Operations Assistant (w/ AI tool-use emphasis) at ARU

COMPANY INTRO

ARU, founded in 2016, has quickly risen to become the U.S. leader in specialty property insurance underwriting, product development, loss control, and technology.

 

ARU continues to grow at a rapid pace, and we are currently seeking an rising operations professional to join our team, contribute to our continued growth, and prepare for a more senior role in the company. This is an ENTRY LEVEL position; previous insurance and administrative experience is a plus - but is NOT REQUIRED.

WHAT WE’RE OFFERING TO YOU:

• You will work closely with company executives, including Co-founder Will Johnson, a nationally-recognized insurance leader. You will perform in a key collaborative, administrative, and support role, helping establish and grow the new division.
• You will receive a competitive compensation package, with base annual salary, annual bonus, and company-provided benefits.  You will have 100% employer-paid health insurance, paid time off, and a 100% vested retirement plan with company match.
• You will have a position in a fast-growing, modern, technology-based company, where your contribution will be critical to the company’s success, and where your performance will earn you opportunities for recognition and promotion.

PRIMARY DUTIES:

• Help ARU be the best in the world at what we do, and do not ever settle for mediocrity. Actively participate in ARU’s culture of collaborative problem-solving.
• Treat every assignment as an opportunity to:  1) learn and grow as an insurance professional, and 2) prepare for increased responsibilities in the company.  
• Perform with a high level of polish and professionalism, in all spoken and written communications.  Address internal and external business challenges in a graceful and tactful manner.  Complete all duties with a high degree of urgency, thoroughness, and accuracy.
• Prepare and maintain reports, presentations, and documentation for internal & external use.
• Communicate and collaborate with departments to facilitate smooth workflows.
• Assist in developing and implementing operational procedures and policies.
• Support process improvement initiatives by collecting data, providing insights, and assisting in execution.
• Handle general administrative duties and address operational issues as they arise.
• Maintain and support projects, tracking budgets, expenditures, work hours, and schedules.
• Organize, attend, document, and participate in stakeholder meetings, following up on project tasks.
• Assist in stakeholder support, requirements gathering, and project coordination.
• Administer and configure applications, analyze system performance and data quality, and perform software testing.
• Perform quarterly audits, contract processing, and system management 
• Manage entity and producer licensing processes.
• Conduct ad hoc reporting, website scrapes, and vendor research.
• Provide broker support, contract documentation, and helpdesk backup.
• Manage company knowledge base and organize SOPs.
• Perform quality audits for submissions, data reporting, and other areas.
• Review and track IT orders, and assist with repetitive tasks that cannot be automated.
• Coordinate small projects and complete project request forms.
• Master the use of ARU standardized hardware, software programs, third party software, and processing procedures.
• Other, as assigned.

WHAT WE MINIMALLY REQUIRE - YOUR EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLSET:

• Preferred: bachelor's degree from an accredited 4 year college or university.
• Desire to become a superlative insurance operations professional, which means learning technical proficiency in change management, impact mapping, process mapping / documentation / improvement, KPI assessment and tracking, project planning and management, data analysis / organization / reporting, vendor management, and system planning and implementation.
• Demonstrable proficiency using AI tools to improve professional output.
• Demonstrable excellence in thoroughness, accuracy, organization, resource management, record-keeping, and requirement gathering.
• Demonstrable success influencing positive outcomes, driving initiatives, and coordinating efforts across departments without having formal direct authority.
• Exceptional soft skills, with the strong ability to resolve challenging situations with a patient and calm demeanor.
• Excellent professional presentation and polish, in the spoken word and written form.
• Excellent critical thinker and problem-solver under pressure. High intellectual curiosity, with an enjoyment of learning and self-improvement.

REQUIRED LOCATION:  80% IN-PERSON / 20% REMOTE

• This role requires close in-person collaboration with Will Johnson. Will's office is located at UNC's Innovate Carolina Junction in downtown Chapel Hill, NC.
• As a requirement of the position, the Operations Assistant must live within a 35 minute commute of Chapel Hill, NC. 
• After the initial training period, some remote / work from home may be acceptable in the normal course of business, to be discussed in good faith. Expectation, after the first 6 months: approximately 1 day per week (20%).

ABOUT ARU’S CULTURE:

We demand excellence from ourselves and those around us; we work accurately and thoroughly, but also with a great sense of urgency; we are excellent critical thinkers and creative problem solvers; we contribute cheerfully to ARU’s environment of collaborative brainstorming and respectful debate; we love to explore and experiment, and we are comfortable occasionally blazing a trail that ends up actually being a “bridge to nowhere” -- just as long as we fail fast, pivot appropriately, and become tougher and smarter as a result; we love to learn, read, and grow as human beings; we believe in science-based truths, and we know there is no such thing as an alternative fact.

MORE ABOUT ARU:

ARU was founded with a goal to use expertise, engineering, and technology to disrupt the legacy marketplace. Our core mission is to deliver a superior experience to our policyholders, while also maintaining sustainability and consistency writing historically-challenging classes of business. To do so, we build and deploy 100% proprietary insurance products, we invest heavily in property loss prevention engineering and research, and we develop home-grown software and other technology. We also focus on collaborative broker and policyholder relationships, which allow us to deliver shared victories for all stakeholders.  ARU is part of the Accelerant Insurance family:  https://accelins.com/