Contact Center Associate Jobs in Silver Spring, MD

Sun Life U.S. is one of the largest providers of employee and government benefits, helping approximately 50 million Americans access the care and coverage they need. Through employers, industry partners and government programs, Sun Life U.S. offers a portfolio of benefits and services, including dental, vision, disability, absence management, life, supplemental health, medical stop-loss insurance, and healthcare navigation. We have more than 6,400 employees and associates in our partner dental practices and operate nationwide.

Visit our website to discover how Sun Life is making life brighter for our customers, partners and communities.

DentaQuest manages dental and vision benefits for more than 33 million Americans. Our outcomes-based, cost-effective solutions are designed for Medicaid and CHIP, Medicare Advantage, small and large businesses, and individuals. With a focus on prevention and value, we aim to make quality care accessible to improve the oral health of all.

Location: Sun Life embraces a hybrid work model that balances in-office collaboration with the flexibility of virtual work. Our team members and leaders are expected to foster connection and teamwork by being present in the office at least 2 days per week.

The opportunity:

Leads and oversees customer service operations for assigned Government and strategic contact center functions, ensuring effective delivery of member, provider, client, and internal support services. Provides leadership for frontline production teams and managers, monitors operational performance against service level and contractual expectations, and drives continuous improvement in quality, accuracy, call routing, knowledge management, and customer experience. Serves as a key operational liaison across Workforce Management, Learning and Development, Quality Assurance, Client Engagement, Information Technology, vendor partners, and business leadership to support service delivery, incident response, technology readiness, and implementation of new tools and processes.

How you will contribute:

• Lead assigned Customer Service teams and managers responsible for government contact center operations, including production agents, specialty queues, and self-service support functions.
• Establish, monitor, and manage operational goals, service levels, quality expectations, productivity outcomes, and customer experience measures for assigned lines of business.
• Oversee daily, weekly, and monthly contact center performance, including call volumes, queue health, staffing impacts, service level attainment, abandonment, average speed to answer, handle time, and other key operating metrics.
• Partner with Workforce Management to align staffing, skilling, routing profiles, queue assignments, and contingency plans with operational demand and client-specific requirements.
• Coordinate with Learning and Development to create, review, and update knowledge articles, job aids, alerts, one-pagers, and training guidance for frontline agents and leaders.
• Support client-specific operations, including facilitation of key clients meetings, reporting completion, and action plan development and execution for the maintenance of client contractual and regulatory operational results.
• Serve as a contact center subject matter expert for telephony, call routing, queue configuration, interactive voice response, portal impacts, and related technology changes.
• Participate in technology readiness, user acceptance testing, defect validation, production readiness, and go-live support for new systems, platforms, routing changes, and operational tools.
• Lead or support operational incident response for major incident management and high-impact system events by assessing contact center impact, coordinating with Information Technology and business partners, communicating guidance, and confirming resolution.
• Develop clear communication for internal teams and business process outsourcing partners regarding known issues, routing changes, client requirements, system outages, service impacts, and required agent actions.
• Partner with Quality Assurance and Client Engagement to support client audits, calibrations, action plans, attestations, quality improvement activities, and timely responses to client requests.
• Monitor and support escalated member, provider, client, and internal issues, ensuring appropriate research, resolution, documentation, and leadership visibility.
• Collaborate with business process outsourcing partners and internal leaders to ensure consistent execution of processes, adherence to client-specific requirements, and appropriate use of queues, transfer protocols, and knowledge resources.
• Support organizational planning, role definition, span-of-control alignment, responsibility mapping, and transition planning as Customer Service and Shared Services responsibilities evolve.
• Coach, develop, and hold leaders and team members accountable for performance, quality, engagement, communication, and operational discipline.
• Participate in hiring, onboarding, performance management, corrective action planning, talent development, and succession planning for assigned teams.
• Identify operational risks, process gaps, technology barriers, training needs, and improvement opportunities; recommend and implement solutions that improve service, efficiency, compliance, and associate experience.
• Maintain strong cross-functional relationships with Operations, Shared Services, Information Technology, Workforce Management, Learning and Development, Quality Assurance, Client Engagement, Appeals, Complaints and Grievances, and other business partners.
• Represent Customer Service in leadership meetings, readiness forums, client-related discussions, and cross-functional workgroups as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

What you will bring with you:

• 8+ years of customer service operations, contact center, health care operations, or related experience; government program or regulated contact center experience preferred.
• 5+ years of leadership or contact center management experience, including direct people leadership and management of managers or leads.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Strong understanding of contact center operations, workforce management concepts, call routing, queue management, service level performance, quality monitoring, and operational reporting.
• Experience partnering with Information Technology, business readiness, and operational stakeholders on system implementations, incident response, user acceptance testing, and production support.
• Ability to interpret operational data, identify trends, assess business impact, and recommend practical action plans.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to prepare clear guidance for leaders, agents, business process outsourcing partners, clients, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a fast-paced, changing environment while balancing service delivery, compliance, quality, employee engagement, and customer experience.
• Strong facilitation, problem-solving, collaboration, relationship management, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and ability to learn and use contact center platforms, reporting tools, knowledge management systems, telephony tools, and enterprise workflow applications.

KEY COMPETENCIES:

• Operational leadership and accountability
• Customer and client focus
• Cross-functional collaboration and influence
• Change leadership and technology adoption
• Data-driven decision making
• Communication, coaching, and team development
• Process improvement and risk mitigation

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Ability to sit at computer terminal for extended periods of time.

Salary: $64,700 - 97,100
At our company, we are committed to pay transparency and equity. The salary range for this role is competitive nationwide, and we strive to ensure that compensation is fair and equitable. Your actual base salary will be determined based on your unique skills, qualifications, experience, education, and geographic location. In addition to your base salary, this position is eligible for a discretionary annual incentive award based on your individual performance as well as the overall performance of the business. We are dedicated to creating a work environment where everyone is rewarded for their contributions.

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We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees feel they belong, are supported and empowered to thrive. We are dedicated to building teams with varied experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and ideas that benefit our colleagues, clients, and the communities where we operate. We encourage applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Life is brighter when you work at Sun Life

At Sun Life, we prioritize your well-being with comprehensive benefits, including generous vacation and sick time, market-leading paid family, parental and adoption leave, medical coverage, company paid life and AD&D insurance, disability programs and a partially paid sabbatical program. Plan for your future with our 401(k) employer match, stock purchase options and an employer-funded retirement account. Enjoy a flexible, inclusive and collaborative work environment that supports career growth. We're proud to be recognized in our communities as a top employer. Proudly Great Place to Work Certified in Canada and the U.S., we've also been recognized as a "Top 10" employer by the Boston Globe's "Top Places to Work" for two years in a row. Visit our website to learn more about our benefits and recognition within our communities.

We will make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of otherwise-qualified individuals with disabilities or special disabled veterans, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Please email thebrightside@sunlife.comto request an accommodation.

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We do not require or administer lie detector tests as a condition of employment or continued employment.

Sun Life will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including applicable fair chance ordinances.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.