Billing Manager

• Managing the performance of the billing team, overseeing workloads, maintaining team structure, supporting development of team members, and ensuring alignment between Billing Officers and Partners
• Coaching team members on achieving billing and WIP (Work in Progress) key performance indicators (KPIs), providing areas of concern report to the billers to focus on at monthly billing/WIP meetings and leading on performance management in these areas
• Lead and oversee a team of Billing Officers, ensuring timely, accurate, and compliant WIP and Billing cycles by providing coaching support, implementing training to identify ways to shorten WIP to Cash cycle and balancing workloads during peaks and troughs of billing cycles
• Lead the onboarding and training of new Billing Officers and review updates to the relevant training materials as required
• Support the Firm's personal development initiatives and any departmental projects.

• Serve as the primary point of billing contact for Partners, gaining a thorough understanding of business drivers and the impact of billing on financial performance
• Collaborate with Legal Administration teams to provide cohesive support to Partners and their clients; ad-hoc tasks
• Assist the Regional Working Capital Manager, Head of Finance and Fee Earners/Partners with ad-hoc tasks
• Work with Location heads/HOO's/Head of Finance to establish, and subsequently monitor, regular billing patterns to provide more accurate forecasting and resolve any group issues
• Monitor existing fee arrangements and provide commercial and practical advice on fee agreements
• Build and maintain strong relationships with Partners and Heads of Finance to ensure visibility of performance is provided to these key stakeholders
• Be an escalation point for Partners and Fee Earners where billing support is below expected quality and support on resolution
• Review provisions and identify write-offs with the Fee-earners
• Actively manage the follow-up on charge-out rates and annual update of billing rate

• Provide oversight in matter review performance with Billing Officers and drive the implementation of necessary actions to meet KPIs. Provide quality assurance of any master data or charge out rate activity taking place in the billing team
• Ensure timely, efficient and accurate billing
• Review WIP and billing performance with Partner groups and identify levers to improve performance
• Act as a key contact for Billing Officers for escalating ad-hoc complex requests (e-bills, multi-payor matters, etc) by engaging with senior stakeholders across GSC and other offices
• Coordinate the handling of complex billing issues/queries, both technical and non-technical, from Billing Officers and Clients by raising and escalating the queries to the right stakeholders
• Identify ways of improvement and optimise the local billing process alongside Head of Finance and Global Process Owners/Leads
• Drive local implementation of process improvements to meet office KPIs, including the creation of standard/ad-hoc reports and dashboards. Collaborate with Billing Officers, Collectors, Other finance colleagues, Fee Earners, and Partners to achieve these improvements
• Escalating key issues to the Regional Working Capital Manager when necessary

• Work closely with Collectors and support in implementing actions for unpaid invoices and aged receivables to ensure a rigorous and efficient follow-up of the collection to meet office targets
• Ensure compliance with firm's standards and guidelines including local statutory and tax requirements
• Provide analysis and reporting on the WIP cull to identify inefficient billing practices and drive implementation of ways of improvement

• In-depth knowledge of billing processes, including timely and accurate billing cycles, and resolving billing issues
• Experience in analysing financial data and generating reports and dashboards, preferred not required
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills to collaborate and operate with Partners, Finance colleagues, and other stakeholders to drive performance improvement and if needed challenge senior stakeholders when necessary
• Great team working skills and a passion for delivering results
• Pro-active by nature, with a collaborative attitude, a critical thinker and willing to learn fast and take up new challenges
• Ability to drive a continuous improvement mindset in your team and demonstrating a good understanding of process management and improvement methodologies
• Excellent organizational and time management skills to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines
• Strong management skills to effectively manage and guide a team of Billing Officers with previous experience (optional not required) in managing a team and driving performance improvement
• Ability to set clear expectations of a team on what an outstanding versus good results looks like to encourage and inspire performance
• Commitment to maintain high standards of quality in service delivery, with a proven ability to implement processes that ensure consistency and reliability in billing operations. Previous experience (optional, not required) in quality assurance or process improvement is advantageous
• Previous experience (preferred, not required) in driving/supporting on implementing process improvements and driving efficiency
• Sufficient knowledge of local VAT standards and guidelines, with prior experience in leading on accuracy and compliance in billing activities
• Experienced in handling financial systems and software used for billing and invoicing is a plus, such as SAP S/4HANA, Concur, Service Now, E-Billing Platforms, Excel and MS Office Suite
• 5+ years of experience in billing or finance roles, preferably in a professional services or legal environment
• Proficient in English and either Dutch or French

Robert Half