Manager, AR & Collections

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, GATX Corporation (NYSE: GATX) is an industry leader with 125+ years of success—success that is powered by our people. We are proud of our high-performance culture, hard-working and enthusiastic management team, and beautiful office space in the Willis Tower.

At GATX, we hire the best and offer our employees a dynamic, energetic, collaborative environment to enable them to make an impact from day one. Enjoy the perks and benefits of a global company with the close-knit culture and community of a much smaller one. In the same way we strive to empower our customers to propel the world forward, we are dedicated to providing our people with the tools and resources they need to advance in their careers.

This position will oversee the collection side of the Accounts Receivables process and related transactions. A key focus will be to evaluate and continually improve collection processes, facilitate resolution of issues with past due accounts, perform analysis and reporting of the accounts receivables portfolio, and work effectively and collaboratively with internal and external business partners.

Identify and implement collection process improvements:

• Standardize / define follow-up procedures for corresponding with customers and escalating past due balances
• Standardize / define procedures for investigating, escalating, and resolving collection issues
• Collaborate with internal business partners and customers to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks and make process improvement recommendations

Lead team of collection specialists

• Oversee Accounts Receivable and Collection correspondence / discussions with business partners and customers and ensure timely and appropriate actions are taken with little oversight
• Oversee collection of past due amounts (investigate circumstances of non-payment, troubleshoot and resolve conflicts)
• Oversee resolution of cash application issues (overpayments, short payments, unidentified receipts)
• Handle escalations from the collection specialists
• Respond to inquiries related to discrepancies or payment disputes.

Perform A/R related accounting, analysis, and reporting:

• Prepare schedules and documents for AR and cash transactions including interest calculations, bankruptcy journals, write-offs, customer refunds, etc.
• Prepare monthly analysis of balances
• Perform account reconciliations
• Provide audit requests as needed throughout the year and for year end
• Provide reporting and analysis needed to various internal and external parties

Prepare customer portfolio aging reports and analysis for meetings with senior management

• Develop KPI’s (aging levels as a % of total AR, DSO, etc.) and ensure KPI’s are tracked and met.

Act as the liaison between accounts receivable / collections and other departments

• Partner with internal and external business partners (Sales, Customer Service, Legal, Billing, Outside Collections Agency, Auditors, Trusts, etc.) to address collection and cash application issues in a collaborative manner

The expectation is the manager will oversee the day-to-day collection and cash application activities with little oversight, while also exercising judgment for when matters should be escalated/elevated to the Director and or legal team.

Interaction:

• The position interacts with all levels of the organization (Senior Management, Treasury, Billing, Sales, Customer Service, Legal, Tax, Internal Audit, Investment Risk Management and Accounting)
• GATX external customers (accounts payable staff & other contacts related to billing)
• Outside Collections Agency
• External auditors and Trusts 

Education and/or Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• 7+ years of experience in Accounts Receivables/Collections and at least 3 years managerial experience
• Knowledge and understanding of rail billing process extremely helpful
• Strong Microsoft Office experience – Advanced Excel (working with large data sets, performing vlook-ups and pivot tables) proficient in Word, Power-point and Outlook
• Ability to prepare well-constructed spreadsheets
• Demonstrated experience in process improvement
• Proven track record of staff management and superior project management skills
• ERP system experience (posting & researching transactions, executing queries), preferably SAP
• Minimal to no travel