agents + one manager) in Berlin. The current team in London consists of 25 agents managed by four team leaders.
- United States (Atlanta) : A new and small team operating with one HoD and five agents.
- Analytics and Transformation : Currently sits with the GM, but the right candidate should build and own this function independently.
Where the role sits
You will report to the General Manager of Collections and Recoveries, who reports directly to the CFO. This is a senior seat with a direct line into the executive team, and the decisions you make will be visible at board level. You will have clear C-level exposure with quarterly committee updates presented to the senior management team.
You will work closely with Credit Risk, Finance, Capital Markets, and Technology, and you will be a significant voice in how we invest in collections tooling and automation.
What you will own
- The metrics. Own the metrics which drive portfolio performance. This includes, but is not limited to, cure rates, repayment speeds, cost-to-collect, and losses.
- The strategy. Design and continuously evolve segmentation, treatment paths, and contact strategies across all markets.
- The people. Lead, develop, and upgrade your leaders. Maintain and develop a performance culture that holds across time zones.
- The operating model. Define the structure, management layers, workflows, governance, and performance cadence the function needs at global scale.
Why join this role
- A real mandate. You are being hired to build and make your vision come true. You will have executive sponsorship and a direct line to the CFO.
- Scale ahead of you. The function is global today and expanding into new geographies – you will decide what it looks like next.
- A serious team. You will be surrounded by high-quality people who push each other through direct feedback and aligned incentives.
- Speed over process. We have a data-driven culture with a low tolerance for red tape – only results and impact matters.
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise
What are we looking for
Essential
- You have directly owned collections outcomes and KPIs, and can talk through the decisions behind the numbers.
- You have built or materially transformed a collections function rather than inherited a mature one and kept it running.
- You have led global teams across multiple countries, cultures, and time zones.
- You have led through managers rather than only managing individual contributors.
- You have strong command of the credit and lending domain: delinquency, defaults, recoveries, write-offs, roll rates, cure rates, and credit losses.
- You are comfortable with analytics, and use cohorts, vintages, roll rates, cure rates, recovery curves, and segmentation to make decisions.
- You are comfortable with ambiguity, rapid growth, imperfect infrastructure, and shifting priorities – ideally from a scale‑up of a comparable size.
Valuable
- A track record of hiring, developing, and upskilling managers.
- Command of collections economics and the trade‑offs between recovery, customer outcomes, headcount, vendor cost, and credit losses.
- Meaningful operational collections experience in the US market.
Job Benefits
Why join YouLend?
- Award-Winning Workplace: YouLend has been recognised as one of the “Best Places to Work in 2024, 2025 and 2026” by the Sunday Times for being a supportive, diverse, and rewarding workplace.
- Award-Winning Fintech: YouLend has been recognised as a “Top 250 Fintech Worldwide” company by CNBC.
It's just getting fun
- We have developed powerful solutions, secured significant partnerships, and are growing rapidly.
- The global opportunity is still massive, and YouLend is a raw organisation where we are only just getting started.
Lots of upsides
- Well-capitalised with supportive private equity backing.
- Part of Banking Circle Group with a fully licensed Luxembourg bank, which can provide a balance sheet and support European expansion in otherwise complex regulated markets.
Motivating work environment
- A high-quality team that pushes each other to succeed through direct feedback and aligned incentives.
- Strong, transparent team culture: we have each other’s backs.
- Independent work environment where results matter.
- Data-driven culture and emphasis on speed (anti-red tape).
We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:
- Private Medical Insurance (via Vitality)
- EAP with Health Assured
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave
- Great office space (including a gym!) in Central London
- Subsidised lunch (via Feedr)
- Deliveroo allowance if working late in the office
- Monthly in-office masseuse
- Team and Company socials
- Sports clubs
At YouLend, we champion diversity and embrace equal opportunity employment practices. Our hiring, transfer, and promotion decisions are exclusively based on qualifications, merit, and business requirements, free from any discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, nationality, or any other protected basis under applicable law.
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