Head Of Casualty Claims (Hybrid)

The Company

At Utica National Insurance Group, 1,400 employees countrywide take our corporate promise to heart every day: To make people feel secure, appreciated, and respected.

Utica National Insurance Group is an "A" rated $1.5B award-winning, nationally recognized property & casualty insurance carrier.

Operating along the Eastern half of the United States, our Home Office is based in Central New York, with Regional Office locations including Boston, NYC, Atlanta, Dallas, Columbus, Richmond, and Chicago.

What you will do

The Head of Casualty Claims at Utica National holds overarching responsibility for the company's casualty claims operations. This role is responsible for managing and optimizing performance of all casualty claim units, including early resolution teams, litigation, complex and coverage units. The leader will drive execution of strategies that align with corporate objectives and ensure efficient and effective day-to-day operations. This leader's key duties include strategic leadership, talent management, complex claim resolution, performance analysis, and stakeholder engagement supporting the casualty claims operations. By fostering a high-performance culture, driving operational excellence, and mitigating risks, the Head of Casualty Claims plays a critical role in achieving Utica National's goals and maintaining its reputation for excellence in claims management. This position reports directly to the Executive Vice President, Chief Claims Officer.

Key responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Provide senior-level strategic guidance to ensure the department's alignment with organizational goals and objectives.

• Operational Excellence: Ensure consistently strong day-to-day execution and adherence to established claims practices, procedures, quality standards, and regulatory compliance within Utica National's casualty claims units.

• Collaborative Leadership: Lead and collaborate with casualty claim directors to ensure consistency in management approaches, practices, procedures, and performance metrics. Facilitate the execution of corporate business plans across all casualty claims units.

• Operational Performance Management: Maintain accountability for casualty claim results, including coverage determinations, reserve adequacy, loss costs, loss expenses, and claim service delivery. Oversee the timely investigation, evaluation, and disposition of claims to ensure efficient and effective claims handling.

• Provide strategic & tactical input to assist in the resolution of complex claims.

• Quality Assurance: Develop and implement reviews to ensure claims technical standards are met. Identify improvement opportunities and communicate them effectively to relevant stakeholders.

• Reserve Management: Follow established reserve control procedures to ensure reserves accurately reflect the loss and loss expense exposure of claims, in alignment with Utica National's reserving philosophy.

• Litigation Management: Develop a comprehensive litigation management strategy and embed strong litigation management practices and performance metrics within the casualty claims organization. Establish a defense panel management program to mitigate claims severity and optimize outcomes.

Preferred background

• 15+ years of comprehensive experience in handling all severity levels of both commercial and personal lines casualty claims; a minimum of 10 years demonstrating progressive leadership responsibilities in managing robust claims operations.

• Possess a strong technical foundation in managing complex commercial casualty claims.

• Expertise in litigation management, including the ability to develop and implement a comprehensive litigation management strategy.

• Proven track record as a data-driven and technology-savvy leader, with experience in claims transformation considered advantageous

• Bachelor's degree is required; a juris doctor degree is preferred.

Desired skills and attributes

• Strategic Leadership: Demonstrates the ability to formulate objectives and priorities aligned with the organization's long-term interests, even in a global context. Seizes opportunities while effectively managing risks and making tough decisions.

• Results-Oriented: Drives towards meeting organizational goals and exceeding customer expectations. Applies technical expertise to analyze problems, calculate risks, and consistently deliver high-quality, timely, and cost-effective results. Holds oneself and others accountable, sets clear objectives, delegates effectively, and takes ownership of mistakes by providing solutions.

• Effective People Leader: Guides individuals towards fulfilling the organization's vision, mission, and objectives. Creates an inclusive workplace that nurtures personal development, fosters cooperation and teamwork, and resolves conflicts constructively.

• Integrity: Establishes an environment of mutual trust and confidence, cultivating a culture characterized by high ethical standards. Demonstrates fairness and ethical behavior towards others, upholding the organization's guiding principles with genuine commitment. Acts as a custodian of the company's culture, promoting integrity and mutual accountability.

Salary range: $200,000 - $250,000

The final salary to be paid and position within the internal salary range is reflective of the employee's work experience, their geographic location, education, certification(s), scope and responsibilities in the role, and additional qualifications.

Benefits

We believe strongly that talented people are core to our success and are attracted to companies that provide competitive pay, comprehensive benefits packages, career advancement and challenging work opportunities. We offer a Comprehensive Benefits Plan for full time employees that include the following:

• Medical and Prescription Drug Benefit

• Dental Benefit

• Vision Benefit

• Life Insurance and Disability Benefits

• 401(k) Profit Sharing and Investment Plan (Includes annual Company financial contribution and discretionary Profit Sharing contribution based upon annual company financial results)

• Health Savings Account (HSA)

• Flexible Spending Accounts

• Tuition Assistance, Training, and Professional Designations

• Company-Paid Family Leave

• Adoption/Surrogacy Assistance Benefit

• Voluntary Benefits - Group Accident Insurance, Hospital Indemnity, Critical Illness, Legal, ID Theft Protection, Pet Insurance

• Student Loan Refinancing Services

• Care.com Membership with Back-up Care, Senior Solutions

• Business Travel Accident Insurance

• Matching Gifts program

• Paid Volunteer Day

• Employee Referral Award Program

• Wellness programs

Additional Information

This position is a full time salaried, exempt (non-overtime eligible) position.

Utica National is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Apply now and find out what it's like to be a part of an amazing team, thrive in an exciting environment and work for a company you can be proud of. Once you complete your application, you can monitor your status in the hiring process by logging into your profile. A representative from our Talent Acquisition team will be in touch regarding any change in your candidacy.

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