Vice President Collections Strategy & Member Solutions

Empower Federal Credit Union•Syracuse, NY

51d•$140,859 - $234,766•Hybrid

About The Position

The Vice President of Collections Strategy and Member Solutions is a key strategic leadership role responsible for the end-to-end management of the organization's collections, recovery, and loss mitigation functions across all consumer, indirect, commercial, and residential mortgage loan portfolios. This leader will drive performance through innovation, technology, and analytics, ensuring industry-leading efficiency, optimal recovery rates, and strict adherence to regulatory compliance. They will champion a member-centric approach that balances financial stewardship with empathy, ensuring solutions are accessible, respectful, and aligned with our values. This position reports directly to the Chief Lending Officer and is a key member of the Lending Leadership Team.

Requirements

Experience: 7 to 10+ years of progressive experience in Collections and Recoveries Strategy, Operations, or Risk Management within the financial services industry, preferably in a credit union or banking environment.
Deep expertise in strategic leadership with a track record of building, managing, and optimizing multi-channel collections strategies.
Proven experience successfully deploying new technology within the collection's lifecycle, including leading RFP and vendor selection processes.
Demonstrated ability to identify operational efficiencies and translate data/analytics into actionable strategies that reduce risk and charge-offs.
Solid understanding of regulatory requirements governing collections, including FDCPA, Reg F, and UDAAP.
Education: A bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field is preferred.
Candidates with equivalent formal certifications or professional experience in collections, financial services, or related fields are also encouraged to apply. Empower FCU recognizes and values a variety of educational and professional backgrounds that contribute to success in this role.
Interpersonal Skills: Our Mantra: We lead by example with fairness, integrity, and honesty, always assuming positive intent. We are present, collaborative, and responsible for the results and actions of Empower FCU.
Leadership Competencies - How You Lead: Integrity and Transparency, Empathy and Compassion, Communication and Collaboration, Empowerment and Mentorship, Adaptability and Continuous Learning, Resilience and Accountability, Recognition and Celebration, Strategic Vision and Decision-Making, Accessibility and Approachability, Inspiration and Influence
Other Skills: Business and Operational Excellence - What You Deliver: IT and Business 101: Maintain a basic to moderate understanding of IT and Business Products & Services. Understand the minimum necessary to lead projects effectively. Financial Acumen: Understand and regularly review financials. Know how financial levers work and how your team can influence, and drive results up or down. Strategic Thinking: Understand and be able to articulate the organization's strategyu2014up and down the pyramidu2014including alignment with culture, the in-flight year's business plan, and the 'why' behind all of it. Business Case Development: Write and articulate a proper business case, including capital needs, project scope, and recurring OPEX costs. Managing an RFP: Effectively lead and manage Request for Proposal (RFP) processes to ensure competitive, strategic outcomes. Vendor Management: Manage vendor performance and successfully negotiate contracts to support organizational goals. Budget Management: Create and manage a proper budget, maintaining accuracy within +/- 5% of actuals to budget. Executive Communication: Present confidently and with clarity to Board Committees and senior leadership audiences with executive presence i.e. the ability to influence and align stakeholders at all organizational levels, including Board members. This requires skills in building trusted relationships with senior executives and acting as a strategic thought partner on complex organizational challenges. Big Picture Leadership: Lead within the context of the big picture to align and work cross-functionally and vertically. Effectively move forward projects, change management efforts, and resource allocation decisions. Incident Management: Properly facilitate and manage member-impacting incidents. If not part of the direct role, participate in or consider involvement in the member incident committee. Communications Management: Properly facilitate and manage communications for both members and staff, ensuring clarity, transparency, and timely updates.
People Leadership - How You Build High-Performing Teams: Performance Management: Work through performance management issues with HR (and/or appropriate leadership), including writing and delivering feedback up and down the organization, and implementing Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) when needed. Goal and Objective Setting: Write and communicate goals and objectives aligned from the top of the organization down to individual contributors. Ensure alignment by clearly communicating the 'why' and 'how.' Team Engagement: Facilitate and plan meaningful All Hands Meetings for and with teams, building and creating alignment and clarity across the organization. Culture and People Leadership: Create and foster a culture of delegation, empowerment, and accountability with managers, ensuring they do the same with their teams. Leadership Excellence: Consistently lead the way through Empower FCU's Leadership Excellence competencies and coach direct reports to demonstrate the same behaviors.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Innovation: Collections Strategy: Lead the overall strategy, design, and execution of collections, loss mitigation and recovery programs across multiple loan products (e.g., auto, mortgage, credit card, personal, commercial real estate loans) and all delinquency stages, optimizing cure rates and liquidation.
Operational Excellence: Identify and drive operational efficiencies through process re-engineering, RFP processes for new technology, and system integration, ensuring cost-effective and compliant operations.
Specialized Programs: Develop and implement advanced strategies, including: Legal Collections: Build the legal collections strategy from the ground up, including the selection, onboarding, and management of attorney networks or law firms. Debt Sale Program: Stand up a debt sale program, establishing all operational processes, conducting partner due diligence, and performing financial modeling to optimize recovery value.
Contact Strategy: Partner with Product, Risk, and Analytics to build sophisticated contact strategy capabilities, leveraging member segmentation, channel optimization (digital, phone, mail), and rigorous test-and-learn approaches.
Operational Management & Risk Reduction: Collections Management: Oversee the collection of past due consumer, indirect, commercial, and residential mortgage loans, including restructuring or liquidation of collateral on non-accrual and classified loans.
Asset Management: Proactively secure and manage the disposition of repossessed collateral for all secured loans (e.g., vehicles, shares, stocks, etc.).
Vendor & BPO Management: Own vendor and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) management across pre- and post-charge-off collections; set performance expectations, monitor detailed scorecards, and drive accountability for recovery goals.
Performance Monitoring: Establish, monitor, and report on rigorous KPIs for all recovery programs, including cure rates, liquidation rates, Right Party Contact (RPC) rates, Quality Assurance (QA), and compliance metrics. Implement results metrics and develop accountability standards.
Risk & Compliance: Be the institutional expert in managing and reducing risk and charge-offs. Partner closely with Compliance, Legal, and Risk to ensure absolute adherence to all applicable state and federal regulations, including FDCPA, Reg F, and UDAAP, mitigating regulatory exposure.
Financial Oversight: Develop and monitor budgets for Collections and Loan Operations. Measure actual results against budget projections and recommend charge-offs for appropriate accounts.
Team Leadership & Development: Talent Management: Recruit, train, mentor, and develop a that reflects our core values, as well as manage staffing levels and associated expenses. Ensure you are continuing to develop and engage a high-performing team of Collections Managers and team members.
Supervision: Conduct annual performance reviews and work with assigned team members to establish individual goals. Ensure all groups reporting to this role are adequately staffed, trained, and supervised to meet departmental requirements efficiently.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Influence: Credit & Portfolio Alignment: Collaborate across the organization with Operations, Risk, Finance, and Data & Analytics teams to align collections strategy seamlessly with credit policy, portfolio performance goals, and financial planning objectives.
Executive Influence: Influence stakeholders and the Executive Team with clear, concise, and data-driven insights and recommendations on portfolio health, recovery performance, and strategic direction.
Representation: Represent the collections organization in key cross-functional forums focused on enhancing member experience, defining regulatory strategy, and managing portfolio risk.
Other Duties: Perform all other duties as assigned by CLO and Executive Leadership.