About us:

Join a Leading University at the Heart of London 

King’s College London’s Finance Department is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented individual to join our exceptional Credit Control team as a Lead Credit Controller. 

As part of the Finance, Procurement, Strategic Planning and Analytics Directorate (FPSPA), the Credit Control team manages the invoicing and collection of over £750 million annually in tuition, residence, and commercial income from students, sponsors, embassies, the Student Loan Company, and other customers. 

This is an exciting opportunity to become part of a dynamic, collaborative, and high-performing team within one of the world’s most prestigious universities. The successful candidate will play a critical role in overseeing the credit control function—ensuring timely and accurate receivables management and supporting the financial sustainability of the institution.

About the role:

Debt Recovery and Reporting: The role is responsible for the recovery of outstanding university fee balances in accordance with institutional policies and procedures. This includes monitoring overdue accounts, engaging with relevant parties to secure payment, and taking appropriate action to recover unpaid amounts. The role also involves producing accurate and professional reports for management with excellent attention to detail, outlining the status of recovery efforts and identifying any notable issues or trends affecting university fee collection. 

Customer Service Management: A core component of this role is overseeing high volumes of inbound communications, including emails and phone calls, from a range of stakeholders regarding university fee matters. The postholder is expected to manage and respond to these inquiries promptly and effectively, ensuring compliance with service level agreements (SLAs) and maintaining a consistently high standard of customer service and satisfaction. 

Proactive Communication: This role requires a proactive and professional approach to engaging with individuals and third parties regarding outstanding university fee accounts. The focus is on resolving issues promptly and effectively, while maintaining clear, courteous, and constructive communication to support positive relationships and encourage timely resolution of balances. 

Stakeholder Engagement & Complex Query Resolution: This role acts as a key contact for resolving high-level or contentious queries that require careful handling and professional judgement. The postholder will maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, offering timely, well-informed responses and facilitating productive dialogue to achieve resolution. They will uphold high standards of customer service and ensure that communication is both clear and sensitive to the reputational importance of fee-related matters.

Payment Arrangements: The role involves evaluating requests for payment extensions or instalment plans related to university fees. This includes reviewing financial information, making informed decisions, and establishing suitable payment arrangements. Ongoing responsibilities include monitoring adherence to agreed terms and taking appropriate action in cases of non-compliance, such as renegotiating terms or initiating escalation procedures. 

Escalation Management & Case Ownership: The postholder will serve as the main point of contact for all fee debt cases escalated beyond the scope of senior credit controller. This includes taking full ownership of complex or unresolved, high-value or sensitive cases, and issues requiring collaboration with legal representatives or other departments. They will apply sound judgement and policy understanding to ensure these matters are resolved effectively, fairly, and in compliance with institutional and regulatory expectations. 

Analytical and Escalation Handling:  This role demands strong analytical abilities and meticulous attention to detail in evaluating processes, identifying inefficiencies, and constructively challenging suboptimal practices. Precision is essential when reviewing complex data, interpreting policies, and assessing the implications of decisions. As a key escalation point, the role involves resolving complex issues thoroughly and accurately, providing clear guidance on challenging cases, and working collaboratively with other departments to ensure efficient, compliant, and well-coordinated operations. 

Team Performance and Objectives: Collaboration with colleagues is key to achieving both individual and team objectives. The role involves contributing to shared goals by exchanging knowledge, providing support across tasks, and actively participating in the delivery of performance targets established by supervisory leadership. 

Process Improvement: The role promotes a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging active participation in initiatives aimed at enhancing operational effectiveness. This includes identifying opportunities for improvement, contributing to or leading short-term projects, and implementing changes that deliver measurable benefits for the team and the wider organization. 

Documentation and Review: Maintaining accurate and up-to-date documentation of processes and system configurations is a key aspect of the role. This ensures procedures are clearly recorded, centrally stored, and regularly reviewed to reflect operational changes. Effective documentation supports compliance, staff training, and ongoing improvement initiatives. 

Overpayment Processing: The role includes managing the accurate processing of overpayments in line with institutional policies and regulatory requirements, including anti-fraud and anti-money laundering standards. It involves handling refunds across multiple payment methods such as card transactions, bank transfers, and third-party platforms. Additionally, the role requires coordination and compliance in administering external loan schemes, ensuring timely allocation of funds to fees and the appropriate refunding of surplus balances. 

Team Support & Collaboration: The role holder will support the Credit Control Supervisor in maintaining a high-performing, service-focused team. This includes helping coordinate workloads, flagging capacity or service issues, and offering peer support to colleagues. They will assist with onboarding and training of new staff, share knowledge on systems and processes, and contribute to the team's skills matrix for cross-training and succession planning. The role holder will model professional standards, promote collaboration, and support consistent, effective service delivery. 

During off-peak periods in the fee collection cycle, the role holder may be required to support the RMID team across their Pre-Award, Post-Award and Credit Control activities. 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post. 

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience: 

Essential criteria

1. Relevant Qualification or Experience: Holds a degree or a recognised financial qualification (e.g., CICM, AAT, ACCA), or equivalent practical experience in a finance or credit control role. 
2. Debt Management Experience: Minimum of 3 years' experience in a Higher Education Institution of handling complex debt-related queries, demonstrating efficiency in managing high volumes within strict deadlines. 
3. Proven Success in Debt Collection: Demonstrated success in high-volume debt recovery, applying effective collection strategies, maintaining positive customer relationships, and consistently achieving or exceeding targets in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment.
4. Strong Organisational & Time Management Skills: Able to prioritise and manage workload independently, handle tight deadlines, and process high volumes of inquiries with accuracy and efficiency. 
5. Numeracy & Advanced IT Skills: High level of numerical accuracy and confidence using Excel (including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and data analysis tools), with general proficiency in standard office software. 
6. Attention to Detail and Professionalism: Demonstrates a meticulous and professional approach, ensuring high standards of accuracy, autonomy in task management, and consistent quality of work 
7. Communication, Independence, and Continuous Improvement: Strong ability to work independently while communicating effectively with a range of stakeholders. Demonstrates a clear, solutions-focused approach and a commitment to continuous improvement, actively contributing to team performance and process enhancements.
8. Team Leadership or Supervisory Experience in a Debt Environment: Proven experience leading or supporting a credit control team, overseeing daily operations, guiding on complex cases, and driving performance in a target-focused, collaborative environment.

Desirable criteria

1. Student and Finance Systems: Familiarity with SITS or SAM for student records, and Unit4 ERP (Agresso) for finance and reporting functions. 
2. Financial Compliance Knowledge: Understanding of financial controls, anti-fraud regulations (e.g. Money Laundering, Proceeds of Crime Act), and risk awareness in financial operations. 
3. Data Protection Awareness: Knowledge of GDPR and data protection principles, particularly in handling financial and personal data securely

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Grade and Salary: £38,482 – £43,249 per annum inclusive of London Weighting Allowance
Job ID: 115626
Close Date: 08-Jun-2025
Contact Person: Antony Harrild
Contact Details: Antony.Harrild@kcl.ac.uk