International Travel & Relocation at Career Break (2025-08 – Present)
Undertaking a planned career break involving extended travel across North America ahead of relocation to Manchester, England. During this period, reassessing long-term career direction and preparing to transition into roles aligned with people and business operations.
Team Lead, Property Claims Operations at Insurance Australia Group (IAG) (March 2022 - August 2025)
Led a team of 16 employees — including 2 technical specialists and 14 consultants — in a high-volume regulated environment overseeing 1,400 claims valued at over $1 billion. Demonstrated a unique combination of analytical thinking, stakeholder engagement, and people leadership within a complex, customer-centric, and compliance-driven environment.
- Partnered with HR, Operations, Risk & Compliance, and Executive stakeholders on employee matters, escalations, regulatory obligations, and process alignment.
- Achieved 99%+ employee satisfaction across consecutive quarterly surveys in FY21-22 and FY22-23, placing in the top 1% of leaders across IAG Australia and New Zealand divisions.
- Improved compliance audit outcomes from 67% to 88% in FY22-23 and from 88% to 91% in FY23-24 through targeted coaching, process clarification, quality oversight, and close monitoring of team performance.
- Maintained average team productivity of 92% across each financial year by driving performance transparency, clear expectations, and supportive accountability.
- Reduced customer complaint escalation by 55% from first-to-second-line management and by 24% from second-to-third-line management through stronger frontline resolution capability and more effective stakeholder communication.
- Reduced claim lifecycle times by approximately 180 days by strengthening decision-making discipline, process clarity, and commercially sound claims handling.
- Exercised delegated financial authority of up to $10,000, making fair, commercially sound, policy-compliant decisions aligned with customer outcomes and business objectives.
- Conducted quantitative and qualitative data analysis on claim performance, call metrics, and operational trends to uncover improvement opportunities and deliver evidence-based recommendations.
- Completed monthly coaching audits on claims and complaint call quality, providing detailed performance feedback and development pathways aligned with KPIs and service standards.
- Supported a structured 3-month onboarding programme for 15–30 consultants, delivering training and post-training monitoring in live environments to strengthen capability, compliance, and performance.
- Managed workforce planning activities including leave approvals, staffing allocation, call-centre queue coverage, and workload balancing to maintain service continuity and SLA performance.
- Managed real-time call volumes and inbound queues, adapting workforce allocation in response to service demands while maintaining service-level agreements.
- Led recruitment, onboarding, separation, and termination processes, ensuring procedural compliance and a positive employee experience across the lifecycle.
- Acted as a key liaison with HR in employee relations matters, managing performance interventions, formal case reviews, and end-to-end resolution strategies.
- Mediated internal conflict resolution by facilitating discussions and addressing underlying causes, contributing to team cohesion and psychological wellbeing.
- Proactively embedded a culture of risk awareness, regularly discussing emerging trends, reinforcing decision-making frameworks, and ensuring transparent reporting across the team.
- Fostered a high-performing and transparent team culture, promoting openness, healthy competition, and psychological safety through coaching, feedback, and team recognition.
- Maintained strong cross-functional relationships with Operations, Assessing, Risk & Compliance, HR, and Senior Management, effectively escalating concerns and aligning on process improvements.
- Handled sensitive employee and operational information with discretion and sound judgement.
- Implemented internal communication framework to enhance stakeholder collaboration and senior management updates regarding contentious, vulnerable, or sensitive customer claims.
- Conducted policy reviews to mitigate gaps in policy wordings, saving the organisation significant financial losses in unnecessary claim costs.
- Streamlined task and time management practices, improving operational efficiency across claims and specialist teams through creation of an automated key performance tracker, allowing greater visibility of capability improvement.
Customer Relations Specialist (Customer Experience) at Insurance Australia Group (IAG) (February 2019 - March 2022)
Managed end-to-end resolution of complex customer disputes across IAG brands in line with AFCA rules, RG165/RG271 (Corporations Act CTH 1988), the General Insurance Code of Practice, and internal compliance requirements. Operated as an individual contributor, engaging with external regulators and internal stakeholders to resolve escalated complaints and identify systemic improvement opportunities.
- Worked closely with Claims, Customer Experience, Operational Risk & Compliance, Group Legal, Fraud & Investigations, and external bodies including AFCA.
- Analysed policy, claims, complaint, and precedent information to support fair, evidence-based, and commercially balanced decisions.
- Prepared AFCA submissions and regulatory-compliant responses using evidence analysis, policy interpretation, and strong written communication.
- Delivered high-quality written reports and AFCA legal argumentation requiring accuracy, consistency, and careful review of detailed information.
- Identified systemic risks, complaint trends, and process deficiencies through case analysis and stakeholder feedback, supporting continuous improvement activity.
- Delivered an empathetic and trauma-informed customer experience, identifying vulnerable customers and managing high-conflict interactions with care and professionalism.
- Demonstrated exceptional written and verbal communication, drafting precise, persuasive, and regulatory-compliant responses that de-escalated complaints and maintained IAG's brand integrity.
- Partnered with Operational Risk teams to ensure that root causes of disputes were addressed through upstream solutions, not just case-by-case fixes.
- Engaged in continuous improvement by recording irritants, proposing policy amendments, and advocating for process re-engineering where customer experience or efficiency was impacted.
- Built strong working relationships across Short Tail Claims, Long Tail Claims, Customer Delivery, Operational Risk, Group Legal, Compliance, and external bodies such as AFCA.
- Acted as subject matter expert (SME) for front-line and internal teams, providing insights on emerging complaint trends, customer needs, and regulatory interpretations.
- Supported reputation risk management by resolving disputes pre-emptively and mitigating external escalation through proactive and fair engagement.
- Managed sensitive and confidential customer information with discretion, professionalism, and care.
Consultant, Property Claims at Insurance Australia Group (IAG) (January 2018 - January 2019)
First point of contact for customers navigating significant life events and property damage. Managed a portfolio of property insurance claims in a high-volume, regulated environment, supporting customers through complex and often distressing circumstances.
- Managed a wide portfolio of property-related insurance claims, guiding customers through the claims process with care, urgency, and accuracy.
- Assessed policy coverage and claim eligibility, maintaining accurate documentation and system records, and coordinating with internal teams and external providers to progress repairs and resolve delays.
- Communicated effectively and compassionately with customers experiencing distressing events, using conflict management techniques to de-escalate sensitive or emotionally charged situations.
- Exercised sound decision-making in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment by interpreting policy wording and applying claim eligibility criteria to achieve fair and efficient outcomes.
