Manager of Collections
The Manager of Collections supports and optimizes the home donation pickup sourcing strategy within a thrift retail environment. This role sits at the intersection of supply chain, business development, and field operations, driving the end-to-end performance of the home donation pickup channel—a critical source of product supply.
This position transforms a historically intuition-driven function into a scalable, data-informed system, ensuring consistent sourcing of high-quality merchandise from the right neighborhoods, at the right cadence, and at the right cost.
Key Responsibilities
- Optimize the home donation pickup program, including routing, zip code targeting, and pickup cadence to maximize yield
- Identify and target high-value donor demographics to improve merchandise quality and consistency
- Develop and scale a repeatable, data-driven collections playbook across markets
- Align pickup volume with store demand to ensure consistent product flow and prevent inventory gaps
- Balance routing between direct-to-store and warehouse based on volume and capacity
- Partner with operations to proactively address seasonal fluctuations and supply inconsistencies
- Manage multi-channel donor acquisition strategies (direct mail, SMS, email)
- Collaborate with Marketing to execute and optimize direct mail campaigns, including vendor coordination and targeting
- Evaluate channel ROI and optimize outreach mix to improve donor conversion
- Build and maintain the end-to-end collections calendar, aligning outreach, scheduling, and logistics
- Ensure coordination between marketing campaigns and transportation/logistics capacity
- Drive accountability across teams to ensure pickups occur as planned
- Manage third-party vendor relationships (mail houses, call centers, logistics partners)
- Ensure service levels, timelines, and quality standards are consistently met
- Collaborate cross-functionally to align execution and performance
- Analyze performance data across routes, geographies, and campaigns to identify optimization opportunities
- Translate insights into actionable improvements and scalable processes
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field
- Experience in thrift, resale, donation-based retail, or similar industries preferred
- Background in supply chain, sourcing/procurement, field operations, route-based businesses, or supply-side business development
- Experience with home pickup programs, donation sourcing, or route optimization strongly preferred
Skills & Competencies
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and drive actionable insights
- Highly organized with the ability to manage complex schedules and cross-functional workflows
- Operational mindset with attention to logistics, timing, and process consistency
- Ability to build structure in ambiguous or evolving environments
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
- Proficiency in Excel or similar tools for data analysis and reporting