West Yorkshire (4 days a week on‑site, 1 day flexible)
£90,000 – £120,000
Our customer is at a pivotal point. They operate in a unique part of the market, combining high-volume claims work with complex, emotionally charged cases, and they have come through significant industry change as a strong, growing business.
Backed for growth over the next five years and working in partnership with major insurance brands, they are now ready to take the next step: making personal injury claims feel as simple and well managed as booking a holiday, even though the work behind the scenes is anything but simple.
They are looking for a senior operational leader who can bring together people, process, technology and customer insight to build a slick, resilient and customer-centric Claims Services operation. The ambition is for customers to feel clearly informed, properly supported and pleasantly surprised by the level of service they receive.
The strong foundations are already in place with some of the brightest stars in claims, a new Technology Director and product teams’ intent on creating a world-class, customer-centric claims service. It is time to build and bring those strengths together to turn good ideas into consistently embedded ways of working.
The Opportunity
Claims are inherently complex, often lengthy, and emotionally charged. Customers are not experts; they just want to understand what’s happening, what comes next, and that someone is on their side.
Today, a typical claim is a lengthy process which can lead to customer confusion, frustration at perceived lack of updates/ process and the sense that the process is happening to them, not with them. Meanwhile Insurance partners are heavily investing in digital journeys and expect their partners right there will them.
The opportunity to positively disrupt a key market is huge! And they certainly have the right team to do it, from senior leaders with strong track records in claims, to recent investments in product teams and tech who are ready to partner with the Head of/ Claims Services Director to simplify customer journeys and reduce negative sentiment (TrustPilot scores are already market leading!).
The challenge is to make an insurance claim feel as simple, and well managed, as booking a holiday by using digital solutions, clear communication and strong operational leadership to support customers at scale without losing the human experience.
The Role
Reporting to the Chief Customer & Commercial Officer, the successful candidate will:
- Own and run the Claims Services Operation end-to-end
- Build and lead the leadership team for this area (4 Direct reports and around 300 FTE)
- Re-design the customer journey, addressing known pain points around pace, blockages, communication and engagement over a long journey.
- Use digital solutions to support customers at volume, working with Technology and Product to create intuitive, self-serve and assisted-digital experiences, whilst automating routine, transactional tasks so colleagues can focus on meaningful conversations. Customers should feel informed, supported and in control
- Act as the bridge between operations and Tech/Product, translating insight from the front line into priorities for digital and product teams. You will help design, test and embed change, turning prototypes into reliable, adopted BAU that works for customers, colleagues and Insurance partners.
- Lead a cultural shift bringing traditional, risk‑averse teams into a data‑, CX‑ and digital‑led way of working.
- Maintain technical and regulatory discipline while creating space for safe experimentation.
- Model the grounded, low-ego, collaborative leadership style that defines the senior team.
- Bring consistency and follow-through – once a project is agreed or a change is made, ensure it is clearly owned, consistently followed up and properly embedded within the team so that it genuinely gets done.
Depending on experience and fit, our customer is open to appointing at Head of or Director level. For the right person, there is a clear path into a broader executive role over time.
About You
Our customer is looking for someone who can point to real outcomes, not just good intentions. This person will likely bring:
- Senior operational leadership experience in a high-volume, regulated service environment (e.g. insurance, claims, legal services, financial services, housing, or similar).
- A strong grasp of how to run and improve large customer operations, with clear examples of where you’ve redesigned processes, teams or journeys and seen measurable improvements.
- A track record of simplifying long, complex customer journeys
- You’ve worked alongside product and technology teams to deliver portals, self‑serve, automation or AI‑type tools.
- You’re comfortable in a test‑and‑learn environment and can translate between the floor and the roadmap
- Experience of operating in a regulated environment, ideally with Consumer Duty-style expectations, and balancing risk, customer and commercial outcomes
- A demonstrable ability to lead/ navigate cultural and behavioural change, alongside running the BAU
- Strong stakeholder and influencing skills
- You are confident but grounded. You are collaborative and comfortable with challenging and being challenged.
- Happy to spend time with your teams in Wakefield – this is a boots-on-the-ground leadership role, not a remote oversight job.
Location & Working Pattern
This role is based in West Yorkshire. Our customer expects the successful candidate to be on-site at 4 days a week, especially through the transformation phase, with flexibility for 1 day a week remote.
If this sounds like the kind of challenge that would energise you, taking something complex, regulated and important, and making it clearer, simpler and better for customers and colleagues, our customer would be pleased to talk.
Package: £90,000 – £120,000 + Comprehensive Benefits Package, including Bonus, Pension, Private Health, Free Eye tests, Health Cash Plan
To apply email your CV to: kerry+bb09bc9f-66bf-41cb-9dff-878897a27b79@sudalesearch.co.uk or apply right here: https://my.recruitwithatlas.com/public/bb09bc9f-66bf-41cb-9dff-878897a27b79 (this enables us to pull your application directly into our system to guarantee feedback on your application.
Disclaimer. Sudale Search & Select value you and your time, and we will respond to every single application. Please note we will start reviewing applications on Friday 17th July from then applications will be reviewed and responded to daily.