Head Operations North America - Hybrid

Location: Fort Wayne, IN, US

About the Role

You are responsible for Operations Unit accountable for end-to-end operations for the Treaty life cycle - from quote stage up until closure of treaty.

You not only deliver strong operations services (from onboarding treaties, to managing the accounts and the cash) but also providing early insights and stakeholder management with MU and collaboration with rest of value chain. 

You develop, manage and lead a strong leadership team (Team-Leaders, Managers and Experts), a professional underlying management system (processes and structures) as well as a corporate culture based on empowerment, client centricity and engagement.

You are accountable for the cost targets.

Key Accountabilities:

• Active member of the L&H Re Operations leadership team, responsible for oversight, review and continuous improvement for L&H Re Operations Globally
• Assure and manage the ' Technical Accounting Processing and Sales operations services' for given portfolio or region
  • according to an agreed set of KPI's and target
  • in line with Market unit/Finance/Actuarial requirements
• Actively manage stakeholder's expectations and communication including concrete action plans based on yearly NPS
• Provide early insights within given portfolio
• Ensure effective Stakeholder management is in place
• Drive resolution of long pending issues and ensure effective and timely escalation to MU
• Drive technology change and adoption into the region – leveraging and defining how to best utilize new technologies
• Embed and live the Swiss Re corporate culture into the teams
• Actively assure people management and leadership of a unit including multiple sections and teams.
• Develop and coach a strong local leadership team with focus on empowerment and client centricity
• Mentor and coach key talents of the organization
• Lead cross functional and cross location teams and projects
• Develop and enhance an organizational structure and processes according to the changing environment
• Contribute to the development and implementation of group-wide decisions and strategies
• Perform other position related tasks as instructed by Supervisor

Strategic thinking – the ability to analyze organization's competitive position by considering market and industry trends, existing and potential customers (internal and external), and strengths and weaknesses in comparison with competitors:

• Understands the organization's strengths and weaknesses
• Understands industry and market trends affecting the organization's competitiveness
• Has an in-depth understanding of competitive products and services within the marketplace

About the Team

COO Operations department is a part of the L&H COO core business operations within Swiss Re. Our people support entire treaty life cycle from signing of treaty up until closure of reinsurance contract.  The quality of our work influences Swiss Re reputation and is instrumental in the company's growth in all markets around the world. We operate within L&H Reinsurance.

About You

• Extensive experience leading shared services or financial services operations within a global insurance or reinsurance environment; Life & Health (L&H) experience is a strong asset.
• 10+ years of leadership experience, including senior management of large, multi-layered organizations (100+ employees) and proven delivery through complex transformations in fast-paced, international settings.
• Strong people and strategy focus, with the ability to build high-performing teams, develop leaders, and foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Proven capability to drive operational excellence, performance targets, and client outcomes, supported by a strong operational risk mindset and disciplined escalation of material issues.
• Trusted partner to senior stakeholders, with the ability to influence across Market Units and Group functions, and to operate effectively within global governance and leadership forums.
• Highly analytical, able to synthesize complex data into actionable insights for clients and Swiss Re leadership, and to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Strong advocate for automation, digitalization, and AI-enabled operations, able to lead teams confidently through change and adoption of new technologies.
• Self-driven, results-oriented, and commercially minded, with a strong service and client orientation.
• Excellent communication skills (clear, transparent, and convincing), combined with strong ethical standards and Swiss Re values.

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 for Fort Wayne, IN, is $144,000 to $216,000.  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.