Senior Vice President, Insurance Operations

At Canadian Premier, everything we do is driven by our genuine desire to build connections with our customers – listening, reflecting, responding – and being there for them during the most trying times of their lives. To be the best at what we do, we look for compassionate, creative people who work efficiently, aren't afraid to make decisions, and are driven to understand how their role fits into our vision; to be the innovative insurer trusted by families to provide financial protection through partners who care.

For more than 60 years, Canadian Premier has been committed to providing financial security to Canadians and their families in the face of uncertainties, insuring over two million customers coast-to-coast. Every day at Canadian Premier means a day spent helping Canadians and their families build secure tomorrows.

Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with an office in Burnaby, British Columbia, we are a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Securian Financial, a Fortune 500 company*.

Who we need

As we continue to disrupt the industry with innovative solutions and optimal outcomes, we are looking for a Senior Vice President of Insurance Operations to join our Senior Leadership Team (SLT). You will be accountable for the planning, leadership, and execution of all Canadian Premier’s Insurance Operations Business Unit activities, ensuring operational and financial models align with the enterprise strategic plan. You will draw upon your expertise in disability management and create a vision for an innovative approach to reimagine the disability experience. You will foster collaborative relationships externally and internally with Business Market Leaders to optimize organizational and business performance. You will inspire and guide the work of a multidisciplinary team responsible for claims, underwriting, operations support, call center and vendor management, and disability management.

What's in it for you

Influence and impact. You will join the organization as it truly transforms, strengthening our foothold in new markets/geographies (including Quebec), significantly broadening our product mix and scaling the business to new heights. This is an opportunity to play a key role in aligning our newly acquired operations to a successful post-merger operational framework. You will build strong internal partnerships at the C-level and across the organization, acting as a highly valued strategic advisor.

What you will focus on

• Lead the insurance operations strategy to drive new and optimize existing processes in alignment with overall enterprise priorities . You will:
  • Create effective partnerships and foster collaboration with other shared solutions and businesses.
  • Direct and provide leadership for pertinent shared operating functions, including business technology, policy administration, claims processing, premium collection and reconciliation and select financial and project management services.
  • Manage relationships with key internal and external partners to identify success metrics and potential obstacles and resolve key issues to keep initiatives moving forward, managing risk and influence, where appropriate.
  • Oversee development of new operations procedures and enhances existing processes to achieve optimal efficiency while minimizing operations risks. This includes but is not limited to workforce management actions and automation.
• Build metrics, analytics, transparency, and reporting, leveraging data-based insights to evaluate opportunities and develop actionable recommendations that drive significant operational and financial performance improvements. You will:
  • Determine the financial structure and metrics to support a successful operating model.
  • Formulate the staffing model and resourcing plan (level and type – permanent, temporary, overtime and outsourced).
  • Prepare, review, and monitor the business unit’s yearly budget on an ongoing basis to analyze variances and exercise control to ensure the budget expenditures.
• Contribute to enterprise strategic activities as part of the SLT. You will:
  • Set annual goals and plans, conduct earnings reviews, host recognition meetings, and support succession planning and steering committees.
  • Provide the CEO and other SLT members with challenges, progress, and opportunities as it relates to insurance operations.
  • Proactively makes specific recommendations to support enterprise priorities.
• Lead the team with a client-oriented focus. You will:
  • Engage teams effectively around a vision rooted in customer experience, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
  • Foster relationship building with customers and provides excellent customer service leadership to the Insurance Operations team.
  • Maintain and enhance the value proposition as a differentiator providing the company with a key competitive advantage.
  • Consult with agents, account executives, financial institutions, customers, lawyers, and doctors to solicit feedback on current services or resolve customer inquiries or issues; provide resolution and communicate results to employees.
• Professional development and performance management. You will:
  • Maintain personal up-to-date knowledge of the company’s products and services and keep abreast of claims, insurance and legislative changes and best practices.
  • Grow your network by attending courses and conferences and maintaining professional contacts with other companies, vendors, and industry contacts.
  • Oversee activities, including audits, formally and informally to solicit feedback on overall customer satisfaction.
  • Provide and encourage ongoing training for staff to ensure they can deliver results, support customers, and develop professionally.

What you bring

• The industry expertise. You have 15+ years of operational and strategic experience in health management services and life/health/disability insurance. You have developed and executed successful business strategies aligned with an enterprise vision. You excel at fostering strong business partnerships internally and in the market, including industry associations and third parties. Experience with US and Canadian disability management systems would be an asset.
• The ownership. You hold yourself highly accountable for your work and that of your team and its impact on the company's ability to be successful. You think creatively and critically; you have the confidence to take new ideas forward and productively challenge the status quo. You have exceptional people leadership and relationship-building skills with the proven ability to influence management decisions and collaborate across all functions within a matrixed enterprise, provide strategic direction and guidance to a team,
• The communication skills. You have excellent and impactful written and oral skills, including the ability to make persuasive presentations, effectively negotiate, navigate conflict, and rapidly weigh all opinions to determine the best-fit approach. You have a coaching and mentoring mindset with a demonstrated ability to teach and translate all aspects of insurance operations and client-oriented solutions. French / English bilingualism is considered an asset.

Why join?

When you're a Canadian Premier employee, you're part of a hard-working, high-performing, bright-thinking, make-things-happen family. One that sees your potential on day one, challenging you to grow your unique strengths as you create a career filled with opportunity, collaboration and meaning. For our newest team members to our most tenured, we're committed to being an employer that supports the person you want to be, at work and outside of it. We're growing – and we want you to grow with us.

At Canadian Premier, we know there's nothing more important than treating each other with respect, compassion, understanding, and dignity. Even though our family has grown over the years, we still maintain the entrepreneurial spirit that got us started. https://youtu.be/4smwYAVRZQA"> Watch this video to learn more about our core values and our Canadian Premier family.

Be part of a fast-paced company that offers you exciting opportunities to advance your career while you contribute to helping Canadians build secure tomorrows.

Many of the individuals who lead our team have an impressive tenure with us, and every single one of them will tell you, it's about the people—the people we serve and the people we work with. We're a small organization with flexibility, openness, and responsiveness; with the security and resources to continue to do our work in a way that makes the most impact on our customers.

Be a part of a place guided by people-focused not profit-driven values: Communicate openly, be accountable, be curious, celebrate together as one family.

This is a place that stands behind work-life balance, an accessible leadership team, transparent communication, and an atmosphere that can only be described as family-focused. We continue to promote an engaged work-life balance throughout the pandemic with initiatives that include virtual town halls, casual online coffees, mental health workshops and employee appreciation packages. The very nature of what we do – listening to our customers – is the foundation of how we collaborate, learn from one another, embrace diverse perspectives, and hold each other up.

If you have the majority of the qualifications we're looking for and you're interested in joining the team, we encourage you to express your interest by submitting an application. Apply now.

Canadian Premier is committed to providing a barrier-free work environment in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code. As such, Canadian Premier will provide reasonable accommodations available to applicants with disabilities upon request during the recruitment process. Please contact hr@canadianpremier.ca for accommodation requests.

* Securian Financial is the marketing name for Securian Financial Group, Inc. and its affiliates. Insurance products are issued by its affiliated insurance companies. 2020 Fortune 500 Companies List, May 2020.