Head of Auto Physical Damage

At United Auto Insurance Company Head of Auto Physical Damage is a senior Claims Operations leader responsible for the strategic direction, operational performance, financial results, technical quality, and continued development of the company’s Auto Physical Damage organization.

We're looking for a Head of Auto Physical Damage to set the direction for that work and take it to the next level.

You’ll lead our full APD organization, including field, desk, virtual, dispatch, repair network, and external appraisal operations. You’ll own its operational, financial, and quality results. You’ll also modernize how we work, bringing analytics, automation, AI, virtual inspection, and modern estimating technology into an operation that is ready for it. Above all, you’ll build a transparent, performance-driven culture where leaders know what's expected, decisions are grounded in data, and results are measured and owned.

This role is for a leader who spots problems early, owns the fix, brings in the right partners, and tells senior leadership the straight story on performance, risks, and recommendations.

Remote candidates in the Southeast preferred. Travel required based on business needs.

• Lead managers, supervisors, appraisers, dispatch, and external appraisal resources, setting clear expectations and holding leaders accountable for operational, financial, quality, customer, and employee results.
• Recruit, coach, and retain strong talent, build a sustainable leadership pipeline, and partner with Learning & Development to grow technical and leadership skills.
• Assess staffing, structure, workload, and resource allocation to improve capacity and efficiency.

• Own the APD performance framework, balancing quality, productivity, cycle time, estimate accuracy, severity, expense, and customer experience.
• Remove bottlenecks, rework, and delays, and build scalable processes that work consistently across field, desk, virtual, and external resources.
• Keep the operation ready for volume swings, geographic expansion, and catastrophe events.

• Own appraisal expense, repair severity, supplements, and vendor costs, with a sharp focus on cost drivers such as labor rates, parts, repair-versus-replace, and repair cycle time.
• Reduce leakage and unnecessary expense while keeping estimates accurate, outcomes fair, and handling compliant.
• Compare the cost effectiveness of staff, independent, and virtual appraisal, and support budgeting, forecasting, and resource planning.

• Define standards for estimating accuracy, repair methodology, supplements, parts selection, and file quality.
• Build a structured QA and audit program and lead regular estimating calibration across internal teams and external partners.
• Serve as the expert on complex damage assessments, disputed estimates, and high-exposure appraisals, and partner closely with Total Loss and SIU.

• Oversee independent appraisers, repair facilities, DRP partners, and estimating providers.
• Build vendor scorecards, optimize the network for performance, coverage, and cost, and manage underperformance through structured corrective action.
• Negotiate pricing, service levels, and operating requirements with business partners.

• Set meaningful KPIs and turn analytics into concrete operating plans.
• Apply automation, AI, virtual appraisal, and estimating technology to improve speed, accuracy, capacity, and cost.
• Partner with Technology and Claims leadership to improve Guidewire Claim Center, estimating platforms, reporting, and workflows, and build ROI-based business cases for new tools and…