Senior Debt Collector - Debt Collection Team Lead

Flatpay ApS Italy•Milan, NY

About The Position

We are building a new dedicated Debt Collection vertical from scratch within Customer Success. You will be the first dedicated hire in this area, the point person to ensure that customers with overdue payments (or in the process of leaving) settle their dues and that particularly complex situations are escalated effectively. As you join a completely new team, you will contribute to defining how debt collection works at Flatpay, not just executing an existing playbook. Over time, you will have the opportunity to become the manager of the team you help build.

Requirements

Previous experience (3+ years) and practical experience in debt collection/debt collection roles, both for private individuals/sole proprietorships and companies.
Background in low unit value, high-volume B2B collection.
Experience in activating formal debt collection procedures and/or managing referrals to external collection agencies.
Excellent phone skills: ability to negotiate, hold your ground, and remain composed with difficult customers.
Structured and autonomous attitude: as this is a new function, we need someone who brings structure, not someone who waits for it.
Comfort working with data and metrics (Excel/Google Sheets, CRM, reporting tools).

Nice To Haves

Experience in managing vulnerable debtors, with a sensitive and compliant approach.
Background in payments, fintech, or merchant services.
Experience in setting up or improving a collection process from scratch.
Previous experience as a team lead or in a role with coordination responsibilities.
Experience collaborating directly with Finance/Accounting teams.
Good knowledge of Italian and English (internal working language).

Responsibilities

Independently manage the collection lifecycle for delinquent customers, including sole proprietorships and companies.
Perform proactive follow-ups, payment reminders, and repayment plan negotiations, maintaining firmness where necessary.
Manage outbound phone activity: call customers, negotiate, hold your ground with difficult customers while remaining composed.
Analyze critical cases (prolonged delinquency, high amounts, churn risk) and define tailored intervention strategies.
Activate formal debt collection procedures at the correct points in the process (e.g., injunctions/payment orders depending on the market) and manage the clean handover of unresolvable cases to external collection agencies.
Report any anomalies or billing adjustment needs to the Finance team, feeding into their feedback cycles with a cross-team collaboration perspective.
Build and structure debt collection processes from scratch: escalation policies, communication templates, SLAs, reminder timelines.
Define and formalize the cross-team workflow between Finance, Customer Success, Sales, and Legal.
Maintain clean records for each case and provide recurring patterns to the business to improve upstream processes (onboarding, contracts, terminations).
Monitor key KPIs (e.g., recovery time and rate, invoice aging, automatic debit failure rate) and propose continuous improvements.
Contribute to the selection and training of future team members as the vertical grows.