Assistant Risk Manager Job Description

An Assistant Risk Manager is the second-ranking professional in a government risk management office, the unit that protects a city, county, state agency or special district against the cost of accidents, lawsuits and property losses. The role reports to the risk manager and often sits inside a county administrator's office, a finance department or human resources. Where the risk manager sets strategy and answers to elected officials, the assistant keeps the program's daily work moving.

Fulton County, Georgia describes the job plainly in its class specification: the assistant "assists Risk Manager with administration of County property and casualty insurance" and maintains the list of county departmental properties. That property list sounds clerical until a storm damages a fire station or a library roof leaks, at which point an accurate schedule with current values decides whether the claim is paid in full.

The work runs in several lanes at once.

Liability claims. A resident trips on a broken sidewalk, a sanitation truck backs into a parked car, a contractor's crew damages a water main. Each incident becomes a file. The assistant gathers the police report, the work order history, dashcam footage and statements, then recommends a denial, a settlement within delegated authority, or a referral to the county attorney or outside defense counsel. State tort claims acts, notice-of-claim deadlines and immunity defenses can shape how a public entity's claim files are handled.

Workers' compensation. Public payrolls include police officers, firefighters, road crews and parks staff, all with real injury exposure. Where an agency hands claims handling to a third-party administrator (TPA), the assistant watches that TPA closely: reserve levels, treatment plans, light-duty placements and claims that have stalled.

Insurance and risk financing. Governments finance risk in different ways. Some self-insure a retention and buy excess coverage above it, some join a risk pool with other public members, and some do both. At renewal the assistant builds the submission: property schedules, fleet lists, payroll by class, loss runs and answers to underwriter questions about open claims.

Contracts and certificates. Every construction contract, facility lease and special event permit carries indemnification and insurance language. The assistant reviews those clauses, sets coverage requirements, and tracks certificates of insurance so that a paving contractor's lapsed auto policy is caught before the crew starts work.

Loss control. Claim data shows where losses come from. If one public works yard produces a run of back strains, the fix might be lifting equipment, a training session or a change in how crews are staffed. The assistant takes that analysis to department heads and follows up.

The job rewards someone who can read a policy form, talk calmly with an injured claimant, and push a reluctant department to fix a hazard, sometimes in the same afternoon.

Education. A bachelor's degree is the usual starting point, typically in risk management, insurance, public or business administration, finance or a related field. Fulton County's class specification for this title asks for a bachelor's degree in risk management, insurance, actuarial science or a related field, supplemented by five years of experience in risk management and/or property or casualty insurance, including lead or supervisory experience. It also accepts an equivalent combination of education, training and experience, and lists a claims adjuster license as preferred. Requirements are set class by class, so read the specification for the post you want.

Experience. As a rough guide, candidates arrive with three to six years in one of a few feeder jobs: a claims adjuster or examiner at a carrier or TPA, an account manager at a broker serving public clients, a risk analyst or coordinator inside a government, or a safety specialist who picked up claims and insurance work. Experience with a public employer helps because the legal and political setting differs from private claims work, and elected boards, budgets and public scrutiny all bear on how claims are settled.

Credentials. The designations a reader would pursue for this job:

• Associate in Risk Management for Public Entities (ARM-P), awarded by The Institutes. The City of Vacaville, California, in a class specification established July 1, 2026, calls possession of the ARM-P at the time of hire "highly desirable" for its Legal Services and Risk Manager.
• Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), both from The Institutes.
• RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP), from RIMS, the risk management society.
• Certified Risk Manager (CRM), from The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research.
• A state adjuster license, where a state or agency calls for one.

What the job draws on. The Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA), the professional body for government risk managers, updated its Core Competencies in 2026. The list is a practical map of what an assistant should know. Under risk financing it names pooling, captives, self-insurance, risk transfer, actuarial analysis and benchmarking. Under claims management it lists litigation, subrogation, disability management, the risk management information system (RMIS) and the TPA relationship. Under business law it covers torts, contracts and indemnification. In 2013 PRIMA took over the operations of the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI).

Skills that separate candidates. Reading a loss run and explaining what it means to a public works director. Writing a claim file note that will still make sense to defense counsel two years later. Spotting the missing additional insured endorsement on a certificate. Running a spreadsheet or RMIS report without waiting for IT. Keeping confidential medical and litigation details confidential, including in public meetings.

BLS does not report assistant risk managers, or public-sector risk managers, as a separate occupation. Its SOC direct-match file assigns no risk manager title of this kind. The pay band on this page uses the local-government row for Business Operations Specialists, All Other (SOC 13-1199), a residual group for business operations specialists that BLS does not list separately. It is the nearest published figure for the claims, insurance and contract work of a government risk office, not a precise measure of it.

For the occupation as a whole, O*NET counts 1,157,600 workers in 2025 and rates projected growth for 2025-2035 as average (3% to 4%), with about 98,700 openings a year on average. Those figures describe a broad mix of business operations jobs across every industry, so treat them as context rather than a forecast for risk office openings. In the May 2025 OEWS survey, local government employed 33,970 workers in the group and state government 57,140.

Pay inside government varies by jurisdiction and class. In state government, the OEWS median for the group was $81,380. Two public class specifications give examples: Fulton County lists its Assistant Risk Manager class at $77,491 to $138,128 a year, and Vacaville, California lists the Legal Services and Risk Manager class it established July 1, 2026 at $136,268.99 to $165,635.74. Those are examples from two employers, not national bounds.

The insurance market shapes the job directly, because renewals and claims budgets land on the risk office's desk. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), in its report on first-half 2026 results, said commercial auto premiums have increased for 60 consecutive quarters, citing nuclear verdicts, vehicle repair costs, healthcare costs and continued litigation. The commercial auto liability pure direct loss ratio stood at 71.0%, which the NAIC tied to social inflation. It also reported that insurers are strengthening commercial liability reserves, naming social inflation, partially driven by third party litigation financing, as the primary driver. For an agency with a large fleet of police cars, buses and work trucks, that is the backdrop for every auto renewal and every fleet safety program the assistant helps run.

Property pricing has decelerated, which the same NAIC report attributes to milder catastrophe activity and increased market capacity and competition. For a risk office, slower property pricing is a moment to revisit limits, deductibles and the accuracy of the property schedule, work that falls to the assistant.

The function exists wherever a public employer has claims to manage and coverage to buy. For an assistant aiming at the risk manager seat, the practical preparation is time in every lane: claims, renewals, contract review and loss control, not one alone.

Dear Hiring Committee,

Please accept my application for the County's Assistant Risk Manager opening. For the past four years I have worked as a senior claims examiner at a third-party administrator whose public-sector clients send it their liability and injury claims, including two counties, a transit authority and a school district.

My caseload has covered the full run of public exposures: trip-and-fall claims on sidewalks and in parks, fleet accidents involving sheriff's patrol cars and refuse trucks, and injury claims from road crews and correctional officers. I investigate, set reserves, negotiate within authority, and prepare the summaries that go to county counsel when a claim turns into a lawsuit. I have also sat in on several mediations and learned how much a well-documented file shortens them.

What draws me to the County is the program side of the work. At the TPA I see claims after they happen. I want to work on the contract language, certificate tracking and loss control that keep them from happening. Last year I built a monthly loss report for one county client that broke claims out by department and cause. Their public works director used it to change how crews staff trench work, and the next quarter's strain claims from that division dropped noticeably.

I hold the ARM-P and am studying for the CPCU. I am comfortable in an RMIS, write clearly for non-specialists, and understand the notice-of-claim and immunity rules that make public claims different from private ones.

I would welcome the chance to talk about how I could support your risk manager and the County's departments.

Sincerely, Jordan Ellis