Accounts Receivable Manager

Accounts Receivable Manager Shrewsbury £40,000 - £45,000 + 10% bonus Seymour John is partnering with a private equity-backed pan-European distribution business, trading across the UK, Ireland and Europe. The group is growing organically and through acquisition and is moving all entities onto a single platform. As part of that programme, AR is moving to a central hub model, with group-wide processes and policies centralised from Shrewsbury and local teams supporting customer relationships and disputes. The focus of this role is to build and lead the group's central Accounts Receivable function, owning the full order-to-cash cycle from billing through to cash, across all entities. The role will drive down DSO and overdue debt, deliver compliant e-invoicing in each country, and make sure AR systems, data and controls are fit for a growing multi-country group. It is a key contributor to the group's working capital targets and cash forecasting. Leadership and set-up of the AR hub

The role

You will take the lead in developing the group's central AR function, bringing together processes across multiple European entities and creating a consistent, efficient approach to billing, credit control, collections and cash application. Key responsibilities will include:

• Building and leading the central Accounts Receivable team.
• Managing the full order-to-cash cycle across multiple UK and European entities.
• Driving improvements in DSO, overdue debt and working capital.
• Taking ownership of credit control, collections, customer credit limits and bad debt management.
• Managing relationships with the group's credit insurers.
• Ensuring cash is allocated accurately and promptly.
• Standardising AR processes, controls and reporting across the group.
• Supporting the migration of businesses onto NetSuite OneWorld.
• Working with local finance, sales and operational teams to resolve customer queries and disputes.
• Supporting European e-invoicing requirements and the implementation of appropriate systems.
• Producing clear AR, cash collection and working capital reporting.
• Integrating newly acquired businesses into the group's AR model.

About you

We're looking for someone with strong Accounts Receivable, Credit Control or Order-to-Cash experience who is comfortable operating in a growing and changing environment. You'll ideally have:

• Experience leading an AR, Credit Control or Order-to-Cash function.
• Experience working across multiple entities, ideally with international exposure.
• A strong track record of reducing overdue debt and improving DSO.
• Experience improving, centralising or standardising AR processes.
• Strong ERP and Excel skills.
• Experience managing and developing a team.
• Experience dealing with credit insurers and customer credit limits.
• A good understanding of invoicing and VAT requirements.
• The confidence to work with senior stakeholders and commercial teams while making robust credit decisions. Experience with NetSuite, European e-invoicing, shared services, distribution or a private equity-backed/acquisitive business would be particularly useful, although not essential. The opportunity: What makes this role particularly interesting is the chance to build rather than simply inherit a function. You'll have genuine ownership of how the central AR operation develops as the group continues to grow and acquire businesses, with the opportunity to improve systems, introduce automation and establish consistent processes across an international organisation. For further information or a confidential discussion, please contact Lee Walker at Seymour John