Collections Officer

**Collections Officer**
- ** Based in our North Sydney head office**:

- ** Join a supportive and collaborative team**:

- ** Work for a large, essential service critical to the Australian economy**

**About us**

Pacific National (PN) is the largest private provider of diversified rail freight services in Australia. We haul a variety of freight including coal, intermodal containers, steel, and a range of bulk commodities and materials that keep the region's economy, businesses and households running. We are a company built on solid foundations and we are incredibly proud of the essential role we continue to play supporting Australia's supply chain. At Pacific National, we take great pride in delivering our best every day and have a relentless focus on customer service and place **safety above all else**.

We operate nationally with approximately 3,500 staff in over 90+ sites across Australia. We respect and care for the communities in which we operate and continue to evolve our community engagement and strengthen relationships through partnerships and investment. We are focused on reducing the carbon emissions of our business, while also enabling the reduction of carbon emissions in the broader supply chain to support the National targets.

**About the role**

We are seeking an experienced Collections Officer to join our established Finance Shared Services team at Pacific National, you will be responsible for Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. Reporting to the Credit Lead, the Collections Officer ensures all collection and debtor related activities are managed in a timely and effective manner, with reference to the following organisational objectives; maximising of cashflow, minimising the risk of bad debt, and to agreed KPIs.

Key responsibilities include:

- Build and maintain strong relationships both inbound and outbound with our customers
- Successfully provide quality resolution of disputed accounts
- Establish "win win" strategies through effective negotiation techniques
- Quickly develop the ability to operate a variety of collection systems and demonstrate the ability to think laterally in the achievement of outcomes
- Ensure all collections commentary is accurately captured and maintained
- Monitor and analyse collection trends in the Debtors Ledger, and proactively identify and resolve issues which may result in payment delays
- Regular reporting to management on the status of outstanding debts and actions taken to date to collect on those debts
- Conduct all collections activities in line with the appropriate legislation and guidelines (ACCC/ASIC/Trade practices Act)
- Build relationships with external and internal customers to streamline the collections and query resolution process.

**About you**

As an experienced Collections Officer operating in a high-volume environment, you will have the ability to strike a balance between maintaining trustful relationships and guaranteeing timely payments. A strong communicator, you will have attention to detail, a natural problem-solving ability and be results driven. Intermediate level skills in the Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel are required for the role, whilst you will ideally have exposure to large scale ERP Systems such as Peoplesoft or SAP. You will be a great team player who loves working with customers and internal teams alike.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

- A minimum of 2 years' experience in a similar role is preferred
- Transport industry experience preferred but not essential
- Intermediate skills in Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel
- Exposure to large scale ERP Systems (e.g. PeopleSoft, SAP etc)
- Confidence in operating within a high volume, deadline driven environment
- The role requires someone with the ability to balance between maintaining trustful relationships and guaranteeing timely payments.
- Capable of discerning inefficiencies and offering solutions

**The benefits**

At Pacific National we value diversity, inclusion and the contribution of each team member. Our values underpin our commitment to create an inclusive culture where everyone is accepted and valued for who they are, enabling everyone to bring their authentic selves to work.

When you join the Pacific National team, you'll be encouraged to take ownership of your career and we'll be there to support you with a range of exciting initiatives including:

- Industry leading programs focussed on your growth and career development
- Paid parental leave up to 12 weeks for primary carers at full pay after 12 months service
- Opportunity to purchase additional annual leave
- A focus on your mental health and wellbeing through our PeerConnect program
- Access to our Employee Assistance Program, administered by Benestar, offering confidential counselling services for employees and their eligible family members, paid for by us at no cost to you
- Access to Unmind, a digital platform that gives you access to tools, trai