Claims Manager

Role Overview

This position heads a combined claims operation covering both legal and non-legal matters, with direct responsibility for how claims are reserved, approved, settled, and reported. Day-to-day work involves leading claims teams, negotiating with external service providers, reviewing claims data for risk and fraud signals, and ensuring every settlement meets company standards and regulatory obligations. The role is central to protecting the insurer’s loss ratio, maintaining confidence with reinsurers and regulators, and delivering a fair, responsive experience for customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Set and enforce clear standards for claims reserving, approval, and settlement, ensuring all actions align with internal policies, standard operating procedures, and regulatory requirements.
• Control claims costs by preparing budgets, negotiating payables, and working closely with Finance and Actuarial teams to keep loss ratios within agreed limits.
• Produce accurate, timely claims reports for regulators and reinsurers, while maintaining complete claims registers and enforcing published turnaround times.
• Oversee the salvage process to ensure disposed assets are properly receipted and that cash-in-lieu settlements are reduced by directing customers toward approved panel garages.
• Lead legal claims management through out-of-court settlements, appeal tracking, and auctioneer fee approvals, while driving the legal team to achieve the annual recoveries target of Kshs 20 million and preventing claim lapses by filing near-expiry cases early.
• Manage service provider relationships end-to-end, including responding to queries within 48 hours, paying invoices according to SLAs and agreed AKI rates, and implementing escalation frameworks.
• Champion customer-focused claims handling by resolving emails, calls, and complaints quickly, fairly, and within agreed performance targets.
• Use claims data insights to improve fraud detection, strengthen governance, inform underwriting decisions, and support cross-department collaboration on customer experience and operational efficiency.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in insurance, business administration, law, finance, or a related business discipline from a recognised university.
• Diploma in ACII or AIIK, or an equivalent professional insurance qualification.
• Diploma in Legal Studies from the Kenya School of Law (KSL).
• At least nine years of relevant experience, including five or more years in a senior claims management role.