Head of Accounts Receivable EMEA

Location: This is a hybrid role, offering a combination of being able to work remotely and from one of our offices in Latvia (Riga), or the UK (Corby or Manchester)

Contract Type: Permanent

The Opportunity

We’re looking for an experienced and inspirational Head of Accounts Receivable to lead our EMEA AR function within Global Shared Business Services (GSBS). In this high‑impact leadership role, you’ll be accountable for end‑to‑end AR performance across the region, driving cash collection excellence, shaping our operating model, strengthening controls, and delivering exceptional customer and stakeholder experiences. You’ll lead a large, geographically dispersed team of 100+ specialists, overseeing £120m+ in monthly collections and playing a critical role in key transformation initiatives, including ERP and digital enablement programmes.

What You Will Be Doing

• Owning end‑to‑end AR performance for EMEA, including DSO, aged debt, collections, dispute cycle time, billing accuracy, and customer satisfaction.
• Ensuring consistent, high‑quality AR service and strong controls across all EMEA markets.
• Leading and developing a distributed organisation of 100+ AR professionals and functional managers.
• Defining AR role expectations, capability standards, productivity benchmarks, and behavioural frameworks.
• Shaping the EMEA AR operating model, including process standards, controls, technology, and organisational design.
• Driving data‑led collections strategies aligned to customer behaviour and market conditions.
• Ensuring robust, customer‑centric dispute management and cross‑functional alignment with Sales, Customer Service, Billing, Operations, and Credit.
• Overseeing AR governance, compliance, audit readiness, and financial controls.
• Acting as the senior escalation point for complex AR, customer, or risk issues.
• Defining and governing KPIs, SLAs, and performance frameworks with key stakeholders.
• Partnering with senior regional leaders, offering insight on customer behaviour, cash risk, and operational improvement opportunities.
• Leading the AR transformation agenda across EMEA, including standardisation, automation, optimisation, and digital enablement.
• Representing AR in enterprise change programmes, including SAP S/4HANA design and deployment.

What You’ll Bring

Essential

• Significant leadership experience in Accounts Receivable / Order‑to‑Cash within large, multi‑country, matrix organisations.
• Proven track record delivering AR outcomes such as DSO improvement, aged debt reduction, cash collection, and enhanced customer experience.
• Experience leading large, geographically distributed teams through layered management structures.
• Strong expertise in KPI‑driven performance management, SLAs/OLAs, governance routines, and dashboard‑based reporting.
• Demonstrated cross‑functional experience working with Sales, Customer Service, Finance, Operations, and Credit.
• Exceptional people leadership, coaching, and capability‑building skills.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to translate data into insight and action.
• Experience contributing as an SME to finance/ERP transformation programmes (e.g., SAP).
• Strong understanding of AR controls, compliance, and audit requirements.

Desirable

• Experience operating in EMEA‑wide roles with multi‑market regulatory exposure.
• Familiarity with AR‑enabling technologies (collections, disputes, automation tools).
• Background in high‑volume AR environments with significant cash responsibility.
• Additional European language skills.

We Are RS

We’ve been solving industry problems for over 80 years. We turn the ‘what ifs’ into the ‘why nots’, the impossible into the possible.

Our purpose? Making amazing happen for a better world.

We offer service and product solutions to over 1.2 million customers globally, shipping a parcel every 2 seconds to over 130 countries. With over 800,000 stocked and 3 million unstocked products, we’re a trusted partner to the world’s leading industries.

We’re looking for curious, driven, and empathetic professionals to join our journey. People who think differently, act with purpose, and want to make a real impact. 

Rewards

Our Reward Strategy Philosophy is designed to offer market competitive base salaries and provide all of our people the opportunity to participate in a short-term incentive, enabling them to share in the success of the Company.

Our total reward package is more than just the cash; our recognition and benefit offering provide the opportunity for us to recognise, reward and enable the wellbeing of our people at all stages of their journey with RS. Our rewards and benefits vary by country, but include:

• Financial - pension/retirement; life assurance; salary finance (payroll deduction loan scheme)
• Wellbeing - medical plans; health screening; critical illness; disability insurance; holiday / paid time off; employee assistance programme; discounted gym/health club membership
• Lifestyle - transportation assistance schemes (e.g., cycle to work, travel loans, car leasing); onsite catering/lunch vouchers; retail discounts
• Spotlight – our global recognition programme provides a platform to highlight and recognise people role modelling our values

Ready to Make Amazing Happen?

Join c. 9,000 colleagues and help us shape the future of our industry. Whoever you are, wherever you are — it all starts here.

Apply now and make RS a part of your journey.

#LI-HYBRID
#LI-PR1