Director of Credit and Collections

VANGUARD TRUCK CENTERS LLC•Atlanta, GA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

This is a newly created role with ownership of the credit function — you will build the framework, define the policy, and grow the capability from the ground up.

Requirements

5–10 years of commercial credit or portfolio management experience, ideally in equipment finance, commercial fleet, transportation lending, or a captive finance environment
Hands-on underwriting experience — comfortable reading financial statements, building credit memos, and making independent credit decisions
Experience managing a live portfolio, including workout and collections — not just originations
Working knowledge of secured lending, UCC filings, and equipment lease structures
A builder’s mindset — this role has limited existing infrastructure
Comfort operating as an individual contributor initially, with the ambition to grow a team
Strong Differentiators Background at a captive truck or equipment finance company (e.g., Paccar Financial, Navistar Financial, DTFS, or a regional equipment lender)
Exposure to transportation or logistics sector credits
Experience evaluating owner-operator and small fleet customers, not just large commercial accounts
CFA, CPA, or formal credit training certification (e.g., CLFP, NACM)

Responsibilities

Evaluate new lease and rental credits end-to-end: collect and analyze financial statements, tax returns, and bank references; run credit bureau and UCC searches; build written credit memos with clear recommendations
Develop and maintain an internal credit grading system that maps to money factor / rate tiers, replacing reliance on the current factoring company’s assessments
Define and document approval authority matrices — what you can approve unilaterally, what escalates to leadership, and where hard declines apply
Partner with the sales and leasing teams to price deals accurately and competitively based on credit grade, ensuring rate structure reflects actual risk
Manage and progressively right-size the factoring relationship, reclaiming credits as internal capacity allows
Establish and maintain a financial reporting cadence for material accounts — annual or semi-annual financial statement collection from customers above defined exposure thresholds
Monitor credit grade migration across the portfolio; flag accounts showing deteriorating financials, concentration risk, or sector stress before problems surface in payment behavior
Maintain watch lists and early warning systems, including tracking of fuel price sensitivity, freight market conditions, and customer fleet utilization as leading indicators
Produce monthly and quarterly portfolio health reports for senior leadership, including aging analysis, credit grade distribution, concentration exposure, and reserve adequacy recommendations
Own the collections process for the lease and rental portfolio — monitor days outstanding, drive resolution on past-due accounts, and reduce DSO
Lead workout negotiations on stressed accounts: payment deferrals, restructurings, covenant modifications, and forbearance agreements
Make and execute early voluntary return recommendations when the business is better served by recovering the asset than continuing the customer relationship
Coordinate repossession and remarketing of returned or recovered units with the fleet and operations teams, optimizing asset recovery value
Maintain documentation standards that protect the company’s legal position in all credit and collections actions
Write and maintain the company’s formal credit policy, including exposure limits, concentration thresholds, prohibited industries or structures, and exception processes
Evaluate and implement credit management technology — from spreading software to portfolio monitoring platforms — as the function scales
Hire and develop junior credit analysts as the portfolio grows over time
Serve as the internal subject matter expert on credit risk, supporting M&A diligence, lender covenant reporting, and senior management decision-making