Director, Claims - Commercial Casualty (Agribusiness)

If you’re passionate about helping people protect what matters most to them at a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales, as well as innovating and simplifying processes and operations to provide the best customer value, then Nationwide’s Property and Casualty team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers and partners are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

Location: Des Moines, IA preferred; qualified remote candidates will be considered.

This is a senior leadership role within Nationwide’s Commercial Casualty Agribusiness team, responsible for leading leaders and shaping the future direction of the organization.

The ideal candidate brings a strong blend of innovation, data‑driven leadership, talent development, and cross‑functional partnership, supported by deep Commercial Casualty Claims experience and proven leadership capability. Agribusiness experience is plus.

Key Leadership Expectations

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Drives innovation in a high‑frequency, low‑severity environment; identifies opportunities for process improvement, automation, and simplification while maintaining operational stability.

• Data‑Driven Leadership: Leads by metrics, using data and analytics to inform decisions and measure performance; experienced with tools such as Tableau, Qlik, Power BI, or similar platforms to translate insights into action.

• Business Acumen: Demonstrates strong understanding of how operations impact financials, risk, and enterprise strategy; prioritizes work and resources based on business outcomes.

• Talent & Succession Development: Develops leaders and employees through coaching and learning opportunities; actively drives succession planning by identifying and preparing high‑potential talent while ensuring continuity and knowledge transfer.

• Cross‑Functional Partnership: Serves as a trusted partner across underwriting, risk management, actuarial, finance, and other key stakeholders; influences at peer and executive levels to align execution with strategic priorities.

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Job Description Summary

Do you have a strong desire to ensure resolution of insurance claims by leading teams that provide personal, effortless and reassuring experiences customers? Are you a skilled natural investigator, negotiator and communicator? If you thrive in an environment where you can problem-solve claim resolutions, innovate for continuous process improvement, while providing fair resolution, customer satisfaction and cost management, then we want to hear from you!

As a Claims Director, you’ll lead efforts to investigate and pay commercial casualty claims. You’ll guide the determination of liability and set policies governing the settlement of commercial claims. In addition, you’ll manage the activities of defense counsel to expedite settlement and to control average loss cost and litigation expense. We’ll count on you to promote and provide exemplary customer service.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Directs the settlement of commercial casualty claims and lawsuits.

• Ensures claims best practices are followed in all assigned cases in accordance with company guidelines, state and federal regulations. Enforces compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.

• Provides leadership to others, helping them to understand and interpret industry data and trends.                                                                                                                     

• Directs the development of new products, processes, procedures and training in response to customer needs and industry trends.

• Interacts with related departments, including Underwriting, Products, and Pricing, to share information and to maintain a consistent approach to resolve problems.

• Partners with industry leaders to help promote positive industry and legislative changes.

• Develops strategic responses to litigated cases against Nationwide and its policyholders. Delivers a positive customer service experience to internal, external, current and prospective Nationwide customers. Resolves customer complaints according to Best Practices. Monitors customer satisfaction to drive action plans for improvement.     

• Develops and monitors a departmental operating budget.