Primary Casualty Claims Manager

This is your opportunity to join AXIS Capital – a trusted global provider of specialty lines insurance and reinsurance.  We stand apart for our outstanding client service, intelligent risk taking and superior risk adjusted returns for our shareholders. We also proudly maintain an entrepreneurial, disciplined and ethical corporate culture.  As a member of AXIS, you join a team that is among the best in the industry. At AXIS, we believe that we are only as strong as our people. We strive to create an inclusive and welcoming culture where employees of all backgrounds and from all walks of life feel comfortable and empowered to be themselves. This means that we bring our whole selves to work.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic, including age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any basis prohibited by the laws that govern its operations. About the Team AXIS is seeking a Primary Casualty Claims Manager to join the North America Claims team. The role leads a team responsible for primary casualty claims and supports disciplined, consistent claim outcomes across a complex portfolio. The manager will combine people leadership, technical claim oversight, portfolio management, and strong partnership with underwriting, actuarial, legal, finance, brokers, insureds, reinsurers, auditors, and external service providers. How Does This Role Contribute to Our Collective Success? The Primary Casualty Claims Manager is accountable for the quality, timeliness, and effectiveness of claim handling within the assigned portfolio. The role establishes clear strategy on complex and high-exposure matters, promotes reserve adequacy and expense discipline, strengthens litigation and vendor management, develops claims talent, and provides meaningful portfolio insight to business partners and senior leadership. What Will You Do in This Role? People Leadership and Team Management Lead, coach, and develop a team of claims professionals, setting clear objectives and reinforcing accountability for quality, timeliness, customer service, and professional judgment. Allocate claims based on complexity, exposure, jurisdiction, workload, and handler capability; monitor inventory, capacity, aging, and productivity. Provide regular feedback, technical guidance, development plans, and career coaching; support succession planning and retention of strong talent. Participate in recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and training claims professionals and temporary or outsourced resources. Promote an inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing environment aligned with AXIS values. Technical Claim Oversight Oversee the investigation, analysis, evaluation, reserving, negotiation, and resolution of primary casualty claims within applicable authority and claims handling standards. Review coverage, liability, causation, damages, venue, defense strategy, settlement posture, and litigation risk on complex, severe, disputed, or high-exposure matters. Provide strategic direction and approval on claim plans, reserves, payments, settlements, counsel assignments, experts, mediations, and trial strategy within delegated authority. Ensure reserves and sensitivities are timely, well supported, and responsive to material developments; escalate matters in accordance with authority and large-loss reporting requirements. Maintain clear, contemporaneous, and audit-ready claim documentation, including the rationale for key decisions, changes in exposure, and resolution strategy. Identify matters requiring escalation or collaboration with Specialty Complex Claims, Legal, Compliance, or other subject matter experts. Litigation, Counsel, and Vendor Management Formulate litigation and resolution strategies and direct defense counsel, coverage counsel, experts, investigators, and other service providers. Monitor litigation milestones, trial dates, legal budgets, billing, staffing, and outcomes; challenge inefficiency and require specific plans to advance matters toward resolution. Partner with Litigation Management and Vendor Management to manage legal spend, support panel governance, review provider performance, and improve value and service quality. Participate in mediations, settlement conferences, trials, stewardship meetings, and claim reviews as appropriate. Portfolio, Governance, and Operational Excellence Monitor portfolio performance through claims data, dashboards, key performance indicators, reserve movements, closing ratios, cycle times, aged inventory, legal spend, and other relevant measures. Identify emerging liability, coverage, severity, jurisdictional, and litigation trends with individual-claim or portfolio impact; recommend responsive strategies and handling guidance. Lead or participate in management reviews, audits, peer reviews, large-loss reporting, governance forums, and remediation initiatives. Ensure compliance with claims handling guidelines, licensing requirements, delegated authorities, internal controls, regulatory obligations, and applicable service standards. Drive process improvement, data quality, consistent work practices, and effective adoption of claims technology and management information. Maintain appropriate oversight of TPA or contractor-handled claims where assigned, including authority, service, strategy, reporting, and performance expectations. Business Partnership and Communication Build strong relationships with underwriting, actuarial, finance, legal, operations, brokers, insureds, reinsurers, auditors, and other internal and external partners. Provide underwriting with claim insight, policy and coverage feedback, loss trends, renewal support, risk assessments, and lessons learned from the portfolio. Communicate complex claim issues clearly and concisely to senior leaders and stakeholders,