Head of Retention & Customer Growth

Partners Life; Auckland; On-site; NZD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Partners Life is seeking a Head of Retention to lead retention activity across the customer lifecycle and strengthen long-term customer value. You will translate strategy into practical plans, manage frontline capability and deliver sustainable improvements for customers and advisers.

Reporting to the COO, you will drive engagement, persistency and commercial outcomes across Operations, Customer Solutions, Distribution, Risk and Finance.

Qualifications

• Significant senior leadership experience in strategy, customer retention and lifecycle functions.
• Proven track record leading complex, regulated environments with customer focus.
• Ability to translate strategy into practical operational plans and measures.
• Strong commercial judgement using data, insights and feedback to guide priorities.
• Experience collaborating across functions to align retention outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of retention strategy and operational delivery across the customer lifecycle.
• Translate strategy into practical operational plans, rhythms and interventions.
• Direct specialist retention teams to strengthen engagement and persistency.
• Identify initiatives reducing lapses and increasing long‑term customer value.
• Leverage customer insight and lapse trends to drive continuous improvements.
• Partner with Operations, Distribution, Risk, Finance and Analytics to align priorities.
• Provide leadership to support strategic change and effective controls.
• Develop a high‑performing, customer‑focused retention function.

Skills

Senior leadership

Strategy development

Customer retention

Contact centre

Data-driven decision making

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder influence

Inclusive leadership

Tools

CRM systems

Data analytics tools

Job description

Partners Life is seeking a Head of Retention to lead retention activity across the customer lifecycle and strengthen long-term customer value. You will translate strategy into practical plans, manage frontline capability and deliver sustainable improvements for customers and advisers.

Reporting to the COO, you will drive engagement, persistency and commercial outcomes across Operations, Customer Solutions, Distribution, Risk and Finance.