Senior Services Manager

Senior Service Manager

Sompo has a unique opportunity for a Senior Service Manager to join our Insurance Operations team.

This newly created role will sit within our London and UK Regions COO function. The Service Delivery team plays a vital role in supporting the various business lines within our Underwriting team based in our London, UK office whilst at the same time undertaking transformation activities with which to broaden, and better control the services provided. This exciting opportunity will allow the incumbent to play an integral part in strengthening the operational resilience of the services provided by the Operations function, directly and through our outsource partners. Key to delivery will also be creating strong liaison with our outsource partners, UK Change & Transformation and IT.

Location: This position will be based out of our London office. There is an expectation of a minimum 3 days a week office attendance. We strive for collaboration which is why we offer a work environment where our employees thrive and develop long lasting careers.

What you’ll be doing:

• Service Management: Leading transaction processing and other services provided to the Underwriting teams through the oversight of outsourced policy administration, with the support of UW Operations Coordinators. This will include:
  • On-boarding of new Business Units, Lines of Business, or Products in terms of embedding this new transaction processing into existing processes.
  • Compliance, including the incorporation of evolving regulatory requirements into the 'business as usual' process and reports.
  • Data Analytics and Data Quality standards support.
  • Resolution of technical queries so as to minimise impact on service timelines, whilst also managing the process to document these queries, enabling review and mitigation where queries are repeated.
  • Acting as an SME on behalf of Senior Management, overseeing day-to-day service delivery operations, ensuring representation and continuity of leadership and decision-making at necessary forums, engagement meetings etc.
• Contract Management: Ensure a full understanding of Sompo's service requirements and compliance with terms and conditions by our Outsourcing partners. This will include:
  • Agreeing statements of work, ensuring cost effective solutions whilst maintaining quality of service.
  • Acting as a liaison between offshore and onshore teams so as to expedite the identification and mitigation of operational issues and challenges.
• Team Leadership: Support the embedding of a high performing culture (accuracy and timeliness), fostering a service culture and continuous improvement mindset.
• Performance Monitoring: Responsibilities will cover both a team and outsource partner remit, including:
  • Providing the Head of Service Delivery with regular updates on productivity, quality, and control, with the setting of goals and SLAs for delivering a service to Underwriting.
  • Setting performance standards and regularly reviewing outsource partner performance against key metrics and service level agreements (SLAs).
  • Tracking technology maintenance and BAU enhancement requests and statuses and supporting the prioritisation of these activities.
  • Setting goals, and providing feedback to the Underwriting Coordinators, ensuring a consistent level of performance expectation. This will include fully documented performance reviews.
• Reporting: Input into the operational management dashboard in an accurate and timely manner.
• Continuous Improvement: Working with Underwriting Coordinators to identify, document and drive delivery of opportunities for continuous improvement and efficiency, including the reduction in reliance on outsourced resources. This will include:
  • Ensure active collaboration with outsourced teams to streamline workflows.
  • Acting as the Product Owner for established/BAU products so as to set requirements for BAU enhancement, including the support of IT in the delivery of those enhancements, e.g. agreeing the priority of releases, identifying system interface failures.
  • Supporting UK Change & Transformation in their role as Product Owner of new or developing products which will provide functional enhancement.
  • Define the requirements of a 'service desk' for technical issues (such as questions around how things should be correctly booked, helping to resolve complex issues.
  • Responsible for the Root Cause Analysis of failures between systems.
  • User Acceptance Testing on behalf of Business Units when deploying new technologies (e.g., all GWPC deployments)
  • Oversight of the completion of Policy Conversions for London and Bermuda Business Units as they are deployed onto the Guidewire Policy Administration System.
• Compliance Adherence: Ensuring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) are followed, with related controls completed. This includes:
  • Ensuring that SOPS are regularly maintained in collaboration with the Senior Quality Assurance Manager.
  • Ensuring adherence to underwriting guidelines and regulatory requirements.
• Cross-collaboration and stakeholder management: Building strong relationships as well as role-modelling collaboration across the wider Operations space (with both on- and offshore teams) by acting as a process subject matter expert on key underwriting processes.
• Training and Development: Identify training needs and providing development opportunities to enhance team skills and knowledge. This will include working with the Operations Enablement Lead (OEL) on identifying trends, and areas of concern with how processes are being followed, so that the OEL can provide targeted training interventions. Direct support of training may be required for more complex topics.
• Budget Management: Document the cost and benefit for the operation of your team and outsourcing activities, ensuring cost-effectiveness and financial efficiency.

What you’ll bring:

• Bachelors degree or equivalent, and insurance qualification (ACII) is preferred
• Significant experience of specialty and commercial insurance, and the London market.
• Experienced and confident team leader with at least 6 years of operational management experience.
• A track record of process improvement.
• Ability to represent Operations at senior levels with confidence.
• Data driven approach to measuring service and ability to analyse trends in data.
• Strong problem solving and decision-making abilities.
• Working knowledge of Insurance Underwriting systems.

Our benefits:

• Extensive Health & Wellness Benefits

• Generous Retirement & Savings Plans

• Global Parental Leave & Adoption Assistance

In today's world, what do we stand for?

We strive to create exceptional value for our clients and shareholders while maintaining Sompo as an attractive place to work. We foster an environment of ongoing, open dialogue between managers and their direct reports, and believe in an organisational environment where everyone belongs. We proudly are a multi-racial, multi-cultural, global enterprise. We reject all forms of racism, bigotry, prejudice and injustice and continue to invest in building out an inclusive and diverse work environment.

About Us

Expert Partners. Clarity in complexity. Unwavering commitment .

We're Sompo, a global provider of property, casualty, and specialty insurance and reinsurance. Building on Sompo Holdings' 130 years of innovation, we're committed to applying all of our experience to simplify yours.

Our dedication to you shows up in the care we put in every detail, working to create a frictionless risk management journey for everyone we serve.

We lead with your priorities, meticulously crafting solutions, sharing insights, and understanding your needs.

Around the world, our 9,000+ employees use their expertise to learn, improve and find clear answers for your complex challenges.

Because when you choose Sompo, you choose the ease of expertise.