Credit Controller

ABOUT US

Our History

A small, independent gas supplier in the North West of England, Pennine Natural Gas was how we began. But we are always reaching for better. Since joining the Gazprom Group in 2006 and becoming Gazprom Energy we have gone from strength to strength becoming one of the leading B2B gas suppliers in the UK and expanding into France and Netherlands. We now supply over 60,000 business customers at close to 100,000 sites across Europe.

Manchester is home to our European headquarters and our locations are united by our ethos: making customers happy, doing the basics brilliantly and finding new ways to go above and beyond their expectations.

Our Future

The energy world is changing, driven by forces of decarbonisation, competition, digitalisation and customer expectations. Our strategy over the next few years responds to these big changes. This means always reaching for better for our customers, for our business and for ourselves as individuals.

We have an ambitious growth strategy that builds on our strengths - our culture, our people and our brand. We are growing in Electricity, in Green and in Gas. We're strengthening our foundations - our systems and our behaviours. Big things are happening at Gazprom Energy - and we're looking for talented people comfortable with data and digital technologies to join us on this journey.

Our culture is defined by our people and Gazprom Energy is a place where you can be yourself. We are friendly, enthusiastic, helpful and purposeful. We encourage everyone to have a learning mindset, challenge respectfully, have a bias for action and to make evidence-based decisions. In return you can expect to receive the right mix of challenge and support for your role, your wellbeing and ambitions.

Since 2012 we have been accredited with the Investors in People Gold standard and are very proud of our track record developing and promoting internal talent. So, if you are one of those people who never likes to settle and enjoys being empowered to find creative ways to improve, then Gazprom Energy might be the place for you.

ROLE OBJECTIVES

We are looking for a proactive and ambitious credit controller to join the finance team in our Manchester office. You will be responsible for the collection of an assigned ledger of customers, maximising collection rates whilst ensuring bad debts are kept to a minimum. You will collaborate and communicate with various levels of internal and external customers.

We are looking for a candidate with substantial credit control experience and knowledge. The role will involve liaising with all types of customers via incoming and outgoing calls. Responsibilities include chasing overdue payments, processing card payments, converting customers to pay by Direct Debit and resolving queries with support from other teams. You should be an excellent communicator with strong attention to detail and accuracy and possess excellent negotiation skills. You should be a good team player with the capability to exceed collection targets. In addition, you'll have good Microsoft Office system skills including Excel and be open-minded to flexible ways of working and able to adapt to new processes and procedures.

Key Accountabilities

• Effective control over collections and management of total debt to meet agreed targets whilst resolving all credit control and collections issues efficiently and effectively
• Negotiation and liaison with third party agents including debt recovery agencies, solicitors, meter disconnection specialists and our credit insurers
• Review monthly bad debts to ensure provisions are appropriately calculated in the ledger
• Manage high volume of emails/calls, both incoming and outgoing, in a timely manner
• Ensure customer accounts are properly reconciled on a monthly basis, working alongside other teams to clarify and clear any issues
• Meeting with and internal stakeholders to resolve account issues
• Provide timely recommendations to management for customer accounts receivable balances in dispute
• Taking payments by debit or credit card
• Minimise risk though ensuring the proper recording and disclosure of any issues with customers to the team as well as across departments
• Regular ledger review to ensure potential bad debts are identified and escalated for disconnection
• Support vulnerable customers, with appropriate debt pathways and excellent customer service

Knowledge and experience

• Relevant experience in a similar role (credit environment desirable)
• Previous knowledge of SAP (desirable)
• Experience of working in a busy office environment and to tight deadlines
• Good knowledge of MS Excel

Skills and abilities

• Ability to manage high volume of emails/calls, both incoming and outgoing, in a timely manner
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills are key, as is a positive and flexible approach to your work.
• Results/target driven with the ability to define, measure and audit KPIs
• The ability to be both personable and firm with clients, to resolve any issues and collect any money owed
• The ability to learn quickly, pick up new things and run with them
• Excellent attention to detail and high degree of accuracy is imperative
• Ability to effectively report to senior management
• Analytical and highly organised
• Team player with good interpersonal skills

Competencies

• Collaboration:Builds and maintains strong relationships and networks that span boundaries, actively supports collaboration to achieve wider organisational goals
• Drive and Resilience: Is tenacious and committed, demonstrating accountability and ownership to ensure the delivery of results
• Organisation:Is analytical and able to work well under pressure and prioritise own workload whilst having the ability to cope with multiple priorities and changing environment
• Strategic Thinking: Has the ability to approach relevant parties with new ideas