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 Chief Claims Officer at Utica National has full responsibility and oversight for the company's claims operations. This role is responsible for cultivating a high-performance culture within all claim units across personal and commercial lines of business including auto, workers’ compensation, property, general liability, errors and omissions, and others.  The leader will develop and execute strategies that support corporate goals, objectives, and initiatives. The leader’s key duties include strategic leadership, risk mitigation, performance analysis, interdepartmental collaboration, and talent management to drive efficient and effective claims operations. The Chief Claims Officer will play a critical role in ensuring Utica National's goals are met and the company’s reputation for excellence in claims management is maintained. This position reports directly to the President and CEO.

Key responsibilities

Strategic Leadership: Provide executive-level strategic guidance to ensure alignment with organizational goals and objectives. Operational Excellence: Lead the strategic, tactical, and contingency planning for all claim units; organize and allocate resources to ensure achievement of goals; establish claims handling policies, programs, and annual business goals. Collaborative Leadership: Lead and collaborate with claim department heads to ensure consistency in management approaches, practices, procedures, and performance metrics. Facilitate the execution of corporate business plans across all claim units. Partner with executive leadership in underwriting, legal, information technology, human resources, and other departments to ensure alignment with organizational strategies and goals. Operational Performance Management: Establish and maintain a high-performance culture to ensure efficient and effective claims handling. Maintain accountability for claim results, including coverage determinations, reserve adequacy, loss costs, loss expenses, and claim service delivery. Quality Assurance: Establish claims technical standards and ensure they are met. Collaborate with department heads to identify and drive continuous improvement. Identify opportunities to streamline workflow to improve quality and increase efficiency and reduce expenses without any degradation of service. Identify and implement industry technologies to reduce cycle times and expenses while improving quality of results. Litigation Management: Oversee the litigation management strategy and embed strong litigation management practices and accompanying performance metrics to optimize outcomes. Risk Management: Manage business and operational risk to ensure claim payment accuracy and timeliness while managing loss costs. Leverage analytics and data to assist in optimizing risk selection. Talent Management: Develop and execute the talent management strategy to include appropriate staffing levels and team member expertise to meet organizational goals.  Embed training and development strategies to deepen team members’ skills and to support career development, career pathing, and career advancement.

Preferred background

15+ years of comprehensive experience in handling all severity levels of both commercial and personal lines claims; a minimum of 5 years in senior-level management that includes developing and executing department strategies to achieve both annual and long-term corporate goals, loss cost program management and operational responsibilities. Experience in and proven ability to manage complex coverage or high severity commercial claims and the ability to identify and respond to industry claim trends.   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.

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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