Senior Process Optimization Consultant

The Hartford•Hartford, CT

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

We’re determined to make a difference and are proud to be an insurance company that goes well beyond coverages and policies. Working here means having every opportunity to achieve your goals – and to help others accomplish theirs, too. Join our team as we help shape the future. Join a high impact team driving operational excellence and accelerating employer digital adoption across Employee Benefits Operations. If you think this opportunity is a fit for your career, you should apply. If you are not sure, you can have a conversation with your manager. Are you passionate about owning end to end processes and influencing how customers choose to engage digitally? Join our Employee Benefits Process Optimization team and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our employer experience. As a Senior Process Optimization Consultant, you will serve as both a senior process owner and a driver of our Employer Digital Adoption Strategy, increasing the use of our digital portal for service, billing, employee claims details and submission, and document management. This role offers a unique opportunity to make a measurable impact on customer behavior, operational efficiency, and employee experience—while growing your career in a collaborative, transformation focused environment. WORK ARRANGEMENTS: Sustaining The Hartford’s unique workplace culture is vital to delivering on our purpose – underwriting human achievement – and continuously producing outstanding results. Our enterprise work model, which reflects a mix of in office, hybrid, and fully remote roles, helps us attract, retain and develop the talent we need to achieve the company’s strategic goals. This role can have a Hybrid or Remote work schedule. Candidates who live near one of our offices will have the expectation of working in an office 3 days a week. Candidates who do not live near an office will have a remote work arrangement, with the expectation of coming into an office as business needs arise. RESPONSIBILITIES: Process Ownership & Optimization • Act as a senior process owner for assigned Employer Benefits operational processes, accountable for end to end performance, stability, and continuous improvement. • Lead in depth analysis of business processes to identify pain points, root causes, and value added improvement opportunities. • Develop and test proof of concept pilots to validate strategic hypotheses and operational assumptions. • Apply Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to drive measurable improvements in efficiency, quality, and customer experience. • Partner with business leaders to map current state and future state process flows across customer journey touchpoints and service channels. • Define and maintain process documentation, control plans, and governance artifacts to ensure sustainable execution. • Establish and monitor KPIs that reflect process health, customer outcomes, and operational performance. Employer Digital Adoption Strategy & Execution • Serve as a key driver of the Employer Digital Adoption Strategy, focused on increasing customer use of the digital portal for: o Service interactions o Billing and payments o Employee claims management o Self-service reporting capabilities o Document delivery and management • Identify opportunities to migrate demand from manual and assisted channels to digital, aligning process design, communications, and operational behaviors to support adoption. • Partner with Digital, Product, Technology, Marketing, Contact Center, and Operations teams to ensure digital capabilities are embedded into end to end processes—not treated as add ons. • Drives analysis of digital adoption trends to build insights and inform backlog. Partners with analytics teams to power self service of analysis through access to data. • Use Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Voice of the Employee (VOE) insights to understand barriers to digital usage and design targeted adoption tactics. • Lead test and learn pilots (e.g., messaging, workflow changes, digital prompts, education) to influence customer behavior and improve digital utilization. • Translate digital adoption goals into clear operational requirements, including changes to processes, training, scripts, and performance measures. • Track and report on digital adoption metrics, outcomes, and benefits realization, ensuring transparency and accountability. Project Leadership & Change Management • Manage and execute cross functional initiatives from concept through implementation, ensuring delivery within scope, timeline, and budget. • Develop and execute change management, communication, and adoption plans that support both process changes and increased digital engagement. • Lead others through change related to new system enhancements, process decisions, and future state visions. • Support business planning activities, including staffing, expense impacts, and benefit realization associated with process and digital initiatives. Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration • Facilitate cross functional teams to deliver outcomes across Claims, Finance, Actuarial, Technology, and other corporate partners. • Act as a trusted advisor to leaders by providing insight on process performance, digital adoption trends, and improvement opportunities. • Build strong partnerships across business and technology teams to align strategy, execution, and results.

Requirements

Minimum 3 years of strategic project or initiative leadership experience
Minimum 5 years of Operations, Employee Benefits, or relevant cross industry experience
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience required
Business process optimization experience required; Lean / Six Sigma experience preferred (Green Belt a plus)
Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills at all organizational levels
Demonstrated ability to manage complexity, ambiguity, and multiple priorities
Highly organized with strong attention to detail
Proven ability to influence, challenge the status quo, and build strong working relationships
Strong analytical skills with the ability to synthesize data into actionable insights

Nice To Haves

Experience with Employee Benefits billing a service practices preferred
Business acumen, financial understanding, and insurance knowledge preferred
Strategic thinker with experience forming hypotheses, analyzing outcomes, and driving conclusions
Lean / Six Sigma experience preferred (Green Belt a plus)

Responsibilities

Act as a senior process owner for assigned Employer Benefits operational processes, accountable for end to end performance, stability, and continuous improvement.
Lead in depth analysis of business processes to identify pain points, root causes, and value added improvement opportunities.
Develop and test proof of concept pilots to validate strategic hypotheses and operational assumptions.
Apply Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to drive measurable improvements in efficiency, quality, and customer experience.
Partner with business leaders to map current state and future state process flows across customer journey touchpoints and service channels.
Define and maintain process documentation, control plans, and governance artifacts to ensure sustainable execution.
Establish and monitor KPIs that reflect process health, customer outcomes, and operational performance.
Serve as a key driver of the Employer Digital Adoption Strategy, focused on increasing customer use of the digital portal for: o Service interactions o Billing and payments o Employee claims management o Self-service reporting capabilities o Document delivery and management
Identify opportunities to migrate demand from manual and assisted channels to digital, aligning process design, communications, and operational behaviors to support adoption.
Partner with Digital, Product, Technology, Marketing, Contact Center, and Operations teams to ensure digital capabilities are embedded into end to end processes—not treated as add ons.
Drives analysis of digital adoption trends to build insights and inform backlog. Partners with analytics teams to power self service of analysis through access to data.
Use Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Voice of the Employee (VOE) insights to understand barriers to digital usage and design targeted adoption tactics.
Lead test and learn pilots (e.g., messaging, workflow changes, digital prompts, education) to influence customer behavior and improve digital utilization.
Translate digital adoption goals into clear operational requirements, including changes to processes, training, scripts, and performance measures.
Track and report on digital adoption metrics, outcomes, and benefits realization, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Manage and execute cross functional initiatives from concept through implementation, ensuring delivery within scope, timeline, and budget.
Develop and execute change management, communication, and adoption plans that support both process changes and increased digital engagement.
Lead others through change related to new system enhancements, process decisions, and future state visions.
Support business planning activities, including staffing, expense impacts, and benefit realization associated with process and digital initiatives.
Facilitate cross functional teams to deliver outcomes across Claims, Finance, Actuarial, Technology, and other corporate partners.
Act as a trusted advisor to leaders by providing insight on process performance, digital adoption trends, and improvement opportunities.
Build strong partnerships across business and technology teams to align strategy, execution, and results.