The Parent Fees Support (PFS) Manager is responsible for overseeing the effective collection and support processes related to the debtors book across the organisation in both South Africa and Kenya. The role ensures that collection targets are met while maintaining a positive and supportive experience for families. This position works closely with school leadership, finance, admissions, and other internal stakeholders to strengthen billing accuracy, improve payment culture, mitigate credit risk, and maintain high levels of parent satisfaction. The role also provides leadership to the Parent Fees Support team across both regions, ensuring strong operational performance, service excellence, and continuous improvement of processes and systems.
Key Responsibilities
School Fee Collections Management
- Lead and oversee the collection of billed school fees, including outstanding balances, ensuring collection targets are consistently met or exceeded.
- Manage the collections process within agreed timelines by coordinating, directing, and prioritising the activities of team members.
- Monitor collection performance and develop corrective strategies when collections fall behind targets.
- Identify risk areas early and implement proactive interventions to mitigate potential delinquency.
- Act as a subject matter expert for legal issues regarding debt collection operations and management and related engagement with external legal experts and school associations (ISASA).
Debt Collection Agencies and Credit Bureaus
- Oversee processes related to bad debt recovery, including coordination with external debt collection agencies where required.
- Engage, manage and monitor performance of debt collection agencies and related processes.
- Engage, manage and monitor performance of credit bureaus used for enrolment related credit checks.
Parent Satisfaction and Service Excellence
- Ensure effective and respectful communication with families on all matters related to school fees.
- Maintain agreed service standards for response times and quality of communication.
- Oversee the management of parent queries, including accurate records of interactions, complaints, and resolutions.
- Act as the escalation point for complex parent cases requiring intervention.
- Monitor parent satisfaction feedback and implement improvements where service gaps are identified.
Call Centre / Customer Contact Centre Operations
- Manage call centre and email operations (Zendesk) for the Nova Pioneer customer contact centre.
- Set performance benchmarks and drive performance for customer contact centre productivity, customer satisfaction levels, response times and resolution times.
Stakeholder Management and Deliverables
- Family Engagement: Model and promote a positive, empathetic, and professional approach when engaging with families regarding financial matters.
- School Leaders: Provide regular updates on campus-specific fee collection performance and highlight areas of financial risk.
- Finance Team: Work closely to ensure family billing is accurate, timely, and clearly communicated.
- Admissions Team: Support affordability assessments for prospective families and review fee exceptions.
Reporting and Performance Monitoring
- Produce regular analytical reports on collections performance at both organisational and parent-account levels.
- Maintain accurate records across databases, dashboards, and reporting systems.
- Implement and enhance information systems to improve performance reporting.
Business Controls and Management of Nova Pioneer Foundation
- Recommend and implement internal controls for billing and collection accuracy.
- Develop bursary frameworks, including eligibility criteria, award rubrics, and programme terms.
- Oversee documentation review and award bursaries to qualifying families.
Team Leadership and Development
- Provide clarity, support, and accountability for the Global Parent Fees Support team.
- Conduct weekly one-on-one meetings and regular feedback sessions.
- Train, coach, and develop team members to build capabilities required for service excellence.
