Product Director, Personal Lines

Position Summary

The product director’s primary responsibility is managing profit and loss for specific states and line of business assignments. Uses rate making tools, such as rate indications, product distribution reports, retention analysis, claims severity reports and on level rate relativity reports to increase written premium and profit margins. Handles compliance, underwriting and forms development and maintains procedures that address compliance within the department.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties assigned as needed.

• Work closely with cross-functional team members to develop and execute business plans, including creation of annual growth, retention and profit forecasts.
• Provide senior leadership and field with regular assessment of financial results and both lag and lead indicators of future performance. Recommend and implement corrective actions to improve results.
• Build productive relationships with independent distributors to promote the use of the company’s products; influenced by relationship, trust, ease-of-doing business and financial incentives.
• Mentor and coach colleagues and co-workers to enhance current performance and position for future opportunities.
• Initiates insurance filings and, as required, supports and defends basic rating decisions with state regulators.
• Independently recommends rate actions using appropriate pricing metrics to create nuanced rate actions that target specific profit drivers.
• Identifies product and loss trends and gains in-depth insight by monitoring results across a variety of metrics.
• Defines and educates other functional areas on market potential and prudent investments in infrastructure. Collaborates with sales, claims and operation functions to forecast staffing and new office needs.
• Manages controllable expenses (commissions and fees) and aligns the state expense structure with key market competitors.
• Develops and suggests changes to rate specs, revision processes, marketing communication, implementation and roll-out that support ease of use and revision effectiveness.
• Navigates within the organization to resolve issues and answer questions.
• Identifies when collaboration with other affected departments’ staff is needed and solicits input from them to make product decisions.
• Develop and maintain underwriting guidelines and policy coverage language.
• Partner with IT for program development.
• Stay abreast of industry knowledge and trends to gain insight for continuous improvement of product pricing, underwriting, and claims results.
• Responsible for top and bottom-line results for personal Auto and Renters products.

Required Qualifications [Skills and Experience]

• Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university; or 5 years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Detail oriented with the ability to work in a team environment and be flexible to daily changing needs and job duties.
• Ability to lead cross-functional projects using advanced data analysis techniques to identify insights that will drive profitable product growth.
• Can independently initiate and complete complex rate revisions with limited oversight, and can fluently explain rating decisions and how the decisions tie to state strategy.
• Can insightfully identify and interpret drivers behind CY and AY loss, rate indications, and similar rate-making metrics.
• Must have excellent technical pricing expertise, including: command of pure premium cost-based pricing concepts, fluent in calculation and concepts of rate need/indications, variable and fixed expenses and ratios, profit loads, trend, loss development, frequency, severity, budgetary loss ratio, credibility, relativity analysis, off-balance calculations and overall rate change calculations.
• Excellent analytical, quantitative and problem-solving skills with a proven ability to make and execute data-driven decisions.
• Advanced technical underwriting knowledge of Private Passenger Automobile insurance, specializing in the non-standard market.
• Complete knowledge of insurance policy processing systems, workflows and procedures required.
• Ability to analyze and problem solve, working closely with others to coordinate and complete projects.
• Excellent oral, written and interpersonal communication skills.
• Must be customer service oriented, highly organized and efficient.
• Excellent analytical, quantitative and problem-solving skills with a proven ability to make and execute data-driven decisions.