Business Systems Manager

Citizens•Johnston, RI

About The Position

Citizen's Collection and Recovery organizations is recognized for their winning culture. The fast-paced environment empowers you to drive meaningful change. If you enjoy problem-solving and making impactful improvements, and want both autonomy and support to enhance collections, recovery strategies, and the company’s financial results, this opportunity may be right for you. We are looking for a high-achieving, innovative manager to take ownership of and advance the vision, strategy, and execution for Debt Manager, our central platform for Collections, Recovery, and financial transactions. This position also includes oversight of Debt Next and recovery placements, ensuring our entire collections and recovery system remains efficient, well-controlled, and user-friendly. Additionally, the position is responsible for managing the collections and recovery production support environment, ensuring all inbound, outbound, and scheduled control functions are completed before operations begin each day. This leader will drive a clear future-state vision of what a modern collections ecosystem should look like, translate that vision into a roadmap, and deliver measurable improvements that streamline the experience for both customers and end users (collectors, recovery teams, and operations partners). You will lead a team of 6–7 direct reports, develop talent, manage cross-functional stakeholders, and proactively address risk issues caused by data gaps or system limitations. Team & Operating Scope People leadership: 8 direct reports (analysts / product owners / operational leads, as aligned to your org structure). Platform scope: Debt Manager (primary), Debt Next (recovery placement oversight and associated data exchanges/controls. Production support ownership: Team oversight of 400+ inbound and outbound transmissions and control reporting to ensure applications and integrations function correctly. Availability expectations: This role will provide production issue support as needed outside of standard M–F 8–5 ET, consistent with incident response needs (typically via an on-call/escalation model aligned to company policy). This team supports both offshore staff‑augmentation resources provided by a third‑party vendor and internal teams operating Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., as well as Saturdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. ET.

Requirements

Deep knowledge of collections and recovery best practices (end-to-end lifecycle, operational workflows, controls, and compliance considerations).
Proven experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives involving process + data + technology and multiple stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to manage production support and operational risk (incident triage, escalation management, root cause, prevention).
Strong leadership and people management experience, including developing and coaching teams.
Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, prioritize rapidly, and communicate clearly with senior leaders.

Nice To Haves

Experience owning or managing a workstation/platform used by frontline operations (collections, recovery, servicing, call center, etc.).
Experience with system integrations, file/transmission monitoring, batch processing, reconciliation, and control frameworks.
Experience overseeing vendor/agency placement processes and performance management.
Familiarity with Agile/product management practices and continuous improvement methods (Lean/Six Sigma).

Responsibilities

Define and drive the future-state vision for Debt Manager and the broader collections and recovery ecosystem (Debt Next, placements, transaction flows, reporting, and controls).
Build and maintain a multi-quarter roadmap that ties enhancements to measurable outcomes (efficiency, recovery performance, risk reduction, user experience).
Ensure tools and processes operate as an integrated ecosystem, not disconnected workflows.
Act as the “voice of the user” and drive continuous improvements that streamline work for collectors, recovery specialists, and support partners.
Proactively identify friction (manual workarounds, confusing steps, missing data) and redesign workflows to reduce effort and errors.
Translate business needs into clear requirements and partner with technology/data teams to deliver, test, and launch enhancements.
Oversee Debt Next operations and improvements—ensuring it supports recovery strategies, reporting needs, and compliance requirements.
Provide governance and performance oversight for recovery placements, including process consistency, effectiveness tracking, and continuous improvement.
Establish feedback loops (performance results → root cause → enhancements/adjustments).
Lead the team that oversees 400+ inbound/outbound transmissions supporting collections, recovery, and financial transaction activity.
Ensure robust production monitoring, triage, and resolution processes are in place to minimize downtime and customer/user impact.
Own the operating rhythm for control reports that validate application health and the integrity of data exchanges (e.g., expected volumes, timeliness, reconciliation, exceptions).
Serve as an escalation leader for production-level issues, coordinating with Technology, Operations, and vendors to restore service quickly and prevent recurrence (root cause + corrective action).
Identify and manage risks stemming from data gaps, missing functionality, manual workarounds, or unreliable integrations.
Partner with Risk/Compliance to embed appropriate controls, auditability, and policy adherence across the ecosystem.
Drive mitigation plans and prioritize enhancements that reduce regulatory, operational, and customer harm risk.
Collaborate with and influence leaders across Collections, Recovery, Ops, Technology, Data/Analytics, Risk, Compliance, and external partners.
Drive alignment and decision-making on tradeoffs, priorities, release timing, and change management.
Communicate clearly to all levels of leadership: what’s changing, why it matters, risks, and expected impact.
Lead and develop a team of 8 direct reports; set clear expectations and coach structured thinking and ownership.
Teach analysts how to think: problem framing, root-cause analysis, requirements clarity, testing rigor, and outcome measurement.
Build a high-performance culture focused on continuous improvement, accountability, and customer/user experience.
Be nimble—balance urgent production needs with strategic roadmap delivery.
Run a disciplined intake/prioritization process to evaluate requests based on value, risk, effort, and dependencies.
Ensure quality release practices: testing, controls validation, rollout plans, training, and adoption measurement.