Commercial Surety - Manager, Underwriting Specialty (Remote)

Position Overview

This role resides within Commercial Surety areas of the Specialty division. Underwrites, manages, and coaches team of Underwriters within defined territory, with support and guidance from regional management. Provides oversight on day-to-day underwriting functions. Collaborates with underwriting assistants, manages assigned book of business, primarily with key agents and increased level of complexity. Responsible for assessing the present and future resource needs for employees and provide the leadership, mentoring and guidance necessary to build and sustain a high performing workforce.

Technical Underwriting

• Knows and applies advanced underwriting concepts including risk selection, exposure and hazard identification and control, coverage implications, and loss analysis.
• Understands pricing components and rating methodology and correlates pricing to exposure, financial and competitive analysis.
• Adheres to UW guidelines and underwriting discipline to minimize exposure and appropriately price.
• Effectively identifies root cause and brings forth solutions to problems.
• Participates in referrals and consultations from UAs and UWs within assigned territory.

Portfolio & Sales Management

• Reviews key metrics and uncovers trends that may lead to new business opportunities with agents while achieving profitable growth in accordance with business strategies.
• Understands the relationship between changes in business strategies and financial results (e.g., loss ratio’s, premium, retention, and non-rate and book mix strategies).
• Keeps current on state/territory issues, regulations, and trends.
• Coaches and mentors the territory UW team, providing business direction, driving UW actions towards our business objectives, training, and development of employees.
• Manage agency related functions for personal book of business.
• Involvement in key new business and renewals.
• Stays current with and ensures team adheres to underwriting best practices and guidelines.
• Oversee the operational and technical work of the team and where applicable implement claim handling best practices.

Leadership & Coaching

• Managing underwriters, coaching, and mentoring, providing business direction, driving UW actions towards our business objectives, training, and development of employees.
• In partnership with the Director or AVP provides ongoing team leadership including Underwriting, performance coaching, development, and engagement, talent hiring, selection and progressive performance management if needed.
• Conducts formal/informal training sessions on Small Commercial Surety accounts and Transactional surety or emerging issues in order to help elevate the level of underwriting expertise in the team.
• Drives underwriting quality through the self-review process.
• Collaborates with Operations to execute best practices, including optimizing productivity and managing service and quality with agents.
• Identifies and develops talent pipeline.
• Demonstrates a willingness to consistently enhance team performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and surety experience.
• Minimum of 7+ years of experience underwriting a broad range of commercial surety bonds and building agency relationships resulting in profitable new and renewal business.
• Acts as a change advocate and is open to new and different ways of thinking.
• Effective problem solver, who anticipates issues, seeks out and analyzes information collaboratively to propose solutions. Takes ownership for a successful resolution.
• High degree of business, commercial surety, and marketplace knowledge.
• Excellent communication skills are essential; effective face-to-face interactions and presentations to groups, as well as strong phone skills, along with sound written communications, including impeccable follow through.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively coach and develop others.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively collaborate and influence across multiple levels of the organization within senior and field management and underwriters.

Career Development

We want you to be successful and fulfilled. Through on-the-job experiences, personalized coaching and our robust learning and development programs, we encourage you – at every level – to grow and develop.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
• 401K with a company match.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• PTO.
• Company paid holidays.
• Flexible work arrangements.
• Cultural Awareness Day in support of IDEOn-site medical/wellness center (Worcester only).