Director of Underwriting

What You’ll Do

• Develop and execute underwriting and new business strategies aligned to organizational goals, risk appetite, and service standards
• Translate enterprise strategy into disciplined, scalable, and measurable operating practices
• Lead transformation initiatives to modernize underwriting and new business processes
• Optimize workflows, case assignment, and throughput to improve cycle times, productivity, and consistency
• Establish and monitor service level agreements (SLAs) and performance standards
• Provide technical underwriting guidance on complex life insurance risks
• Ensure decisions are well-documented, compliant, and aligned with mortality expectations and reinsurance requirements
• Review and approve complex cases within authority and escalate as needed
• Lead adoption of automation, accelerated underwriting, and third-party data solutions
• Evaluate and implement digital tools and workflow enhancements to improve speed and accuracy
• Advance real-time decisioning capabilities and member experience improvements
• Develop and monitor KPIs and KRIs, including: Cycle time and throughput, Quality and post-issue audit results, Requirement aging and placement rates, Productivity and vendor performance, Identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities; drive corrective action
• Lead, coach, and develop underwriting and new business teams, including managers and senior technical staff
• Drive performance management, workforce planning, succession planning, and talent development
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and high performance
• Cross-functional Partnership
• Collaborate with Sales, Inforce, Claims, Finance, Legal, Compliance, and Technology
• Partner with reinsurance carriers on complex cases and program optimization
• Ensure alignment across teams to deliver a seamless, member-first experience
• Governance & Compliance
• Maintain underwriting guidelines, SOPs, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance
• Support escalations, member complaints, and risk-related reviews (e.g., rescissions, contestable claims)
• Manage vendor relationships (e.g., medical exams, labs, data providers)

What You Bring

• Required Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
• 8+ years of life insurance underwriting experience, including complex case review
• Proven leadership experience managing teams and/or senior technical professionals
• Deep understanding of: Medical underwriting and terminology, Mortality risk assessment, Reinsurance practices
• Experience leading: Process improvement and operational transformation, Automation and accelerated underwriting initiatives, KPI/KRI development and performance analytics
• Strong working knowledge of underwriting systems, workflow tools, and policy administration platforms
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, production-driven environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional designations such as CLU, FLMI, ALU, or FALU
• Experience with vendor management and underwriting data providers
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and reporting tools