Collections & Legal Administration Manager at Horning · Washington

Horning Management Company is seeking an experienced Collections & Legal Administration Manager to lead our centralized collections and legal administration function across a multifamily portfolio of 26 communities and approximately 4,200 units throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Reporting to the Vice President of Property Management, this highly visible role combines collections strategy, multifamily operations, legal administration, negotiation, and portfolio analytics. The Manager will oversee the collections lifecycle, from early-stage delinquency and payment arrangements through legal escalation, court proceedings, settlements, and possession.

This position will serve as Horning's primary liaison with outside landlord-tenant counsel and will partner closely with Property Management, Accounting, Compliance, Asset Management, and Executive Leadership.

We're looking for someone who can do more than administer a process. The right candidate will bring sound judgment, create accountability, identify opportunities to improve portfolio performance, and build a consistent and effective collections operation across multiple jurisdictions.

This is an administrative leadership position. The Manager works at the direction of licensed outside counsel on legal matters and does not provide legal advice.

What You'll Do

Lead Portfolio Collections Strategy

• Develop and manage company-wide strategies to reduce delinquency and bad debt and improve cash flow.
• Monitor portfolio aging and delinquency trends and identify accounts requiring intervention.
• Determine when delinquent accounts should escalate to legal action based on payment history, financial impact, program requirements, and other relevant factors.
• Direct pre-legal collection efforts in partnership with Regional Property Managers and Property Managers.
• Negotiate and approve payment plans, settlements, and move-out agreements within established authority limits.
• Recommend write-offs and escalate matters requiring additional approval.

Manage Legal Collections Administration

• Oversee statutory notice and filing processes across communities in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
• Ensure notices, supporting documentation, and filing packages are timely, accurate, and compliant with jurisdictional requirements and Company standards.
• Maintain litigation-ready documentation, including ledgers, notices, and supporting records.
• Track court dates, hearings, judgments, continuances, writs, possession actions, and other critical deadlines.
• Coordinate court appearances, property witnesses, eviction scheduling, and case-related communications with Operations.
• Identify stalled or at-risk matters and work with counsel to determine appropriate next steps.

Manage Outside Counsel and Vendors

• Serve as Horning's primary point of contact for outside landlord-tenant counsel.
• Assign matters among approved law firms based on jurisdiction, case type, and performance.
• Monitor attorney responsiveness, turnaround times, outcomes, and billing.
• Review legal invoices and help evaluate outside counsel performance.
• Manage relationships with collections-related vendors, including process servers, collection agencies, and other service providers.

Drive Settlements and Recovery

• Negotiate and administer settlement agreements, payment plans, and move-out agreements within established authority.
• Monitor compliance with settlement terms and determine when additional escalation is necessary.
• Coordinate dismissals when matters are resolved.
• Identify judgment recovery opportunities and coordinate post-judgment collection efforts with counsel and outside agencies.

Create Visibility Through Data

• Develop and maintain centralized dashboards covering collections and active legal matters across the portfolio.
• Track performance measures such as delinquency, bad debt, filing timeliness, court outcomes, days to possession, settlement compliance, and attorney performance.
• Prepare recurring reporting and analysis for Executive Leadership, Property Management, Accounting, and Asset Management.
• Use portfolio data to identify trends and recommend operational improvements.

Build Better Processes

• Develop and maintain standardized collections policies, procedures, templates, and workflows.
• Train Operations teams on collections processes, legal timelines, jurisdictional requirements, and Company expectations.
• Partner with Accounting on resident balance and payment application issues and with Compliance on requirements affecting subsidized and rent-regulated communities.
• Evaluate and administer technology used for collections, legal tracking, and reporting.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve efficiency, consistency, recovery, and accountability.

What We're Looking For

The ideal candidate combines strong collections judgment, legal process knowledge, analytical ability, and exceptional attention to detail. You should be comfortable managing a high-volume workload, making decisions with financial consequences, negotiating through difficult situations, and influencing teams across an organization.

Required qualifications include:

• Five or more years of experience in multifamily property management collections, landlord-tenant legal administration, landlord-tenant or civil litigation paralegal work, or a closely related field.
• Direct experience with landlord-tenant legal processes in at least one of the jurisdictions in which we operate. District of Columbia experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience coordinating with outside legal counsel on litigation or high-volume legal filings.
• Working knowledge of Yardi or comparable property management software.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills.
• Excellent organization, project management, and deadline management skills.
• Strong negotiation, conflict-resolution, and problem-solving abilities.
• Sound independent judgment and the ability to appropriately document decisions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with senior leadership.
• Ability to influence and create accountability across teams without direct supervisory authority.
• Understanding of the distinction between legal administration and the practice of law.

Preferred Experience

We're especially interested in candidates who bring one or more of the following:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Legal Studies, Criminal Justice, Finance, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Paralegal certificate or relevant paralegal experience.
• Experience leading collections across multiple multifamily communities or within a centralized collections function.
• Experience with affordable housing, voucher programs, or rent-regulated housing.
• Familiarity with landlord-tenant proceedings in DC Superior Court, Maryland District Court, and Virginia General District Court.
• Experience with Yardi Voyager.
• Experience building dashboards or reporting using Excel, Power BI, or comparable tools.

What Success Looks Like

You'll know you're succeeding when Horning has a collections function that is proactive, consistent, compliant, and data-driven.

That means delinquency and bad debt are trending in the right direction, statutory notices and filings are accurate and timely, cases move efficiently through the legal process, settlements are effective, outside counsel is held accountable, and leadership has clear visibility into the status and performance of collections across the portfolio.

Additional Details

This position requires regular local travel to Horning communities and courts throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Travel may increase during peak court periods, and occasional early arrival may be necessary for court appearances.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

Horning is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, status as a protected veteran, status as a qualified individual with disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances.