Claims Team Leader

Southern Cross Travel Insurance; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellbeing benefits

Travel and pet perks

Family-friendly benefits

Life and terminal illness insurance

Wellbeing leave

Hybrid/flexible work options

Job summary

Southern Cross Travel Insurance is seeking a hands-on Claims Leader to steer a busy claims team, delivering timely, accurate and fair outcomes. You’ll coach, develop talent, lift performance and enhance quality and compliance while shaping a customer‑centred culture.

Based in Auckland with hybrid work options, you’ll partner across Risk, Compliance, and Operations to drive sustainable improvements and excellent customer outcomes, supported by sound decision-making and a focus on coaching for

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading an operational or customer-focused team and coaching for performance.
• Experience setting clear expectations and boosting team engagement and performance.
• Ability to make decisions, resolve escalations and stay constructive under pressure.
• Customer-first mindset with good judgement and ability to turn insights into action.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the Claims team through regular feedback, mentoring and clear performance expectations.
• Prioritise and allocate work so service, productivity, quality and customer experience expectations are consistently met.
• Support sound, timely decisions on complex claims, assessor queries, escalations and payments within delegated authority.
• Champion fair, clear and consistent customer outcomes, including the effective resolution of escalated complaints.
• Maintain strong quality, risk and compliance practices, and ensure changes to requirements are embedded in team ways of working.
• Use reporting and analysis to understand performance, identify opportunities and drive practical continuous improvement.
• Partner across Claims, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Disputes, Learning and Development, and other teams to deliver sustainable outcomes.

Skills

People leadership

Coaching

Decision making

Customer focus

Communication

Analytical thinking

Change management

Education

Tertiary qualification or equivalent

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 16th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

Southern Cross Travel Insurance – Auckland, North Island

At Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI), we’ve got your back in the moments that matter. We are part of the Southern Cross group of brands which all focus on wellbeing. This means we support our people to do and be their best every day.

SCTI is proud to be the market leader in New Zealand and growing in Australia, and we’re just getting started. Travel is changing, and so are our customers’ needs. That’s why we’re here with real care, reassurance, and smart solutions to keep people moving confidently. We’re travellers at heart, and we bring that spirit into everything we do - innovating, improving, and going further together.

Our culture is inclusive and values driven. We empower our people to make decisions, share ideas, and succeed. When you join SCTI, you’re joining a team that’s passionate about creating extraordinary outcomes for our customers and for each other.

About the role:

This is a hands‑on leadership opportunity for someone who gets energy from helping people do their best work. You’ll lead a Claims team to deliver timely, accurate and fair outcomes, while building capability, lifting performance and creating a consistently strong customer experience.

You’ll set clear expectations, coach the behaviours that matter and bring people with you through change. Alongside the day‑to‑day rhythm of claims operations, you’ll have the opportunity to improve how the team works, strengthen quality and compliance, and turn performance insights into practical action.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead, coach and develop the Claims team through regular feedback, mentoring and clear performance expectations.
• Prioritise and allocate work so service, productivity, quality and customer experience expectations are consistently met.
• Support sound, timely decisions on complex claims, assessor queries, escalations and payments within delegated authority.
• Champion fair, clear and consistent customer outcomes, including the effective resolution of escalated complaints.
• Maintain strong quality, risk and compliance practices, and ensure changes to requirements are embedded in team ways of working.
• Use reporting and analysis to understand performance, identify opportunities and drive practical continuous improvement.
• Partner across Claims, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Disputes, Learning and Development, and other teams to deliver sustainable outcomes.

About you:

You’ll be a visible, high‑energy people leader who creates trust, brings clarity and knows how to coach for both performance and growth. You care about doing the right thing for customers and can balance empathy, quality and commercial judgement.

• Proven experience leading an operational or customer‑focused team and building capability through practical coaching.
• A track record of setting expectations, reinforcing the right behaviours and lifting team engagement and performance.
• Confidence making decisions, resolving escalations and staying constructive when the pressure is on.
• A customer‑first mindset, with sound judgement and a commitment to fair, consistent outcomes.
• Strong organisation, analytical thinking and attention to detail, with the ability to turn insights into action.
• Clear, inclusive communication and the ability to collaborate across teams and bring people through change.
• Claims or insurance experience would be ideal, particularly travel insurance, but we are open to an outstanding operational leader who can quickly build technical knowledge.
• A relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent practical experience.

If you can see yourself making a real difference in this role but do not meet every requirement, we encourage you to apply.

Why you’ll love working with us

We believe work should fit around life, not the other way around. When you join SCTi, you’ll enjoy perks that make a real difference for you and your whānau:

• Health and wellbeing first - fully subsidised medical insurance for you and your immediate family
• Travel and pet perks - discounted travel and pet insurance, plus special deals for your whānau
• Family‑friendly benefits - extra parental leave benefits when it matters most
• Peace of mind - life and terminal illness insurance
• Time for you - five days of wellbeing leave every year, plus the option to buy extra flexi‑leave
• Flexibility that works - hybrid working options so you can work from home part of the week

Because when we say we’ve got your back, we mean it - at work and in life.

Our commitment to diversity

Just like the places our customers travel to, our people are wonderfully diverse. We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where every voice is heard and every perspective is valued. Applications are welcome from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and walks of life.

Applicants for this position must meet legal requirements to work in New Zealand.