Summary
Astra Tech is hiring an SME Collections Supervisor to manage recovery across an SME lending portfolio, from early delinquency through legal handover. The role includes setting account strategies, negotiating repayment plans and settlements, conducting field visits across the UAE, and overseeing third-party collection agencies. The supervisor also tracks portfolio and agency results, prepares reports, ensures compliance with CBUAE requirements, and may coach in-house collectors. Applicants need at least 2 years of relevant collections experience, UAE legal recovery knowledge, a valid UAE driving licence, and willingness to travel; a relevant bachelor's degree is preferred.
The posting
As published on astratech.ae. Pulled from the employer's site and shown as they wrote it.
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.
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.
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.