Manager I, Client Services Operations (Billing Specialist)

Job description

The Client Service Operations team works with all internal Kroll business units to research, curate and collect financial & business data from various internal and external sources. The team’s work involves researching & collection of financial & business data available in various publicly available sources and Kroll proprietary files and data, subsequent analysis thereof and eventually quality control of the same information. **The Day-to-day Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To** Operational ownership - Lead the establishment and operational management of the Billing Specialist function supporting multiple Service Lines, ensuring standardized, scalable, and efficient billing operations. - Build and oversee the end-to-end invoice lifecycle, including invoice calculation, pricing and contract validation, milestone/progress billing, adjustments, credits, e-billing submissions, client delivery, and compliance with agreed SLAs. - Partner with Service Lines to transition billing activities into CSO by developing transition plans, documenting requirements, mitigating risks, and ensuring seamless knowledge transfer. - Develop and implement standardized billing workflows, operating procedures, governance frameworks, service catalogues, and process controls across all supported business units. - Oversee billing queues, work allocation, backlog management, and workload balancing while ensuring timely completion and high-quality output. - Lead Work-in-Progress (WIP) governance by monitoring aged WIP, validating billing readiness, supporting invoice forecasting, and driving timely conversion of WIP to billed revenue. - Collaborate with Accounting, Revenue, Finance, and Project teams to validate rates, pricing, contract terms, taxes, charge codes, discounts, and revenue recognition requirements. - Drive operational excellence by identifying opportunities for automation, process optimization, system enhancements, and continuous improvement across ERP, CRM, and billing platforms. - Establish operational KPIs, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms to monitor billing accuracy, turnaround time, productivity, backlog, WIP movement, and service delivery performance. - Ensure readiness for internal, external, and SOX audits by maintaining complete documentation, approvals, audit trails, and compliance with internal controls. People leadership - Build, lead, and scale a high-performing Billing Specialist team by driving hiring, onboarding, capability development, workforce planning, coaching, and performance management. - Establish team structure, roles, responsibilities, productivity standards, quality benchmarks, and career development frameworks. - Provide regular coaching, performance feedback, mentoring, and succession planning to build future leadership - capability. - Lead quality calibration sessions and implement targeted training plans to improve billing accuracy, productivity, and customer experience. - Ensure adequate staffing and resource allocation to support business growth, seasonal demand, month-end close, and new service transitions. Stakeholder management - Act as the primary billing operations partner for Service Lines, Finance, Revenue, Accounting, Project Management and other internal stakeholders. - Lead stakeholder discussions during process transitions, workflow design, service improvements, and operational governance meetings. - Resolve complex billing issues involving contracts, pricing, invoice disputes, e-billing portal rejections, purchase orders, funding limitations, and client-specific billing requirements. - Build trusted partnerships with business leaders by providing operational insights, recommendations, and proactive support to improve billing performance. Controls, compliance & quality - Establish and maintain strong governance over billing operations, ensuring compliance with company policies, SOX requirements, internal controls, and applicable accounting standards. - Ensure segregation of duties, billing approvals, documentation standards, audit readiness, and consistent adherence to established operating procedures. - Drive continuous improvement initiatives to reduce billing errors, eliminate manual activities, improve first-pass invoice accuracy, and strengthen operational controls. - Maintain and continuously enhance SOPs, process documentation, knowledge repositories, and control frameworks. Reporting & analytics - Develop executive dashboards and operational reports covering invoice turnaround time, billing productivity, first-pass yield, backlog, WIP ageing, dispute trends, billing accuracy, and service level performance. - Provide regular operational insights and recommendations to leadership using data-driven analysis. - Partner with Finance and Service Lines on capacity planning, invoice forecasting, workload projections, and resource planning. - Monitor operational KPIs and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity, revenue realization, and customer satisfaction. Process excellence & systems - Lead process design, standardization, and optimization initiatives across billing operations to establish scalable and consistent delivery models. - Drive automation initiatives by partnering with Technology teams to improve workflows, eliminate manual processes, and enhance system capabilities. - Lead User Acceptance Testing (UAT), process validation, and implementation of system enhancements impacting billing operations. - Introduce Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies to improve cycle times, reduce operational waste, and enhance service quality. - Support expansion of the Billing Specialist function by defining scalable operating models, governance structures, and best practices for future growth. Success Metrics (first 3–6 months) - Successfully establish the Billing Specialist function with standardized operating procedures, governance, and documented workfl