SME Collections Supervisor

Department: Collections Risk

Reports to: Collections Operations Lead

Location: UAE, with regular travel across all Emirates for field visits

Portfolio scope: SME term loans and working-capital facilities, DPD (Days Past Due) 1 to write-off

Role summary

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 legal handover. The 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.