EMEA Credit Manager

The organisation

AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. We supply industries and consumers worldwide with innovative products and we are passionate about developing sustainable answers for our customers.

Our Decorative Paints (DP) business area (BA) adds color to people’s lives with a full range of interior and exterior decoration and protection products for the trade and consumer markets. As authorities on color we aim to provide all our customers – from professional decorators to DIY enthusiasts – with a great color experience and a fantastic finish. Our range includes paints, lacquers and varnishes, as well as products for surface preparation (pre-deco products).

To optimize quality, compliance and costs, AkzoNobel is introducing a major change program, clustering many small Finance transaction processing offices into a limited number of shared service centers. The DP Finance organization in EMEA is leading this process.

To help drive the success of this program, DP EMEA currently seeks a highly skilled and experienced EMEA Credit Manager.

The position

This is a high-level leadership position in which you develop, revise and optimize credit policies, procedures and guidelines for all customers with a credit limit exceeding EUR 50K. In doing so, you help AkzoNobel to achieve its business objectives and control accounts receivable risk exposure.

You lead a team of credit analysts and work closely with the Debt Recovery team leader in the UK, while managing the largest and most complex customer cases yourself.

The function is part of the Global/European Head Quarters for DP and you report both functionally and hierarchically to the Service Operations Lead.

You will be joining a multinational and multicultural company that is committed to your personal and professional development.

Tasks & Responsibilities

Within this context you are responsible for managing and controlling compliance with the Global/European Head Quarters credit and risk policy, assessing compliance during country visits, taking appropriate actions and periodically updating policy.

This requires daily interaction with local Finance and Sales teams across EMEA as you prepare, approve and review credit limit proposals from the country organization according to the authorization matrix. Every month you review (monthly) credit management reports from countries within EMEA, and create your own reports regarding accounts receivables and credit risks.

You monitor credit risks/opportunities, make customer credit risk reviews, and decide credit limits and payment terms, using credit management tools e.g. Dun & Bradstreet. When necessary you visit customers for informational and credit risk screening purposes.

A further key task is to manage, develop and implement improvement in the Order 2 Cash processes as you contribute to the execution of sales, expense and profitability targets. You work closely with Business and Finance to optimize working capital.

As a leader you supervise and lead the Credit Management team to ensure staff performance, motivation and development, challenging and motivating others to perform at their best.

This requires you to define job responsibilities and expectations, set objectives, provide constructive feedback and create tailored professional growth opportunities.

In doing so you create an open and diverse culture as we move towards an organizational structure that supports operational excellence.

Candidate profile

To apply for this position you should have a Masters or higher degree in a relevant discipline, e.g. Accounting/Finance/Credit Management/Economics.

With this will come five to ten years of experience in Credit Administration, Credit Underwriting and Credit Risk management, including at least three years in a people management position. In particular you should have experience in credit risk assessment and debt collection for SMEs in a large international company.

It is important that you have a good knowledge of SAP R/3 & Business Warehouse and that you are experienced with MS Office Excel.

Knowledge of Lean/Six Sigma and Ancore/Hyperion is a plus, and you should have experience in a shared services environment.

Needless to say, you possess excellent credit analysis and negotiation skills.

Beyond these strictly job related attributes, you are results oriented professional with strong interpersonal, people management and communication skills. It is essential that you are fluent in written and spoken English and, ideally, one or more relevant local languages such as French or German.

Interested?

You can apply to this position by following the link below. For more information, please contact Jolijn Scholtes, recruiter, at +31 (0)88 01 06 789.

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