Collections Manager

Defacto
Defacto

Posted on Aug 5, 2026

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Job description

About the role

Defacto is scaling its Collections function as the company grows, and we're looking for a Collections Manager to join a small, high-impact team reporting to our Head of Recovery [Reporting line: to confirm]. You'll own a portfolio of late-stage loans end to end, from early outreach to structured negotiation, working alongside AI-assisted tooling that helps you prioritize and act fast. This is a hands-on, high-accountability role for someone who wants direct exposure to how a lending business protects its book.

Location: Paris, with remote work flexibility

Why this role is exciting?

  • Shape a function that matters: Collections sits at the heart of Defacto's financial health. You'll join at a moment when we're investing seriously in the function - building better processes, smarter tooling, and a clearer strategy. Your contribution will be felt from day one.
  • AI-native tooling: You'll work alongside agentic systems that prioritize cases, surface borrower context, and propose next actions. You're not a calling machine - you're a decision-maker augmented by smart tooling.
  • Concrete, measurable impact: Every euro recovered is trackable. Your work directly reduces losses. No ambiguity about whether you're making a difference.
  • Direct exposure to recovery strategy: You'll work hand-in-hand with our Head of Recovery on a small team where your input shapes how we think about collections - not just how we execute it.
  • Why it's challenging?

  • Speed and prioritization matter: You'll manage a large number of cases simultaneously. Knowing where to focus - and acting on it quickly - is what separates good from great in this role.
  • Clear accountability: Impact is measurable here. You'll always know how you're doing - and so will we. That's refreshing if you like knowing where you stand.
  • Breadth, early: Calls, emails, instalment plan negotiations, data tracking, policy input - you'll touch everything. There is no narrow lane here, especially at the start.
  • Responsibilities:

  • Working closely with our Head of Recovery, you will own the following:
  • Portfolio Management: Monitor your assigned book of late loans daily through dashboards. No case goes untracked.
  • Borrower Outreach: Call, email, and message borrowers across the full delinquency curve - amicable to judiciary debt recovery. Escalate tone and channel as the situation warrants.
  • Negotiation: Structure and follow up on instalment plans, promises-to-pay, and partial settlements. Own these agreements through to resolution.
  • Smart tooling: Work with AI-assisted tools that surface case context and help prioritize what to do next. Engage with them critically and contribute input that makes them more useful over time.
  • Policy Building: Help the department extract and document the knowledge and decision logic that drives our agentic framework - what works, what doesn't, and why.
  • Tasking & Tracking: Use the system to log every action, flag blockers, and keep cases moving. And help build the insights from it.
  • Requirements

  • Experience in debt collections, banking, credit, or a similarly borrower-facing role
  • Familiarity with debt recovery legal processes (legal procedures, insolvency proceedings)
  • Knowledge of enforcement proceedings would be an advantage
  • Comfortable on the phone, can hold a difficult conversation without flinching
  • Resilient: collections is psychologically demanding at times, you can disconnect without carrying it home
  • Highly organized: does not let cases slip through the cracks, tracks everything
  • Fully autonomous in managing a portfolio of cases: ability to proactively identify and recommend the most effective recovery strategies to maximise collections
  • Data-literate: comfortable with data, spreadsheets, CRM-type tools. Not a technical role, but you need to be at ease with data
  • Fluent French (primary market), professional English
  • What we stand for:

  • Polyvalent: we love learning and expect our team members to step outside their comfort zones. We believe in people who love touching everything, always with efficiency (Pareto).
  • Data-Driven Decisions: we empower our team with access to data to make informed, independent decisions.
  • People: we believe people make great companies and adventures. We believe in a small team built around inspirational profiles.