Recovery Manager

Job Summary 

The Recovery Manager is responsible for leading UFCU’s charged-off loan recovery program, including prioritizing recovery opportunities, managing the flow of work, and iteratively improving outcomes through data-informed experimentation and feedback. The role oversees the placement of charged-off loans with third-party collection agencies and legal recovery firms (in cooperation with UFCU’s legal team), vendor performance, recovery inventory reconciliation, and recovery strategies that support prudent loss reduction and member-centered practices. 

This role manages the full recovery vendor lifecycle, including due diligence, agency selection, service agreement review, performance monitoring, operational audits, file transmissions, payment and posting processes, and reporting to Collections leadership. 

The Recovery Manager works closely with the Director of Collections to develop recovery strategies, improve liquidation outcomes, evaluate vendor effectiveness, and ensure recovery activities are compliant, well-controlled, and aligned with UFCU’s risk appetite and member experience standards. 

The Recovery Manager reports to the Director of Collections. 

About UFCU  

Our Credit Union was founded in 1936 and has grown to serve members throughout Texas and beyond. At UFCU, we are more than just a financial institution, and our people are more than just employees. We are dedicated to our purpose of empowering our Members to achieve financial success and build brighter futures.  

In pursuit of our aspiration that UFCU is loved by millions of Members and built to thrive for generations, we are guided by our values: 

Purposefully Member-Obsessed 

We are driven by a profound sense of empathy to deeply understand our Members’ needs and preferences, what brighter futures means to them, and the obstacles in their way. We act in our Members’ best interests, forever seeking to empower their financial success. 

Possibilities Reimagined 

We are inspired to courageously experiment, learn, and iterate in pursuit of positive impact for our Members, UFCU, and coworkers. We challenge assumptions, embrace diverse perspectives, and make use of data and insights. 

Performance Excellence Rooted in Unwavering Integrity 

We do the right thing, always. We champion teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and celebrate successful outcomes of others, fostering an inclusive environment of excellence and collaboration. 

Essential Functions 

Recovery Strategy & Program Management 

• Lead recovery of charged-off loan balances through effective assignment, monitoring, reconciliation, and performance management of recovery inventories. 
• Develop and continuously refine recovery strategies with the Director of Collections, using performance data and stakeholder feedback to prioritize placement strategy, vendor allocation, legal escalation criteria including estate and bankruptcy cases, settlement authority, inventory segmentation, and liquidation goals. 
• Analyze charged-off loan portfolios to identify recovery opportunities, performance trends, account treatment strategies, and operational improvements; test prioritized changes on an appropriate scale, evaluate outcomes, and incorporate learning into future recovery practices. 
• Prepare transparent recovery performance reporting for Collections leadership and cross-functional partners, including placements, payments, recoveries, liquidation rates, agency performance, legal activity, inventory levels, exceptions, improvement priorities, progress against agreed outcomes, and UFCU performance against industry and peer results 
• Leads complex recovery and settlement negotiations by providing direction and feedback to collections staff and takes recovery related member escalations. 

Third-Party Agency Selection & Due Diligence 

• Select third-party recovery agencies and legal recovery firms after appropriate due diligence, risk review, business justification, and management approval. 
• Obtain and evaluate references from other credit unions or comparable financial institutions to assess vendor reputation, recovery performance, compliance posture, service quality, and operational reliability. 
• Review vendor capabilities, licensing, insurance, financial stability, consumer complaint history, information security controls, business continuity processes, and collection compliance practices. 
• Maintain complete due diligence documentation and support UFCU’s third-party risk management and vendor oversight requirements. 

Vendor Management & Oversight 

• Manage recovery agency relationships, ensuring collection agencies and legal recovery firms perform in accordance with UFCU expectations, service agreements, regulatory requirements, and approved recovery strategies. 
• Conduct annual review of service agreements, including scope of services, fee schedules, compliance obligations, reporting expectations, audit rights, data protection requirements, and termination provisions. 
• Perform quarterly reviews of agency performance, including recovery rates, liquidation activity, inventory movement, payment processing accuracy, complaint trends, responsiveness, exception handling, and compliance indicators. 
• Conduct or coordinate annual audits of agency operational capabilities, including staffing, call controls, account documentation, payment handling, quality assurance, information security, business continuity, and regulatory training. 
• Identify, prioritize, and escalate vendor performance, compliance, data quality, or operational impediments to the Director of Collections and appropriate internal partners; coordinate timely resolution and communicate status, decisions, and outcomes to affected stakeholders. 

Placement, Inventory Reconciliation & Payment File Management 

• Maintain principal responsibility for creation, validation, secure transmission, and documentation of placement files for charged-off loan accounts assigned to collection agencies and legal recovery firms. 
• Create and transmit inventory reconciliation files to confirm assigned account populations, balances, statuses, recalls, closures, disputes, bankruptcies, deceased borrower indicators, legal placements, and agency inventory accuracy. 
• Create, validate, transmit, and reconcile payment and posting files to ensure recovery payments, agency remittances, fees, reversals, adjustments, and account-level postings are accurate and timely. 
• Partner with Accounting, Finance, Technology, Operations, and vendors to resolve file exceptions, rejected records, posting discrepancies, remittance issues, and data integrity concerns. 
• Maintain controls, audit trails, and retention records for recovery file exchanges and inventory reconciliations. 

Other  

• Shapes Recovery policies and procedures with the collections leadership team. 
• Adheres to all company policies, procedures, and business ethics codes. 
• Completes required regulatory training as assigned. 
• Maintains strict adherence to and compliance with all laws, rules, regulations, and internal controls specific to the role, including but not limited to Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering, USA Patriot Act, OFAC and Fair Lending regulations. 

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities  

Knowledge 

• Knowledge of charged-off loan recovery, third-party collection agency management, legal recovery processes, recovery inventory controls, payment posting, account reconciliation, and collection compliance. 
• Understanding of credit union collection practices, vendor due diligence, third-party risk management, service agreement review, performance monitoring, and audit coordination. 
• Familiarity with consumer protection requirements, fair lending principles, privacy and data security expectations, complaint handling, bankruptcy considerations, and secure file transmission practices. 

Skills 

• Strong vendor management skills, including due diligence, reference review, contract review, performance monitoring, audit coordination, issue escalation, and relationship management. 
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to evaluate charged-off loan inventory, recovery rates, agency performance, payment activity, liquidation trends, and operational exceptions. 
• Proficiency with Excel, loan servicing or recovery systems, secure file transfer tools, document management tools, reporting platforms, and approved AI-enabled productivity or analytics tools. 
• Skill in using AI tools responsibly to summarize vendor performance, analyze recovery portfolios, identify trends and exceptions, improve documentation quality, support forecasting, and recommend workflow efficiencies while protecting member privacy, confidential information, and data integrity. 
• Ability to apply Agile and continuous-improvement practices in an operational environment by prioritizing and visualizing work, defining desired outcomes and acceptance criteria, incorporating stakeholder feedback, testing process or system changes, and using planning, review, and retrospective activities to improve results. 
• Strong documentation, reconciliation, prioritization, follow-up, negotiation, problem-solving, and communication skills. 

Abilities  

• Exercise sound judgment, discretion, and accountability when managing charged-off loan recovery strategies and third-party recovery relationships. 
• Balance recovery outcomes with compliance, member impact, operational controls, and UFCU’s reputation. 
• Organize multiple priorities, vendor reviews, file exchanges, reconciliation deadlines, audit activities, and reporting needs with accuracy and follow-through. 
• Collaborate effectively with Collections, Finance, Accounting, Legal, Compliance, Technology, Operations, Product, vendors, and external legal recovery partners. 
• Adapt to evolving technology, AI-supported workflows, secure data exchange processes, and Agile team practices while maintaining compliance, quality, and sound judgment. 
• Communicate clearly and professionally with internal partners, vendors, and leadership regarding recovery strategies, performance results, risks, and required actions. 

Core Competencies  

• Demonstrating Member Obsession 
• Puts themselves in the Member’s shoes 
• Looks for friction points 
• Makes it personalized and easy 
• Demonstrating Performance Excellence 
• Sets standards for elevating excellence 
• Ensures elevated quality 
• Takes responsibility  
• Conducts continuous improvement 
• Demonstrating Innovation 
• Challenges current thinking 
• Approaches change with a positive mindset 

Experience 

Minimum Requirements  

• High school diploma or equivalent required; associate or bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Criminal Justice, or a related field preferred. 
• Minimum 5 years of experience in collections, recovery, charged-off loan servicing, vendor management, legal recovery, or related financial services role. 
• Experience working with third-party collection agencies, legal recovery firms, recovery vendors, or outsourced collection partners. 
• Experience creating or reconciling placement files, inventory files, payment files, posting files, remittance records, or comparable operational data files. 
• Experience using AI-enabled tools, automation, reporting enhancements, or data analytics resources to support operational analysis, documentation, exception management, and workflow improvement in a controlled business environment. 
• Experience preparing performance reports, reconciling account-level data, resolving file exceptions, and communicating recovery results to leadership or cross-functional stakeholders. 
• Must be bondable. 

Preferred Requirements  

• Experience in a credit union, bank, consumer lender, auto lender, mortgage servicer, or regulated financial institution preferred. 
• Experience conducting vendor due diligence, reviewing service agreements, coordinating vendor audits, or managing third-party risk processes preferred. 
• Knowledge of charged-off consumer loans, deficiency balances, bankruptcy impacts, legal recovery workflows, settlement practices, and collection agency compliance preferred. 
• Hands-on experience with approved AI tools, workflow automation, data visualization, reporting enhancements, or predictive analytics preferred. 
• Experience collaborating with Agile delivery teams or applying Agile practices to operational improvement—including prioritizing work, defining business outcomes, testing changes, and incorporating feedback—preferred. 

Physical Demands 

The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee, with or without accommodation, to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

Frequent 

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.   
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and ability to adjust focus.   
• Employee will make extensive use of the telephone and virtual communications requiring the ability to explain complex information effectively and accurately.  

Work Environment 

The work environment characteristics described are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.   

• This position is a hybrid role and requires frequently working onsite at UFCU Plaza in Austin, Texas. 
• This position may involve periodic stressful conditions. 
• May occasionally require an adjusted work schedule, overtime, and evening/weekend hours. 
• May occasionally move from one work location/branch to another. 
• Public contact position, requiring appropriate professional appearance. 
• Frequent computer use at a workstation of up to two hours at a time. 
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. 

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