Customer Escalations Lead

About the role

The Customer Escalations Lead is a player/coach role. The Lead carries a caseload of high-priority and  complex escalations, manages the Customer Escalations Advisors on the team, and owns how the  team works: its processes, tools, reporting and feedback to Claims. This is not a pure people management role. The Lead is a contributor on the team, with management experience, and  stays close to the work. 

The role is mid-level and highly visible. It suits someone with a claims adjusting background, similar to  our current Advisors, a background in project management, process improvement, and someone who  has already led or coached others and is ready to take on formal responsibility for a team. The Lead  works across various internal teams and helps shape the playbook for a highly-impactful customer facing team. 

What you'll do

Escalation Triage & Resolution 

• Carry a caseload of in-flight escalations raised by customers, Customer Success, or other internal  teams, acting as a service recovery advisor 
• Investigate escalations with Claims Adjusters and Claims leadership to assess severity, assign  ownership and make sure each issue is resolved 
• Serve as a direct point of contact for client stakeholders during escalations, setting expectations  and communicating status 
• Apply claims domain expertise and root cause analysis to find out whether an issue stemmed  from people, process, technology, or misaligned expectations 
• Provide regular updates to Account Managers and/or customers for customer-facing  communication
• Act as the first point of escalation for the Advisors, and take on the most sensitive or complex  issues when needed 

Team Leadership & Coaching 

• Manage and coach the Customer Escalations Advisors through regular one-on-ones, feedback,  goal setting, and development planning 
• Drive performance reviews and performance management, in partnership with the Global VP of  Customer Success 
• Assign escalations and balance workload across the team, including the Lead's own caseload • Set and reinforce a consistent standard for triage, client communication, documentation and  follow-through 
• Provide coverage when an Advisor is out, and contribute to hiring and onboarding as the team  grows 

Process Improvement & Prevention 

• Design and implement streamlined processes within the team and across teams, including  intake, triage, handoffs, and ownership of open issues 
• Lead the weekly escalation review to identify patterns, systemic issues and improvement  opportunities 
• Recommend and help implement changes to workflows and claims handling based on escalation  data 
• Create and maintain playbooks, escalation criteria, SOPs and internal documentation that  reduce future escalations 
• Document issue types, frequency, and resolution paths to support learning across the team 

Tools & Efficiency 

• Evaluate and implement tools that drive efficiency for the team, such as issue tracking,  dashboards, templates, and automation 
• Develop deep expertise on internal tools and drive adoption amongst key stakeholders • Keep escalation data complete and consistent so it can be used for reporting and analysis • Partner with internal teams to surface recurring system issues, misconfigurations, and  automation problems 

Reporting & Visibility

• Implement regular internal reporting on escalations 
• Support external reporting to clients in partnership with Account Managers • Report on escalation trends and metrics to Claims Leadership, Account Management, Executive  Leadership, and other internal stakeholders to give the organization clear visibility into issues  and potential solutions 
• Brief senior leadership on escalation drivers, trends and the status of fixes 

Feedback Cycle to Claims 

• Facilitate a regular feedback cycle to Claims based on escalation patterns
• Collaborate with Claims teams to improve workflows and claims handling hygiene, and to  surface coaching opportunities 
• Initiate and lead internal projects to drive solution options to execution 
• Track follow-through on the feedback shared, and confirm that changes reduce repeat  escalations 

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Build working relationships with Claims, Account Management, Claims Ops, Data, Product, and  other internal teams, as necessary 
• Operate within a line-of-business-aligned team structure and leverage domain knowledge on  the team to assess issue context quickly and suggest relevant resolution paths 

Success Metrics

• Time to Acknowledge and Time to Resolve escalations 
• Volume and frequency of escalations per account or adjuster team 
• Escalation reopen and repeat rate 
• Number of systemic issues identified and resolved 
• Satisfaction of internal stakeholders (Customer Success, Claims Ops, Product) • Internal and external reports delivered on schedule 
• Adoption of new processes and tools by the team 
• Feedback items shared with Claims, and the share of them resolved 
• Development progress and engagement of the Advisors 

Qualifications

• Have claims adjusting experience in Auto, Property, Liability LOBs, or a comparable escalations  background, similar to our current Advisors (5+ years is typical for the Advisor role) • Have some experience managing or leading others, such as a team lead, supervisor or formal  mentor role, and want to grow as a people leader 
• Have worked directly with clients and are comfortable managing difficult conversations with  client stakeholders 
• Are comfortable digging deep into customer escalations and can carry your own caseload while  leading a team 
• Have significant experience with root cause analysis, identifying issue patterns and developing  practical solutions that were put into practice 
• Have implemented process improvements or tools that made a team more efficient • Can build clear, regular reporting for internal teams and clients, and can brief senior leaders  concisely 
• Have strong verbal and written communication skills and a calm, methodical approach to  complex problems 
• Work well across Claims, Operations, Product and Customer teams 
• Are comfortable in a fast-growing startup environment where roles evolve and you help shape  the playbook

Benefits

• Generous health-insurance package with nationwide coverage, vision, & dental
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer matching
• Competitive PTO policy – we want our employees fresh, healthy, happy, and energized!
• Generous family leave policy after 8 months of continuous work
• Work from anywhere to facilitate your work life balance
• Apple laptop, large second monitor, and other quality-of-life equipment you may want. Technology is something that should make your life easier, not harder!

Why Join This Team 

The Customer Escalations Team is a high-impact team and key to enabling success for our customers  and carrier partners. The Lead has direct input into how the playbooks and operating motions are built  and works alongside Claims, Account Management, and other internal teams. This team helps protect  client relationships and improve how Reserv delivers claims service. The role is open to internal and  external candidates.

At Reserv, we value diversity in backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences and believe that diversity in viewpoints and critical thinking drives innovation, first-principles thinking, and success. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage those from all walks of life to apply. If you believe you are a good fit for this role, we would love to hear from you!