The Role

Our fantastic Finance team are looking for an Accounts Receivables Lead to join us in our Bristol office.

Reporting to the Debt Manager, the Accounts Receivable Lead is responsible for billing business and university partnership customers and providing consistently high levels of customer service, executing efficient cash processing, bank reconciliation, payment collections and allocations, refund processing and invoicing, using a variety of automated and manual processes.

Providing transactional support to internal and customer services teams to maintain strong relationships with third party partners and business customers. The aim is to provide a more robust process and system of control to manage Accounts Receivable.

The Accounts Receivable Lead will be responsible for all third-party relationships to ensure invoices are sent out timely and accurately and ensure there is tracking in place to ensure payments are made on time and in full.

You will also take the lead on collections and debt management for our new venture into the Build to Rent sector where our tenants are young professionals rather than students.

What You`ll Be Doing

• Support and contribute to the team in all aspects of day-to-day duties, with the overall aim of providing a consistently high level of customer service
• Internal debt reporting to key stakeholders
• Set up and monitor payment plans and payment promises and promptly follow up on delinquency.
• Support in providing guidance to property teams on the accounts process to minimise risk of non-payment.
• Support in resolution of all debt, refund and customer payment queries including DD and Card payment rejections.
• Support and cover for Cash and Account Support team where required
• Support in managing and closely monitor accounts placed on hold or outside of the standard arrears process, initiating appropriate and prompt action to resolve any issues.
• Ensure customer accounts are regularly reviewed and accurately maintained, including processing rent adjustments and reallocating payments.
• Maintain, update and amend customer and guarantor information.
• Seek opportunities within the role to review processes and make improvements
• Support the generation and distribution of accurate arrears letters, e-mails & communications in line with the arrears process timetable.

What We`re Looking for in You

• Understanding and appreciation of a finance or customer services environment
• Experience of working within tight KPI`s / SLA`s
• A self-starter who can demonstrate initiative, with the ability to prioritise our workloads and support other team members
• An ability to communicate at all levels and develop good working relationships
• Strong attention to detail
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience of working with ERP solutions
• Excel Skills with a good understanding of Lookups and Pivot tables and debt reporting
• Desirable to have basic accounting knowledge; entry level accounting qualifications would be ideal

What You`ll Get in Return

• A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service
• A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save
• Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends
• Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
• Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more!

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is a FTSE 100business and the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 25 leading university towns and cities, with 74,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.

Instinctive inclusion. We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.

People make Unite Students. Employees, students and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.

Room for Everyone

We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.

We are US.