Meet the Team Julie Kimmens, Head of Technical Risk Claims

My route into insurance wasn’t planned, but it quickly became the right fit. After I finished school, I explored a range of opportunities across the market and ended up with a few offers.

I chose to join BMS as a claims broker working across property, energy, and casualty. It was a strong introduction to the market and gave me early exposure to how claims actually work in practice.

From there, I moved through Miller and Everest Re before joining AIG, where I spent over a decade working across reinsurance and energy claims. I then joined Starr 13 years ago and progressed into my current role.

The market is fundamentally built around people. Meeting brokers and underwriters and getting to know how everything works is important. Over time, those relationships become central to how you work and how you deliver for clients.

As Head of Technical Risk Claims, I oversee energy, property, construction, offshore renewables and mining across the UK, as well as supporting the wider European and EMEA business.

We deal with large and complex losses, sometimes running into the billions, alongside a flow of smaller claims. The focus is always the same: clients expect a consistent level of service regardless of the size or complexity of the loss.

Day to day, it’s about managing that balance, dealing with complex claims while keeping everything moving across multiple lines.

For me, it’s being directly involved at the claims stage. At Starr, we write meaningful lines, so we are part of the conversation and the decision-making when it matters. We’re working closely with brokers, clients and the wider market to move claims forward and reach the right outcome. No two claims are the same - you are constantly dealing with something different, and that keeps the role interesting.

At its core, underwriting and claims are intrinsically linked. Underwriters shape and price the risk upfront, while the claims experience is where clients ultimately see how that promise holds up in practice.

Because of that, we put a lot of emphasis on building relationships early. If you already know the people involved, it makes a real difference when something goes wrong and you have to work through it together.

There is also a strong element of collaboration across the market. While there is competition when business is placed, claims is different. At that point, the focus is on working together to get the right outcome for the insured.

The team is built around a mix of experience and technical depth across the different lines we support. We handle a broad range of claims, from high-frequency losses through to large, complex events, so having that level of expertise and consistency is important.

A big part of how we work is making sure there is clear ownership of claims, with people taking responsibility but also having access to support when they need it. If a claim develops or becomes more complex, we work closely together to make sure the right expertise is brought in at the right time.

We also place a strong emphasis on development. If someone is handling a claim that evolves into a large loss, we keep them involved and support them through it. That might mean joining key discussions, working through technical points, or helping manage more complex stakeholder engagement.

The aim is to build experience and confidence over time, while maintaining a consistent, high standard of service across the portfolio.

What’s changing at the moment is how quickly external events feed through into claims.

Geopolitical tensions are driving up costs, particularly from a reinstatement perspective. Materials, labour, and supply chains are all under pressure, so when a loss happens, it is often larger and more complex than it would have been even a few years ago.

We are also seeing losses in regions that would not traditionally expect them. Changes in weather patterns are creating exposures where infrastructure has not been designed to cope, which adds another layer of complexity when those claims come in.

It does raise the bar in terms of delivery, but it is also where a strong claims function makes a difference, helping clients navigate that complexity and get back to where they were as quickly and effectively as possible.

The best piece of advice I would give to someone starting in the market is to give yourself time and ask all the questions you can. Taking the time early on in your career allows you to understand how the market really works and get to know the people around you.

A lot of what you learn comes from being in the room, listening to conversations, and seeing how decisions are made in practice. The more exposure you get to that, the more confident you become.

For me, I am most excited about the integration with IQUW, and what that enables.

Bringing the teams together and working more closely day to day creates real opportunities. We’re already seeing the benefit of having broader expertise in one place, whether that’s across property, energy or more complex programmes, and being able to draw on that as claims develop.

Alongside that, expectations around claims are increasing, so the focus is on delivering consistently and making sure the service matches the scale and complexity of the risks we support.