I looking for the exact translation for the German word "Sachbearbeiter".

When I enter this German word into a certain online translation tool, I get a long list of words, but I am not sure, what to take for this situation.

What Sachbearbeiter' means is for the following situation:

I am, for instance, a customer with a certain insurance company. My last name starts with "A" and I live in the city "Abc". At the insurance company there is a person who is in charge of all persons from the city "Abc" with the last names starting with "A" or "B".

What do you call such a person who is in charge of my case?

I found the term "person responsible", but it is relatively long. Is there also a single word that describes exactly this meaning?

  • 1
    Don't forget that you'll be getting more answers as the question ages. I certainly don't mind getting best answer, but deciding mine was the best when it was the only answer - and after only 12 minutes - may have been a little too soon. – ebwb May 14 '15 at 15:53

From Oxford Advanced Learner's:

liaison - communication or cooperation that facilitates a close working relationship between people or organizations

My liaison at the insurance company is in charge of my case.

Perhaps, for a less formal-sounding option, the word agent is colloquially used.

From Merriam-Webster:

agent - a person who does business for another person : a person who acts on behalf of another

One thing you might find about English is that it hasn't quite caught up to the "Digital Age". One user points this out fairly well. There just aren't many single-words that encapsulate exactly what's needed. Terms like data owner and data custodian exist, but, as @JohnLawler points out, English just isn't quite there yet.

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    In AmE at least, agent is much more common than liaison. It's very common to talk about your insurance agent, for example. – Chris Hayes May 15 '15 at 0:10
  • English actually gets most digital words first. Since we invent most of them. Some are cursed to forever be no more than buzzwords. Others, like email, end up sticking around. Words from other languages, like wiki, simply become adopted into our oh so inclusive lexicon. – candied_orange Mar 26 '16 at 4:35

With many service providers, I've run into account manager, as the person in charge of my account at their company, and thus my contact with the company, who's familiar with my needs and history with the company.

  • I think this is more appropriate for an 'agent' with specific responsibility towards a defined set of customers. – Darvanen May 15 '15 at 0:46
  • Yes, this is what I understood from the OP. The person in charge of all customers in city X with names starting with A,B,C - that would be a defined set of customers, right? – Avner Shahar-Kashtan May 15 '15 at 5:24
  • Yes, it was meant as a supporting statement not a critique, I should have said 'more appropriate than the accepted answer' – Darvanen May 15 '15 at 5:44
  • Oh, ok then. :-) – Avner Shahar-Kashtan May 15 '15 at 5:59

In the "service firm" sector, another possibility related to liaison is "account rep" or "account representative", the person at a company who deals with matters concerning a subset of customers/clients/accounts to which they have been assigned.

In an insurance company, it could be a "claims adjuster" -- the person who is handling a claim you submitted.


It sounds to me like it should be (insurance)

case manager

or (insurance)

case worker


Generically speaking, people entrusted to take care of something for you become custodians of that which they are protecting. Typically custodians of large amounts of money are referred to trustees.

In your case, your company has arranged for an internal means by which to mitigate the risks associated with the safekeeping of computer data specific to each employee -- they hired trustworthy people to assume custody of important items and present them to you when they are needed.


How about "agent", like an insurance agent? Another option would be "case manager" (literal translation), but then there would need to be a case for them to be in charge of.


"Account manager" is the usual business terminology, but the UK implementation of EU data protection rules has the term "data controller". This is somewhat technical.

Others have suggested "agent", but "my agent" implies that the person works for you. "Representative" shortened to "rep" is similar but sounds better to me.


Not sure, but he definitely qualifies as a fiduciary.

  • No, a fiduciary holds a position of trust in which he or she must put your interests first. That hardly describes an insurance company clerk. – deadrat Jul 8 '15 at 7:06
  • Please edit your answer to explain why fiduciary is a good choice. – Matt E. Эллен Jul 13 '15 at 9:12

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