James Abel
Carlingford
Summary
Senior Operations leader with 20 years experience across the banking and payments industry. Site Lead for PayPal (Dundalk) overseeing a workforce of 1,000 employees across multiple functions. Expertise in global risk management, collections recoveries, and customer support with a proven ability to drive high-performing teams (multiple regions and geographies) while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, serving as the primary contact for regulators, such as the FCA (UK). A proven track record in implementing several successful change management initiatives, including digital customer journeys, and AI strategies to optimize customer interactions, and save costs to the business.
Overview
21
21
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of EMEA Collections (PayPal Site Lead)
PayPal
Dundalk
07.2022 - 08.2025
- Directed Collections teams across EMEA, including oversight of outsourcing and India-based teams.
- Led teams across phone, email, SMS, and chat to support vulnerable customers.
- Continuously coached leaders to advance careers and secure promotions.
- Ensured positive customer experience and loss mitigation for multiple PayPal products, including Credit and Buy Now Pay Later.
- Accountable for quality assurance and effective training programs within customer operations.
- Fostered employee engagement across regions to balance business KPIs with engagement scores.
- Led change initiatives, successfully implementing digitization roadmap for the function.
- Introduced customer self-serve options, reducing contacts while enhancing the customer experience.
- Managed regulatory oversight for collections, collaborating with internal stakeholders and regulators, and received strong feedback on our approach to customer support.
- As Dundalk Site Lead, I was accountable for the overall management of the site, including budgeting, catering, HR, external branding, and community development.
- Successfully transitioned site employees to a 100% remote working model.
Director of EMEA Collections Operations
PayPal
Dundalk
07.2021 - 07.2022
- Accountable for results across the Collections organization, including hiring, people leadership, staffing, and customer strategies.
- Led up to 500 employees across multiple locations (in-house and outsourcer) to achieve strong business KPIs and keep losses within budget.
- Worked closely with stakeholders across the business, such as Legal, Compliance, and risk teams, to ensure our teams were in line with local regulations (UK FCA), such as Consumer Duty and Vulnerable Customer.
- Managed budgeting and financial planning processes for the organization.
- Used data to monitor performance, improve results and present to senior executives
Senior Manager, EMEA Collections
PayPal
Dundalk
07.2016 - 07.2021
- Promoted to Senior Manager to head up the Collections function.
- Lead the Collections teams (up to 250 FTEs) with accountability for results, including Net Credit Loss, people engagement metrics, and other customer-impacting metrics.
- Managed the hiring strategy for the function, ensuring that attrition rates are in line, and top-class talent is attracted.
- Presented to senior leaders across the business during Monthly Business Reviews.
- Part of the site team is to create the successful mental health program, "MindYourself," which has been rolled out to global teams.
Group Leader- EMEA Merchant Risk Operations
PayPal
Dundalk
07.2014 - 07.2016
- Promoted to Merchant Risk Ops leader to minimize fraud and financial losses in EMEA region.
- Led 100 employees across Dublin, Dundalk, and Berlin to achieve loss targets without impacting customer experience.
- Collaborated with strategy teams to implement cost-effective initiatives focused on loss mitigation.
- Oversaw rollout of successful loss mitigation strategies to wider teams across multiple sites.
Team Leader- Seller Fraud
PayPal
Dundalk
04.2013 - 07.2014
- Lead a team of 12 fraud analysts who reviewed customer accounts for any potential fraudulent activity
Risk Operations Manager
Bank of America
Carrick On Shannon
06.2004 - 12.2011
- Lead a team of 15 Collection agents who proactively reached out to customers to help them get back on track from any financial difficulties
Education
Master of Science - Human Resource Strategies
Dublin City University
Dublin10.2021
BBA - Bachelors of Business Administration
DkIT
Dundalk10.2004
Skills
Coaching and mentoring
Active listening
Emotional intelligence
Change management
Talent identification and development
Implementing AI and digital customer journeys
Accomplishments
Qualified Executive Coach (2011)
NLP Practitioner (2012)
Post Grad Diploma in Psychology (2013)
EQI certified Practitioner (2020)
Qualified FAI and GAA underage coach (2023/2024)
Appointed PayPal (Dundalk) Site leader (2021)
Strong track record of promotions at PayPal- Team Leader to Director/Site Lead
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Head of EMEA Collections (PayPal Site Lead)
PayPal
07.2022 - 08.2025
Director of EMEA Collections Operations
PayPal
07.2021 - 07.2022
Senior Manager, EMEA Collections
PayPal
07.2016 - 07.2021
Group Leader- EMEA Merchant Risk Operations
PayPal
07.2014 - 07.2016
Team Leader- Seller Fraud
PayPal
04.2013 - 07.2014
Risk Operations Manager
Bank of America
06.2004 - 12.2011
Master of Science - Human Resource Strategies
Dublin City University
BBA - Bachelors of Business Administration
DkIT
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