Director - Underwriting, Religious Markets

Position Summary

Provide strategic underwriting leadership for a business segment or line of business, with accountability for underwriting philosophy, risk appetite, market positioning, and portfolio performance. This role drives profitable growth, risk quality, and long-term business results by leading underwriting management staff, guiding complex decision-making, and ensuring alignment between underwriting execution and enterprise objectives.

Primary Job Responsibilities

• Lead development and execution of underwriting goals, objectives, and budgets

• Translate business strategy into underwriting direction and team execution plans

• Ensure underwriting execution aligns with enterprise goals and business priorities

• Accountable for driving production results and top-line growth through underwriting execution and market engagement with sales partners

• Support consistent achievement of growth objectives while maintaining underwriting discipline

• Own profitability, growth, and retention results for assigned book(s) of business

• Analyze underwriting results including loss ratios, growth, retention, and exposure trends

• Identify opportunities for profitability improvement and growth optimization

• Maintain accountability for delivering consistent, profitable portfolio performance

Underwriting Decision Leadership

• Provide guidance on complex underwriting decisions, coverage structures, and pricing strategies

• Review and approve risks within assigned authority levels or involving significant complexity

• Ensure consistent application of underwriting guidelines

• Maintain underwriting discipline while balancing growth, profitability, and risk quality objectives

• Provide leadership across complex risks, large accounts, and program business

Leadership & Talent Management

• Recruit, hire, onboard, and develop underwriting and support staff

• Conduct performance evaluations and manage employee development

• Administer compensation decisions, including salary adjustments and promotions

• Build organizational capability across underwriting roles and drive succession planning

• Establish clear expectations, drive accountability, and develop high-performing underwriting teams aligned to business objectives

Operations & Execution

• Oversee workflow across underwriting support, assistants, and underwriters

• Monitor productivity, service levels, and workload distribution

• Partner with supervisors to ensure consistent execution quality

• Optimize workflow execution to improve service, consistency, and capacity management

Collaboration & Market Engagement

• Partner with Sales to support production goals and relationships

• Collaborate with Actuarial and Claims to inform underwriting decisions

• Maintain strong, strategic relationships with key brokers and distribution partners to support growth and retention

• Support expansion of broker relationships and market engagement to drive new business opportunities

Change & Continuous Improvement

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives across processes, tools, and workflows

• Support adoption of organizational changes

• Identify opportunities to improve underwriting effectiveness and performance

Qualifications

• Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required

• CPCU or advanced industry designation strongly preferred

• 10+ years of property and casualty underwriting experience

• Demonstrated experience managing highly complex risks and portfolios

• 5+ years of leadership experience; experience leading leaders strongly preferred

• Demonstrated experience leading production-focused underwriting teams with a track record of achieving growth and profitability objectives

• Technical Knowledge:

• Expert-level knowledge of underwriting principles, pricing strategies, and risk management

• Advanced knowledge of reinsurance concepts and application

• Strong understanding of underwriting guidelines, regulatory requirements, and compliance standards

• Knowledge of product development, market dynamics, and competitive positioning

• Skills & Abilities:

• Strong strategic thinking and ability to translate business goals into underwriting direction

• Demonstrated ability to lead leaders, develop talent, and build organizational capability

• Strong financial and business acumen

• Executive-level communication and influencing skills

• Ability to partner effectively across functions and leadership levels

• Proven ability to lead change and drive organizational results

• Ability to make complex, high-impact decisions in dynamic environments

• Ability to balance growth objectives with underwriting discipline in a results-driven environment

What Sets This Role Apart

• Direct impact on business performance and underwriting results

• Leadership responsibility for both talent and portfolio outcomes

• Opportunity to influence strategy and execution within a specialized market segment

• High level of interaction with broker partners and senior leadership

Work Environment & Travel

• Work is performed in a professional office or remote/hybrid environment, consistent with organizational policy

• Occasional overnight and day travel may be required for training, customer, or business needs

• Travel requirements may vary by product line or Center of Excellence