Head of Third Party Damage

Grade: 2

Reporting to: Head of Claims, ERS

Location: London

About us

IQUW is a speciality (re)insurer at Lloyd’s (Syndicate 1856) underwriting a diverse range of Property, Commercial and Speciality (re)insurance products from Cargo and Marine to Political Violence, Terror and War. We combine data, intelligent automation and human expertise to make smart decisions, fast. ERS is the UK's largest specialist motor insurer with an A+ rating. We recognise that for some, motor insurance is more than just a must-have; it's a way of taking care of what stands at the heart of their passion or livelihood. For those people, standard insurance isn't enough. That's why we work exclusively with motor insurance brokers to help get under the skin of the most difficult insurance risks, helping build products to meet their customer’s needs.

The role

The Head of Third Party Claims is responsible for leading, developing, and managing the end-to-end third-party claims journey. This includes strategic oversight of operational performance, technical excellence, and service delivery across all third-party claims functions, from Agriculture to Prestige vehicles.

Key responsibilities include:

• Ensuring fair customer outcomes and compliance with internal policies, legal standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Driving cost control throughout the claims lifecycle across all elements of Third Party claims spend.
• Identifying and developing commercial opportunities through market, legal, and technical insight.
• Owning and influencing key elements of the third-party claims supply chain costs.
• Driving claims digitalisation and automation initiatives.

This role sits within a market-leading central technical function focused on customer outcomes, indemnity control and case reserving adequacy. It requires the ability to develop and implement strategy based on detailed financial analysis, with a focus on performance improvement and proactive management of risks, threats, and opportunities related to claims leakage.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and deliver the strategic vision for third party motor claims to align with the overall claims strategy.
• Drive innovation using data analytics, technology and process optimisation.
• Oversee and support the effective management of complex and high value claims and processes with technical, regulatory or financial implications.
• Build influential relationships with external partners including repair networks, solicitors, the General Terms of Agreement (GTA) committee, Credit Hire Organisation’s (CHO’s) and third party insurers.
• Monitor management information, analyse and manage performance.
• Manage claims budgets, expense ratios and indemnity spend to ensure financial targets are met.
• Initiate indemnity control and operational effectiveness initiatives with sound business cases, tracking post implementation performance.
• Engage, lead and coach the third-party claims management team to achieve operational excellence and seek opportunity for continuous improvement.
• Ensure effective management of case reserving in accordance with the company’s published reserving policy.
• Collaborate with internal business partners to improve insight of performance using management information and identify and deploy remedial and opportunistic actions.
• Use analysis to draft reports, support the preparation of executive and board packs and provide insight to financial performance of the portfolio to Underwriting, Actuarial and Finance.
• Provide proactive diagnosis of trends and areas for improvement with a focus on clarity, accuracy and strategic relevance.
• Counter the impact of fraud on claims by developing and adopting appropriate strategies in conjunction with the Fraud Team.

Essential qualifications, skills, and experience

• Extensive experience in motor claims management, with a thorough understanding of claims processes and current market trends.
• Proven ability to deliver on key goals and drive measurable performance improvements within tight timeframes.
• In-depth technical expertise in motor liability, credit hire, personal injury, and relevant legal and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience of working with actuarial development triangles.
• Skilled in producing professional, well-structured, and accurate reports suitable for formal committee review, within set deadlines.
• Track record of delivering a strategic review of credit hire controls and initiatives to improve the customer experience and enhance controls on indemnity spend.

Desirable qualifications, skills, and experience

• Demonstrable experience in leading claims automation initiatives or driving digital transformation within a claims environment.

Desirable behavioural attributes

• High level of numeracy and analytical skills, with the ability to interpret data and identify underlying trends that support sound judgment within decision-making.
• Innovative approach to problem solving.
• Maintains a strategic perspective.
• Strong commercial awareness with a clear understanding of portfolio performance across both Claims and Underwriting functions.
• Flexible leadership style, with a passion for coaching and developing team members to support personal growth.
• Ability to build effective internal and external relationships.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement capabilities.
• Results-driven, with a focus on identifying opportunities for improvement and delivering enhanced outcomes.