Director, Service Operations

Independence Pet Group•Chicago, IL

8d•$152,503 - $190,630•Hybrid

About The Position

Independence Pet Holdings (IPH) is a corporate holding company established in 2021 that manages a diverse portfolio of pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, and lost recovery services across North America. IPG, a subsidiary of IPH, is a leading pet insurance and services organization in North America, supporting over 1,000,000 pets with insurance and well-being solutions. IPG is seeking a Director of Service Operations – Contact Center to lead and scale insurance contact center operations. This role is responsible for delivering exceptional policyholder experiences, operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and strong team performance. The Director will provide strategic direction, coaching, and accountability to managers overseeing frontline teams across various service channels (phone, chat, email, messaging, digital support). Insurance experience, including a strong understanding of regulated service environments, policyholder support, claims or benefits servicing, and compliance-driven operations, is required.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in contact center, customer service, service operations, or related operational leadership roles, with experience in the insurance industry highly preferred.
Direct experience leading service operations that support insurance customers, policyholders, members, agents, brokers, claims, billing, benefits, or policy administration.
Strong working knowledge of how to lead in highly regulated industries, including compliance requirements, service standards, documentation expectations, escalation protocols, and risk controls.
5+ years of people leadership experience, including experience leading managers, supervisors, or other people leaders.
Must have and maintain Property & Casualty License or must obtain within 45 days of hire
Proven experience managing large, complex service teams in a high-volume, metrics-driven environment.
Strong understanding of contact center performance metrics, workforce planning, quality programs, coaching models, and operational governance.
Demonstrated ability to translate business strategy into clear operating plans and measurable outcomes.
Experience leading change, improving processes, and implementing scalable operating practices.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret performance data, identify trends, and make sound business recommendations.
Excellent communication, executive presence, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in business, operations, management, communications, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
Insurance licenses, insurance operations certifications, claims certifications, or experience in property and casualty, health, life, benefits, or specialty insurance operations.
Experience with omnichannel contact center platforms, CRM systems, workforce management tools, quality monitoring tools, and reporting dashboards.
Experience leading remote, hybrid, multi-site, or distributed service teams.
Experience with automation, self-service, AI-enabled service tools, or digital transformation initiatives.
Experience managing budgets, vendor partnerships, or outsourced service operations.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop a team of senior managers, managers, and supervisors responsible for day-to-day contact center performance.
Set the operational vision, priorities, and performance expectations for service delivery across all assigned teams and channels.
Own key contact center outcomes, including service levels, customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, cost efficiency, employee engagement, attrition, and schedule adherence.
Build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, inclusion, and customer-first decision-making.
Partner with workforce management, quality assurance, training, technology, analytics, and business leaders to ensure staffing, processes, tools, and performance routines support business goals.
Use data, root cause analysis, and customer feedback to identify performance gaps, reduce repeat contacts, improve first-contact resolution, and enhance the customer journey.
Establish and improve operating rhythms, including business reviews, performance scorecards, coaching routines, escalation management, and action planning.
Lead operational change initiatives, including new process rollouts, technology adoption, automation opportunities, and service model improvements.
Foster innovation and creative solutioning by challenging existing processes, identifying new approaches, and encouraging teams to test and scale improvements that enhance customer, employee, and business outcomes.
Manage budgets, capacity plans, vendor relationships, and resource allocation to balance customer experience, employee experience, and financial performance.
Ensure compliance with company policies, regulatory requirements, risk controls, and service standards.
Ensure service operations comply with applicable insurance regulations, licensing expectations, privacy requirements, audit standards, and internal controls.
Partner with claims, underwriting, product, compliance, legal, and technology teams to resolve policyholder issues, improve service processes, and reduce operational risk.
Serve as an escalation point for complex operational issues, customer-impacting events, and cross-functional barriers.
Develop leadership bench strength by identifying talent, creating succession plans, and building leader competencies across the management team.