Head Central Operations (Americas)

Join Swiss Re Corporate Solutions' Global Central Operations, a pivotal part of our COO function. We manage all central delivery services, supporting Underwriting Assistants, Claims Operations, Technical Accounting, and more. Our team of 300+ employees, alongside a similar number of outsourced staff, operates from key global locations including Kansas City, Bratislava, Bangalore, and Kuala Lumpur.

About the Role

Step into the role as the Head of Central Operations (Americas). You'll oversee Business Services, Technical Accounting, and Claims Operations across North and Latin America, managing both Swiss Re employees and outsourcing partners. Your mission is to deliver exceptional Operations services, meeting SLAs and KPIs, while identifying opportunities for optimization and scalability. You'll lead the Central Operations (Americas) leadership team from Kansas City and be part of the global leadership team of Global Central Operations (GCO).

As GCO evolves its organizational and global setup, your initial mandate evolves accordingly. Whilst being accountable for the Kansas City hub location, your role is, furthermore, to shape and drive a global operating model towards an optimal delivery setup. That includes refreshing the organizational and location setup, advancing processes towards a globally aligned and scalable nature, centralizing third-party-management, or building a global steering and management framework.

In summary, the role is meant to think and act as a global leader whilst rooted and delivering out of a regional hub location. You will be highly interacting with the Market Unit COOs, Underwriting Assistants, Operations Managers, or regional/global process owners. Furthermore, you will be partnering with a broad network of experts and senior stakeholders. Your experience in regional/global central operations functions as well as your service mind-set help you to balance being both, strategic and tactical.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver Operations Services:
  • Drive seamless service delivery in commercial insurance operations.
  • Ensure services meet or exceed SLAs and KPIs.
  • Organize and resource teams effectively.
  • Utilize data and facts to drive decisions, enhancing metrics and performance monitoring.
  • Manage operational risk, including key controls and quarterly assessments.
  • Serve as a subject matter expert for audits.
• Endorse Continuous Improvements:
  • Enhance efficiency across technical accounting, underwriting support, and claims operations.
  • Drive global process harmonization with necessary local adaptations.
  • Lead regional teams towards a unified global team with a results-oriented focus.
  • Implement strategic initiatives to meet Corporate Solutions' priorities.
  • Engage in project work and special tasks as required.
• Regional Leadership Responsibility:
  • Be a hands-on, inspirational leader and change driver.
  • Communicate effectively, ensuring proactive information sharing.
  • Coach, monitor, and develop talent within the team.
  • Attract and retain talent, evolving employee development plans.
  • Sponsor employee engagement programs to foster an innovative team spirit.
  • Promote an open feedback culture and robust performance management.
  • Deliver creative solutions to challenges while remaining practical.
• Global Leadership Responsibility:
  • Represent Central Operations (Americas) in the global leadership team.
  • Take accountability for shared divisional goals.
  • Own or sponsor global leadership team priorities.
  • Shape the global operating model.

About the Team

Join a seasoned Operations leadership team passionate about high-quality delivery and long-term transformation. You'll have the opportunity to shape both regional and global agendas, supported by a decisive and well-connected global Management Committee. Your leadership team boasts extensive experience in Business Services, Claims Operations, and Technical Accounting, both in the US and Latin America. You'll also collaborate closely with trusted third-party providers.

About You

We are seeking a visionary leader with a strategic mindset and a passion for operational excellence. You should be adept at balancing strategic vision with tactical execution and have a strong service orientation. Your ability to lead and inspire teams, drive change, and foster an innovative environment will be key to your success.

Must-Have Technical Skills

• Eight+ years of experience in operations leadership roles, with a focus on commercial insurance or a related field.
• Extensive Experience in change and transformation management.
• Strong Understanding of operational risk management and the ability to implement effective controls and assessments.
• Data-Driven Decision Making skills, including the development and use of metrics and performance monitoring tools.

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience in Global Process Harmonization, with the ability to adapt processes to local needs while maintaining global consistency.
• Excellent Communication and Leadership Skills, with the ability to drive proactive information sharing and foster an open feedback culture.
• Change Management Expertise, with a history of leading teams through transitions and fostering a results-oriented environment.
• Innovative Problem Solving, with the ability to deliver creative solutions while remaining practical and grounded.
• Talent Development Skills, including coaching, mentoring, and developing team members to achieve their full potential.

The position will be located in our Kansas City, MO office. Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office three days per week.

The estimated base salary range for this position is $192,000 to $306,000.  The specific salary offered for this or any given role will take into account a number of factors including but not limited to job location, scope of role, qualifications, complexity/specialization/scarcity of talent, experience, education, and employer budget.  

At Swiss Re, we take a "total compensation approach" when making compensation decisions. This means that we consider all components of compensation in their totality (such as base pay, short-and long-term incentives, and benefits offered), in setting individual compensation.