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Reporting to the Senior Vice President of Underwriting & Product, the Head of Absence Management is accountable for the strategic direction and financial results of the Group Benefits Absence Management Product Suite across all market segments, including National, Regional, Priority and Small Business accounts.  The product offering includes short-term disability, long-term disability, paid family leave and leave management. 

In this senior management role, the Head of Absence Management will serve as the business owner for several critical technology platforms including: The Hartford Ability Advantage (THAA) technology platform, which supports disability and leave management claims handling; Employer View, which gives employer customers access to critical information concerning their plan; MyBenefits, which provides participants access to their benefit program; and Producer View, which allows producers to better service their customers. 

The Head of Absence Management will partner across the Group Benefits leadership team to develop an integrated product and platform roadmap that supports GB’s end-to-end Absence Management strategy and coordinate execution of that agenda, as well as other initiatives related to business growth and delivering a superior customer experience for a $6B book of business.  Additionally, this leader will serve as the “public face” of the line – internally with senior leadership and externally with our field partners, distribution partners and customers.

Responsibilities

The key accountabilities for this role are as follows:

Strategic & Operational Planning: Develop and maintain a clear strategic plan for Group Benefits Absence Management Product Suite, including the features and benefits that will distinguish Group Benefits as market leader.  This strategy should be based on:

Analysis of customer needs and engagement preferences

Competitive assessment

Emerging trends for new products and services

Regulatory and legislative changes

Technological change

Transform Absence Product Offerings: Define THAA & Digital platform roadmaps and drive execution of multi-year initiatives that deliver a superior user value proposition and expense efficiency.

Help lead the Agile Product value stream end-to-end, ensuring that Group Benefits total Absence product offering is well-supported in THAA and Digital initiatives.

Collaborate to develop customer-centric and integrated workflows across the organization, establish deployment strategies, ensure appropriate adoption, and support change management

Help facilitate cross-functional Absence Management process improvements to optimize expense efficiency while delivering exceptional customer experience

Partner with other functions to continuously evaluate and refine metrics to measure process effectiveness, efficiency, and customer experience across the THAA and Digital platforms

Assess and evaluate business/technology partners to integrate with our platforms

Drive Financial Results:  Set annual and multi-year Absence Management business plans and drive results.

For THAA and Digital, understand the total cost of ownership and work with IT and other partners to manage costs at the most efficient level

Set invest and maintenance plans that support all GB business needs for these platforms

Multifunctional Leadership:  Lead and work across the matrix to optimize the customer experience while transforming product offerings.  This Leader will work collaboratively with Operations, Claims, IT, Digital, Finance, Product, Sales, Marketing and Underwriting, as well as with other key service delivery areas across The Hartford enterprise, such as Workers Compensation.  Key focus on partnering with:
 

Claims and Operations organizations to ensure fulfillment of product and customer experience design across THAA and the Digital platforms, while enabling efficient processing and accurate claim adjudication

Sales & Distribution and Marketing organizations to market our Absence Management and THAA capabilities to new and renewing customers; address and prioritize case-specific customization requests, and drive execution across the organization

Technology to develop necessary architectural and application plans, and provide business leadership on invest and maintenance initiatives

Enterprise Digital Team to design and execute superior mobile and online user capabilities that offer a contemporary experience
 

Qualifications:

10 + years in insurance industry; Group Benefit insurance required

Absence and National Account expertise desirable

Proven experience with new product development and/or significant technology invest initiatives

Strong understanding of product economics and financial concepts

Demonstrates inspirational leadership and delivers results through a cross-functional team

Displays advanced business and financial acumen with ability to analyze and take calculated risks

Exceptional communication, influencing and partnership skills; ability to work effectively in a matrixed environment to drive outcomes through others

Displays persistent curiosity and uses innovation to support forward-focused strategic planning

Maintains a strong external focus: customer, industry, regulatory

Acts with courage, takes action and owns results

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience

Compensation

The listed annualized base pay range is primarily based on analysis of similar positions in the external market. Actual base pay could vary and may be above or below the listed range based on factors including but not limited to performance, proficiency and demonstration of competencies required for the role. The base pay is just one component of The Hartford’s total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include short-term or annual bonuses, long-term incentives, and on-the-spot recognition. The annualized base pay range for this role is:

Equal Opportunity Employer/Females/Minorities/Veterans/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity or Expression/Religion/Age

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