Senior Credit & Accounts Receivable Manager — Hardware & General
Lead and modernise the credit function for one of Sydney's leading independent building supplies businesses. Real mandate. Real impact. A meaningful opportunity to drive change and collaborate with senior management.
This is not just a credit and accounts receivable caretaker role.
Hardware & General is looking for a commercially minded Credit Manager to lead and modernise our credit and accounts receivable function. Yes, the fundamentals matter - cash collection, debtor control, credit limits, account discipline and protecting the business against risk. In a trade business, that discipline is non-negotiable. But we want someone who can do far more than hold the line.
We want someone who can help grow, modernise and build this function within the business.
A business in transformation
H&G is a long-standing, third-generation Northern Beaches based, Sydney wide business - but we are in the middle of the biggest transformation in our history. We're investing in our stores, our systems, our data and our people, and reshaping how we serve professional builders and trade customers. Credit and customer accounts is one of the functions we want to bring into that next era.
This role has genuine backing from the senior leadership and is open to new ways of doing things. You won't be asked to keep things as they've always been. You'll be given the mandate, the support and the opportunity to work closely with the leadership team to shape how a modern credit function should run in partnership with the broader leadership team.
About you
If you're a business, corporate or SME banker, credit manager, relationship manager, or work in commercial/trade/debtor finance and you're scrolling past this thinking "that's not me" - it might be exactly you. You don't need building supplies experience. The skills that matter - reading commercial risk, having direct conversations with customers, balancing growth against exposure, leading change - are the skills you've built inside the bank or a similar organisation. What we're offering that a bank or large organisation rarely does: real ownership, the ability to actually change how things work, and the chance to step out of a process and into a leadership role with greater autonomy and influence. Plus, a five-minute drive to the beach instead of the CBD grind.
What you'll do
- Lead the credit and accounts receivable team of four
- Own debtor performance, collections cadence, overdue accounts and escalation - and apply consistent discipline where required
- Review and modernise credit application, account-opening and credit-limit processes
- Partner with sales and branch teams to support customer growth while managing risk intelligently
- Decide which accounts to grow, manage tightly, restructure or exit - and bring the commercial judgement to back it
- Resolve disputes faster and tackle the root causes behind recurring payment issues whilst preserving H&G’s reputation
- Build better reporting and dashboards (we run Power BI over our Frameworks ERP) so risk, cash and opportunity are visible in one place
- Find smarter ways to work - automation, better workflows and emerging tools including GenAI where they genuinely help
- Coach and lift the capability of the team. Building a great workplace culture is incredibly important to H&G and a key focus of this rolE
What we're looking for
- Strong credit / accounts receivable fundamentals, or transferable commercial-risk experience from banking or finance
- Commercial judgement and plain common sense - firm but fair on risk, but never an obstacle for good customers
- An ability and desire to help grow the business in a responsible way
- Confidence dealing directly with customers, sales teams and senior leaders
- A constructive partner to sales, not the internal police - but with the confidence to make and communicate clear decisions when required
- A willingness to challenge old ways of working and the energy to rebuild rather than just maintain
- Curiosity about systems, data and automation
- Strong leadership and communication skills
You might come from credit management, AR leadership, trade credit, business, Corporate or SME banking, debtor/equipment/trade finance, finance operations or customer accounts - in banking, wholesale, distribution, construction, building materials or trade supply. You don't need to come from our industry. You do need to be comfortable in a practical, fast-moving, down-to-earth trading business.
Why H&G
- Five minutes from the beach. We're based on Sydney's Northern Beaches in Brookvale. We are surrounded by great cafés, craft breweries and stores. Trade the commute, the tower and the city lunch queue for the coast.
- Real customers. We deal with builders, trades and renovators - straight-talking, down-to-earth people. No corporate theatre.
- Real impact. This is a build-it role inside a business that's genuinely changing. You'll shape the function, not inherit a frozen one.
- You'll work directly with the executive team and have a real voice in where this business goes.
- Reporting line to Financial Controller; we have a flat hierarchy at H&G so you will be engaging with many different stakeholders across the business
Apply
If you're a commercially minded credit, accounts receivable or banking professional who wants to lead, modernise and own a function - not just maintain one - we'd like to hear from you.
Apply with your CV and a short note on why this role interests you.
