Specialty GL - Senior Underwriting Specialist (Remote/Hybrid)

The Hanover’s Specialty General Liability team is seeking a Senior Underwriting Specialist with high hazard product liability experience to join its growing and dynamic team. The Specialty GL team provides admitted primary and supported excess solutions to clients with challenging product liability exposures.

This is a full-time, exempt role. Work location (remote, hybrid, or onsite) is determined by the Company based on role requirements and business needs and may be modified at the Company’s discretion. While we prefer candidates based in Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Seattle, or Colorado, we welcome qualified applicants from across the country. Occasional travel to key specialty locations may be required.

About the role

Responsible for identifying, soliciting, underwriting, and selling new and renewal accounts that drive profitable growth and align with the unit’s appetite and growth goals. Apply advanced technical, sales, and analytical skills to provide insurance solutions that help Hanover’s customers manage risk. Demonstrates a thorough understanding of Hanover’s strategies and appetites and will use internal and external data to make appropriate individual and portfolio risk decisions. Operates within a broad Letter of Authority for all underwriting decisions and with limited direction while managing an assigned book of business, generally with high technical complexity and coordination.

Responsibilities

• Technical Underwriting: Knows and applies underwriting concepts including risk selection, exposure and hazard identification and control, coverage implications, and loss analysis. Uses all appropriate underwriting tools, disciplines, and strategies to ensure underwriting guidelines are followed. Understands pricing components and rating methodology and correlates pricing to exposures. When presented with minimal information on a risk, instinctively knows the key questions to ask to ascertain the full scope of operations and the key exposures and needed controls. Completes file documentation according to best practices guidelines and can clearly explain account decisions. Provides clear and concise rating instructions for quotes prior to generating proposal for presentation to the agent.
• Portfolio Management & Financial Acumen: Manages assigned portfolio to achieve gross written premium, profitability, rate, retention, product mix, new business, and portfolio management goals, by use of proven pipeline and marketing practices. Develops an understanding of various financial reporting information and insurance performance measures in the management of risk. Demonstrates an understanding of the market factors that can affect pricing and how it correlates to individual’s book, agency’s book, the region, and countrywide. Prepares or analyzes information on underwriting decisions, rate, underwriting requirements, company appetite, status, and declinations to drive results within the assigned territory. Familiarizes oneself with other Hanover departments for leveraging growth in areas of business where portfolio could be more balanced.
• Sales Management: Identifies, solicits, pipelines, negotiates, and closes accounts aligned with business strategy. Ability to profile assigned agency plant and to strategically market our capabilities to agents. Keeps current on state/territory issues, regulations, and trends. Utilizes market and competitor information to enhance relationships and individual account decision making. Prioritizes and develops effective relationship management and producer activities to build trust, facilitate negotiation, and secure commitment in order to improve yield and retention ratios. Operates with a franchise perspective to identify additional sell opportunities to create growth within other LOBs and customer segments. Partners with other business units to deliver comprehensive insurance solutions. Demonstrates in-depth knowledge of Hanover’s products and appetite while clearly communicating Hanover’s position at the point of sale. Builds and maintains rigorous sales practices using all systems, sales tools, and disciplines outlined in the sales best practices. Makes presentations to agents and customers. Utilizes department and Specialty partners to augment sales process. Effectively utilizes Claims and Loss Control to display service and/or technical expertise with present and future customers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience
• 5-7+ years Underwriting experience
• 5-7+ years’ experience driving agency relationships resulting in profitable new and renewal business
• Proficient in ability to identify, analyze, and solve problems and manage and prioritize multiple concurrent projects
• Is used as a resource by others to collaborate on more complex risks, pricing, trends, industry segments, coverages, and product knowledge
• May conduct peer-to-peer self-audits under the direction of management
• Demonstrates ability to adapt quickly to change, exercise influence, and act as a change advocate being open to new and different ways of thinking
• Viewed as an informal leader amongst the team/branch/region. Open to and proactively shares knowledge and expertise with peers, management, and leadership
• Acts as a mentor for less experienced underwriters or newly hired underwriters, may assist with training other team members

Skills

• Communication: Interacts and communicates with confidence with all levels of external and/or internal business partners within scope of responsibility, team, and/or matrix environment. Can judge appropriate means and methods to communicate based on the nature of the communication. Able to influence desired outcomes to drive actions and results. Adept at influencing even when holding a position contrary to the majority opinion.
• Judgement and Decision Making: Ability to exercise judgment, negotiate, and make sound business decisions based on level of authority. Applies judgment and expertise to determine when escalation is needed. Demonstrates confidence in one’s ability to apply decision making to underwriting assessment.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Consistently fosters collaboration and respect among team members. Easily adapts to the diverse interests, styles, and perspectives of key players. Is able to engage multiple members of a group to share information and to consider other points of view to reach objectives, consensus, and/or deadlines. Experienced in working with a wide range of teams and readily shares lessons learned.

Career Development

It’s not just a job, it’s a career, and we are here to support you every step of the way. 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 IDE
• On-site medical/wellness center (Worcester only)