Senior Manager, Customer Claims Handling

About the Role

The Manager, Customer Claims Handling leads the global or regional customer-claim management function and is accountable for a consistent, timely, and customer-focused claims process from initial receipt through formal closure. The role ensures every claim has a clearly assigned case owner, an appropriate severity classification, an agreed communication cadence, complete documentation, and coordinated input from Field Service Engineering, Site Quality, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, and other stakeholders. This role owns the claims-management process and the quality of customer-facing communication. It does not own technical root cause, corrective-action implementation, product disposition, design changes, manufacturing changes, or commercial settlement decisions. The position is based at our Utica, New York manufacturing and distribution site, supporting our rapidly growing Data Center Business Unit.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, develop, and resource the CCH team; establish workload priorities, coverage models, performance expectations, and succession plans.
• Define and maintain standard work for complaint intake, claim validation, severity classification, ownership assignment, response timing, escalation, documentation, 8D coordination, and customer closure.
• Review high-risk, high-value, safety-related, repeat, executive-escalated, or strategically significant claims and ensure the response plan is proportionate to risk.
• Ensure customers receive timely, accurate, audience-appropriate updates that clearly distinguish verified facts, working hypotheses, containment actions, and pending analysis.
• Ensure Site Quality owns internal containment, root cause, and corrective action; FSE owns field evidence; and Global Quality provides governance and systemic escalation.
• Review customer-facing 8D reports and other formal responses for completeness, consistency, clarity, evidence, and alignment before submission.
• Escalate missed commitments, inadequate containment, incomplete technical responses, recurring failures, potential systemic risk, and major customer dissatisfaction to the appropriate leaders.
• Maintain dashboards for claim acknowledgment, response timeliness, aging, overdue actions, closure cycle time, recurrence, and customer-response quality.
• Ensure accurate case records, consistent coding, traceable decisions, attachment control, and reliable data in the designated complaint-management system.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, operations, business, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Typically seven or more years of experience in customer quality, claims handling, manufacturing quality, technical service, operations, or a related industrial environment.
• Typically three or more years of people-leadership, team-leadership, or significant cross-functional program-leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex customer escalations and coordinating technical responses across multiple functions and sites.
• Experience working in a global, matrixed, and customer-facing organization is strongly preferred.

Skills

• Working knowledge of 8D, structured problem solving, CAPA, containment, root-cause methods, and corrective-action verification.
• Strong understanding of complaint-management workflows, quality records, escalation controls, and customer-specific response requirements.
• Ability to interpret technical findings and convert them into clear, accurate, and appropriately qualified customer communication.
• Proficiency with quality-management systems, complaint databases, ERP/CRM tools, reporting platforms, and standard office applications.
• Working knowledge of ISO 9001 and other applicable customer, industry, contractual, or regulatory quality requirements.

Benefits

• Promotion from within and support for learning with mentoring, training, and access to global opportunities.
• Flexibility, autonomy, and support to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
• Inclusive work environment where people of all backgrounds are respected and valued.
• Benefits including annual bonus, paid vacation, retirement plan, and personal insurance (varies by country and contract).

Pay

The targeted salary range for this position is $120,000 - $140,000 annually based on experience.