Senior Travel Claims Specialist

Affinity Markets Travel Claims is looking for a highly motivated, quick-thinking and customer-focused individual to join our Travel Claims Risk Management Team at an exciting time. The team is moving away from shared mailboxes and spreadsheet logs to a new workflow platform that brings referrals, case files, approvals and audits together in one place, supported by AI-assisted tools that help specialists find, sort and review claim evidence faster. Reporting to the Manager, this position requires an expert in travel claims (medical, trip cancellation/interruption, baggage, accidental death and dismemberment, collision damage) for both Affinity Markets and Group Benefit programs. You will review the more complex, contested and escalated claims referred by our Third-Party Providers, make sound final decisions, and help protect Manulife from financial, legal and reputational risk. Specialists stay the decision makers. The new tools are there to take on routine administrative work, such as logging, tracking and follow-ups, so you can spend more of your time on judgement, investigation and quality. This is a hands-on role during a period of change. Alongside your day-to-day caseload, you will help test and shape the new way of working, share what works and what does not, and help colleagues and partners adopt new processes. Some processes will still be settling as you join, so comfort with change and a practical, problem-solving mindset are important. To be successful in this role, you must keep in mind that it is not only what you do, but how you do it as well. **Position Responsibilities:** * Work with Manulife’s Third-Party Providers of claims seeking direction, advice or policy interpretation, and give clear, consistent responses using standard templates. * Manage referrals from intake to closure in the team’s workflow platform: confirm coverage, review the case file, track status and follow-ups, and keep case records complete and current. * Review claim evidence, including claim forms, itineraries, receipts, medical records, call notes and prior correspondence, to establish the facts. Use AI-assisted summaries and document tools as a starting point and check their output for accuracy and consistency. * Make final claims decisions, claims exceptions, and business decisions on contested and contentious claims, including second-level appeals, and obtain the required approvals within set authority limits. * Handle travel litigated claims including corresponding with internal and external legal counsel, make recommendations on legal strategies and settlement offers, and represent Manulife at legal proceedings (including mediations, arbitrations, examinations for discovery, trials). * Review and respond to appeals or correspondence submitted by lawyers on behalf of their clients. * Investigate, resolve, and respond to Escalated Complaints submitted to, but not limited to, the President’s Office, the Complaints Office, Senior Management, social m