Customer Operations Associate

Role Overview

This is a frontline, customer-facing role that owns what Turaco's Tanzanian customers actually experience — from the first question about a product through to a closed claim. The Associate reports to the Customer Operations Lead and works out of the Kenya office as a deliberate operational hub while serving the Tanzania market exclusively, splitting time between phone, WhatsApp and other approved digital channels, and planned, in-person visits to partner branches and customer communities. The role matters because insurance is judged at the moments customers ask for help or file a claim, and someone has to be answerable for how those moments go.

Key Responsibilities

• Handle customer contact across every approved channel. Answer calls, WhatsApp messages, digital inquiries and in-person questions, explaining product features, benefits, eligibility, claims requirements and payment options in language customers genuinely understand, and logging every interaction accurately in TACO and related systems.
• Resolve issues and escalate what you cannot close. Provide clear answers within agreed timeframes, follow up on open cases rather than letting them stall, and hand off anything beyond first-contact resolution to the right person with enough context to act.
• Run outbound and campaign activity. Contact customers for onboarding, product education, awareness, claims follow-up and feedback gathering, working from approved scripts while adapting the conversation to the person in front of you, and hitting agreed activity and completion targets for each assigned campaign.
• Administer claims end to end. Initiate, investigate and process claims reports; chase missing documentation; liaise with customers, next of kin, medical providers, partners and colleagues to gather what is needed; review information against policy terms and approved processes; and keep claim records, notes and statuses current — including aged, pending and stuck claims.
• Support claims assessment and verification. Contribute to settlement decisions within your approved authority level, carry out customer, provider and document verification where required, and flag suspected fraud or unusual patterns promptly and discreetly, without compromising the customer's dignity.
• Be present in the field. Spend regular, scheduled time at partner branches and in the communities customers come from — training and coaching partner staff on products, customer handling and claims documentation, and observing first-hand where claims get stuck or customers get confused so those insights can be fed back and fixed.
• Use AI tools properly. Where approved AI tools support customer or claims work, use them as intended, review and verify their output before anything reaches a customer, and report recurring errors so the tools improve over time.
• Move to where the work is. Cover backlog clearance, product launches, onboarding drives, surveys, IVR campaigns and operational projects as priorities shift, and step in to support other Turaco markets or teams when capacity is needed and the relevant training has been given.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Must be a Tanzanian national. Candidates may be based in Kenya or Tanzania; those based in Tanzania must be willing to relocate to Kenya for this role, since the Kenya office serves as the operational hub for the Tanzania launch.
• Roughly one to three years in a customer-facing role — contact centre, customer support, insurance, microinsurance, financial services or a comparable service environment. Demonstrated ability beats a specific job title.
• Strong spoken and written Swahili and English, with the ability to explain policy, eligibility and claims concepts to customers who may not be familiar with insurance terminology.
• Comfort working across multiple channels at once — voice, WhatsApp, digital platforms and face-to-face — and adjusting tone and approach to each.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly to partner branches and community locations, and to spend structured time on the road rather than only at a desk.
• High accuracy in record-keeping and system data entry, with the discipline to keep customer, claims and operational records clean and audit-ready.
• Working knowledge of claims processes — documentation requirements, verification steps, turnaround expectations — or a demonstrated ability to learn them quickly.
• Comfort with performance measurement: service levels, turnaround times, QA scores and campaign targets, plus a willingness to act on coaching and refresher training.
• Practical judgement when using AI-assisted tools — able to spot a wrong output and stop it before it reaches a customer.
• A diploma or bachelor's degree is an advantage; relevant hands-on experience and the right aptitude are equally considered.

What We Offer / Why Join

• Real breadth, deliberately. This is not a single-track support job — you rotate across contact centre work, claims administration, outbound campaigns, Voice of Customer activity, backlog clearance and partner engagement, building experience that is hard to get in one narrow role.
• Support to do it well. Training, tools and ongoing support are provided for each area you take on, along with QA reviews, coaching sessions and product knowledge assessments to keep your performance sharp.
• Field exposure with logistics covered. For assigned field activities, the approvals, logistics and reasonable resources you need are provided, so scheduled branch and community visits are genuinely part of the job rather than an afterthought.
• Cross-market opportunity. Where capacity is needed and training permits, you can support other Turaco markets and teams, widening your exposure beyond a single country operation.
• A voice in fixing the process. Insights you bring back from branches and communities go to the Customer Operations Lead directly, and recurring customer, claims or process problems are expected to be raised and acted on.