Manager, Claims Optimization

Wawanesa Insurance; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Pension plan

Generous vacation time

Job summary

The Manager, Claims Optimization at The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company leads strategic initiatives to transform claims operations, deploying AI, automation, and continuous improvement. You will guide a team of analysts, partnering with Claims leaders and business stakeholders to deliver measurable outcomes and improve efficiency across Canada.

This head-office role emphasizes governance, adoption, and benefits realization, with English communication as the primary business language and a

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in Claims, operational excellence, business transformation, or strategic initiatives, including people leadership.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications and the ability to leverage data, reporting, and analytics tools to support decision-making.
• Experience leading cross-functional transformation initiatives involving business, operations, technology, and change management stakeholders, including AI enablement, automation, process improvement, and adoption activities.

Responsibilities

• Develops and leads a team of analysts responsible for business analysis, initiative planning, process improvement, implementation support, and the execution of Claims and EPMO initiatives.
• Manages a portfolio of Claims optimization, transformation, AI, and automation initiatives, ensuring alignment with business strategy, capacity, risks, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.
• Leads change initiatives by engaging stakeholders seeking and responding to feedback, addressing barriers to adoption, and reinforcing the behaviours and practices required to sustain outcomes.

Skills

People leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Change management

Analytical thinking

Communication

Education

Post-secondary education in business/insurance/technology

Tools

Microsoft 365

Data analytics tools

Job description

Job ID: 10400

Employment Type: Existing Role

Work Environment: We offer a hybrid work environment that offers flexibility to our employees in balancing in-office (2 days per week OR 15 hours per week in a Wawanesa office) and remote work. You may work from any of the following locations: Winnipeg, MB; Wawanesa, MB; Vancouver, BC; Calgary, AB; Edmonton, AB; Lethbridge, AB; Toronto (North York), ON; Kitchener, ON; Ottawa, ON; Montreal, QC; Moncton, NB; Dartmouth; NS.

Working Business Language: English. This role is considered a head-office role and will be required to communicate with internal and external stakeholders across Canada where the primary business language for this role is English. As such, the successful candidate must be fully proficient in English.

Salary: At Wawanesa, salary is only one component of a holistic, comprehensive and competitive offering that we provide to our employees. In addition to salary, full-time and part-time permanent employees are eligible for an annual bonus plan, leave of absence top-up programs and provided with generous vacation time, personal days, premium free benefits and pension plan.

The salary offered for this role is determined with consideration to various factors, including but not limited to: your work location, local labour market conditions, external market salary data, internal pay equity and the knowledge, skills, experience and anticipated proficiency in the role. The salary offered is estimated to be within the following range: $120,000 - $140,000. Candidates with salary expectations outside of the range are still encouraged to apply.

About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company

Founded in 1896, The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurers, fully owned by its more than 1.8 million members. Headquartered in Winnipeg, Wawanesa is the parent company of WSI™, a specialty insurer delivering tailored solutions built around unique needs; Wawanesa Life, a provider of life insurance products; and Western Financial Group, a leading national distributor of personal and commercial insurance.

Wawanesa is committed to helping communities thrive in a changing world. The company invests more than $4 million annually in charitable initiatives, including $2.5 million each year to support people and communities on the front lines of climate change. Learn more at wawanesa.com.

We are currently seeking dedicated, driven, and enthusiastic individuals who thrive in a dynamic environment, embrace change, and are eager to gain diverse experience while advancing their careers as part of a growing team.

Job Overview

The Manager, Claims Optimization provides leadership and strategic oversight for Claims transformation, AI enablement, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives.

This role is accountable for identifying opportunities to enhance operational effectiveness, customer outcomes, and employee experience through process optimization, technology enablement, and change initiatives. Leading a team of analysts, the Manager partners closely with operational leaders and key stakeholders to prioritize, govern, and deliver strategic initiatives that achieve measurable business outcomes.

Job Responsibilities

• Develops and leads a team of analysts responsible for business analysis, initiative planning, process improvement, implementation support, and the execution of Claims and EPMO initiatives.
• Manages a portfolio of Claims optimization, transformation, AI, and automation initiatives, ensuring alignment with business strategy, capacity, risks, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.
• Supports the responsible enablement of AI and automation solutions by defining business requirements, validating outcomes, and partnering with technology, data, risk, privacy, and operational stakeholders to ensure appropriate governance and oversight.
• Partners with Claims leaders and stakeholders to identify improvement opportunities, define requirements and outcomes, remove delivery barriers, and support implementation and adoption of Claims optimization initiatives.
• Partners with Claims Operations, Quality Assurance, and other stakeholders translate quality results and performance trends into prioritized improvement, coaching, training, process, and capability-development actions.
• Leads the design and continuous improvement of Claims processes and workflows to support compliance and improve operational effectiveness.
• Lead change initiatives by engaging stakeholders seeking and responding to feedback, addressing barriers to adoption, and reinforcing the behaviours and practices required to sustain outcomes.
• Champions adoption and benefits realization by establishing measurement and reporting approaches, monitoring portfolio performance and outcomes against approved business cases and forecasts, identifying variances and emerging risks, and coordinating corrective actions and recommendations to support informed leadership decisions.
• Contributes to the analysis of operational, financial, quality, member, employee, and initiative-performance trends to identify emerging opportunities and risks, evaluate potential business impacts, and recommend evidence-based actions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in Claims, operational excellence, business transformation, continuous improvement, or strategic initiatives, including people leadership experience
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications and the ability to leverage data, reporting, and analytics tools to support decision-making
• Experience leading cross-functional transformation initiatives involving business, operations, technology, and change management stakeholders, including AI enablement, automation, process improvement, and adoption activities.
• Demonstrated leadership, communication, facilitation, and influencing skills, with the ability to build partnerships, gain credibility, and effectively communicate complex concepts across all levels of the organization.
• Strong business acumen with exceptional analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Post-secondary education in business, insurance, technology, process improvement, or a related discipline.
• Professional designation, certification, or experience in areas such as CIP, Lean, Change Management, Project Management, portfolio governance, business-case development, outcome measurement, or benefits realization is considered an asset.

Diversity Equity, Inclusion& Belonging

At Wawanesa, we are committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) and believe that our strength lies in the diversity of our people – this is supported by having a representative workforce.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, including racialized persons, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, gender-diverse and neurodiverse individuals, and anyone who can contribute to the further diversification of thought and ideas.

We aim to ensure our recruitment process is accessible to all candidates. If you require accommodations during any stage of the recruitment process, please reach out in confidence to [e-mail].

All Wawanesa job applicants are subject to Wawanesa's Privacy Policy.

Please note that the recruitment process for this position may involve the use of AI tools to screen, assess, or select applicants. All final decisions are taken or reviewed by human recruiters and human hiring leaders in compliance with all applicable legislation.