Short Term Disability Unit Leader

Location: Virtual but must be commutable to Aurora, Bloomfield, Cary, Omaha, Oriskany, San Juan, Tampa, or Warwick

At MetLife, we seek to make a meaningful impact in the lives of our customers and our communities. The STD Unit Leader is responsible for the overall management of a team of STD claims professionals including all activities and outcomes. In this role, the STD Unit Leader will manage risk and performance of the assigned team and ensure the team is meeting all defined performance indicators. The STD Unit Leader is responsible for ensuring decisional accuracy and timeliness of all claim determinations, development of the team, customer implementations, and other related duties.

• Effectively manage a team of STD Claim Specialists in a fast-paced environment to ensure individual and team performance are meeting all key performance indicators and delivering on customer commitments through quality and timely claim determinations including compliance with ERISA and other state and regulatory requirements, accurate application of STD contract provisions and customer variances
• Effectively anticipate, resolve and respond to any claim or productivity issues
• Responsible for the development of all team members including providing timely, detailed feedback on performance, coaching to address areas of opportunity and performance management as needed
• Conducts EA, quality and other block reviews of the team inventory to ensure financial and decisional accuracy, identify training opportunities and provide timely, appropriate feedback to team members to drive continuous improvement
• Participate in customer presentations, new account implementations and special related projects to ensure all service and process expectations are outlined and adhered to in order to meet customer needs and to drive persistency
• Effectively manage customer accounts by responding to inquiries, negotiate, arbitrate and resolve issues and ensure the team is meeting all performance guarantees
• Develop effective partnerships with peers, account team partners and other internal and external resources
• Responsible for all aspects of people management including interviewing/hiring, promotions, performance and compensation management, training and development
• Responsible for working effectively with Unit Leader peers and leadership to ensure that the team and the site meet performance goals related to claim management, customer service, staff development and any other business critical goals. To quickly identify and solution for team, customer or site performance opportunities
• Promptly addresses and resolves escalated customer complaints in a timely and thorough manner and provides coaching as needed to individual team members
• Responsible for consistent, detailed analysis of data and reporting to monitor team metrics and to quickly identify areas of opportunity and solutions
• Effectively monitor and manage individual unit operating costs (i.e. requests for medical records, use of supplies, referrals to resources, etc.)
• Act as project lead and/or participates in project assignments as required to address any business needs, drive improvement or increase productivity
• Effectively work with cross-functional claims management teams in the planning, enhancement, and implementation of workflow processes and claim administration, collaborates well with organizational partners to ensure optimal delivery of services to internal and external customers.

• 2+ years of supervisory experience demonstrating strong leadership and coaching skills. Extensive knowledge of STD, group disability, Workers Compensation, ERISA, Social Security and state laws
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills with a focus on producing results. Creative problem-solving abilities and the ability to think outside the box
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in both verbal and written form. Excellent customer service skills proven through internal and external customer interactions
• Demonstrated conceptual thinking, risk management, ability to handle complex situations effectively
• Organizational and time management skills, ability to effectively manage multiple systems and technology resources

• Bachelor’s degree

• 7+ years of STD Insurance Claims experience