Life Waiver of Premium Claims Manager

At Guardian, we live our Purpose every day! As champions of wellbeing for ourselves, our communities, and consumers, we focus as a team to turn what's possible into a reality. We build experiences for you to grow and enrich your career and future as a Life Waiver of Premium Claims Manager. We believe in your aspirations for purpose, leadership, and achievement in your professional and personal lives.

In the role of Life Waiver of Premium Claims Manager, you will lead a team of Life Waiver of Premium Claims Specialists who perform disability analysis on Individual Life products. The team adjudicates claims under Life waiver of premium riders, as well as accelerated benefit rider (ABR and EABR) claims. This work calls for the same skill set as Individual Disability claims, including medical, vocational, financial, and investigative analysis, applied to Life policy and rider provisions. You will build the team's disability claims expertise, with a focus on clear written decision rationale and ownership of each claim from the initial decision through ongoing eligibility. If you are ready to bring your claims leadership experience, business acumen and innovative thinking, and represent Guardian with outstanding customer service, we will bring the support and resources to take your career to the next level. This is an opportunity to make an impact on the lives of our clients when they need it most, we are their Guardian!

You are

Manager of a team of Life Waiver of Premium Claims Specialists. You will develop their claims handling capabilities by strengthening the critical thinking skills needed to apply disability claim practices to Life policy and rider provisions, assess medical, vocational, and functional evidence, and work through nuanced fact patterns. You are skilled at ensuring timely, accurate, and well-documented decisions and a best-in-class customer experience. You are passionate about growing your career and confident sharing ideas to continually improve both yourself and move the organization into the future.

You will

Be a leader

• Lead by example.
• Hire, train, coach, and develop Claims Specialists, including new and early career team members, through structured onboarding and disability claims training.
• Provide actionable feedback, quality reviews, and performance management that promote future learning and success.
• Establish clear ownership of the waiver and accelerated benefit claim inventory and manage caseloads, workflow, and productivity to meet service, quality, and timeliness standards.
• Work across business lines including both internal and external stakeholders, such as Claims, medical and vocational resources, Underwriting, Legal, Compliance, offshore partners, and reinsurers.
• Continuously focus on self-development and embrace feedback and change.
• Innovate and collaborate, challenging the status quo to improve processes, tools, and the customer experience.

Be a decision maker

• Solve complex problems, while making timely, thoughtful decisions to resolve client issues.
• Serve as the escalation point and approval authority for complex, high-exposure, and adverse waiver of premium and accelerated benefit decisions, including approvals, continuations, suspensions, and terminations.
• Critical thinking skills are needed to analyze Life policy and rider provisions, definitions of disability, and accelerated benefit eligibility criteria, as well as medical, vocational, financial, functional, and other issues.
• Ensure claims receive appropriate ongoing review, including recertifications and changes in the definition of disability over the life of the claim.
• Ensure timely and accurate communications and decision rationale that represent Guardian’s values.
• Provide accurate claims decisions in a time sensitive and fast-paced environment, while adhering to regulatory guidelines, internal standards, and reinsurance requirements.
• Use inventory, quality, and audit results to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities, and report results to leadership.

You have

• 7+ years disability insurance claim handling experience (Individual Disability, Life Waiver of Premium, or accelerated benefit rider claims - preferred).
• Prior people leadership experience, or demonstrated experience mentoring and training claims professionals.
• A college or university degree, or high school diploma with strong disability claims management experience.
• Extensive working knowledge of disability coverages and definitions, including own occupation and any occupation, as well as advanced medical, occupational, financial, and investigative skills associated with the management of disability claims, and the ability to apply them to Life insurance products.
• Knowledge of Individual Life insurance policy and rider provisions, including waiver of premium and accelerated benefit riders, contestability, and reinsurance - a plus.
• Strong problem solving and decision-making skills including company representation in matters involving dispute.
• The ability to anticipate internal and/or external business challenges.
• Experience providing best in class customer service, both written and telephonic.
• Demonstrated experience prioritizing competing deadlines and managing a claim inventory.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Solid understanding of Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Location /Travel

This is a hybrid role. If you are within close proximity to one of our Guardian hubs—Bethlehem, PA; Pittsfield, MA; New York City; Stamford, CT; or Boston, MA—you will work in the office three days per week, with Bethlehem or Pittsfield strongly preferred.

Salary Range:

$74,750.00 - $122,795.00

The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals.  Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Inspire Well-Being

As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well-being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits. Benefits apply to full-time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.

Accommodations

Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [email protected]. Please note: this resource is for accommodation requests only. For all other inquires related to your application and careers at Guardian, refer to the Guardian Careers site.

Visa Sponsorship

Guardian Life is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment-based visas (e.g., such as an H-1B). In order to be a successful applicant, you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship/support now or at any time in the future.

Notice Regarding Guardian’s Use of Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

As part of Guardian’s job application process, Guardian may use artificial intelligence tools (“AI Tools") to automate the sorting and filtering of information provided by applicants as part of its preliminary screening. This preliminary screening may be used to help identify applicant materials and resumes relative to their indication that the applicant meets the requirements for the specific job for which they are applying, as specified in the listing posted on Guardian’s jobs website (Careers at Guardian at https://www.guardianlife.com/careers). At Guardian, we do not use AI Tools to substantially assist or replace human judgment or discretionary decision making in our hiring process. All hiring decisions will be made by Guardian colleagues.

Please be aware that if you apply for a specific position with Guardian, you will have the choice of opting out of Guardian’s use of AI Tools during the job application process. If you would like to request an alternative process that does not utilize AI Tools or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, within ten business days of your position application, you must email your request to [email protected], making sure to provide your name and job requisition identification number. Guardian will retain your applicant materials and resume and all information therefrom in accordance with Guardian’s document retention policy, a copy of which you may request via [email protected].

Additionally, at applicable times, Guardian will make public the most recent bias audit results for such AI tools, which may be found here. 

Current Guardian Colleagues: Please apply through the internal Jobs Hub in Workday.