Underwriting Manager

Description

About Pacific Specialty Insurance Company (PSIC)  At Pacific Specialty Insurance Company (PSIC), we approach things a bit differently and have for over 27 years. We warmly welcome each new employee to our work family. Family is one of PSIC’s Core values therefore, we treat our employees with appreciation and respect, while providing the much-needed flexibility in their day. We understand this is paramount in today’s workforce. 

Our Core values of Family, Home, Trust and Profitability are what drives our daily decisions. We strive to foster a culture where all employees feel a sense of belonging and are encouraged to come up with ideas to help us improve as an organization. We provide the tools to help you succeed. Pacific Specialty Insurance Company is a large regional carrier in California, but consistently writes business in 4 other states as well.  

 Job Summary:   The Property & Casualty Underwriter Manager is responsible for leading the underwriting department within the company, ensuring compliance with underwriting guidelines, regulatory standards, and operational protocols across all underwriting processes. Key responsibilities include managing all subordinate staff (including offshore resources), ensuring adherence to underwriting guidelines and quotas, reviewing and enhancing existing guidelines, and maintaining regulatory compliance. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Operations, the Underwriter Manager must demonstrate excellent communication skills, a professional demeanor, and the ability to collaborate effectively with business unit managers, insureds, producers, and partners.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in P&C underwriting, coupled with the autonomy to navigate processes independently. This role requires a proactive approach to identifying and addressing inefficiencies and an ability to reason and rationalize decisions in complex underwriting scenarios. The candidate will excel in critical thinking, organizational skills, and will be committed to meeting service-level agreements (SLA) and average handling time (AHT) targets. This position offers a dynamic environment with significant opportunities for career advancement.

Duties and Responsibilities:   

Team and Process Management: 

• Supervise and manage offshore underwriting production, ensuring adherence to SLA and AHT requirements, with proactive quality control through clear communication and direction to offshore management.
• Directly oversee the performance and productivity of onshore underwriting staff, ensuring all quotas and performance metrics are consistently met.
• Address and resolve complex underwriting cases escalated by offshore teams.
• Lead, supervise, and manage all internal underwriting staff to ensure high standards of performance and accountability
• Develop, update, and maintain training modules for all underwriting staff, ensuring training materials are comprehensive and continually improved.

Underwriting Support and Quality Assurance:

• Oversee the Onshore Underwriting Support queue, ensuring timely support for the Customer Service Representative (CSR) team and Call Center, effectively addressing underwriting-related inquiries.
• Manage escalations from onshore teams, providing guidance and resolution to ensure operational efficiency.

Policy Management and Compliance:

• Monitor aged inspections, ensuring adherence to underwriting timelines and guidelines.
• Facilitate policy rescissions as necessary, handling escalations from offshore, onshore, and Claims departments to ensure compliance and accuracy.

Regulatory and Audit Liaison:

• Serve as the Underwriting  Liaison for Department of Insurance (DOI) investigations and audits, ensuring regulatory compliance and responsiveness.
• Review DOI inquiries and ensure timely and accurate submission of responses to respective state DOI offices.
• Support and facilitate DOI investigations as required, providing expertise and documentation.

Interdepartmental Collaboration:

• Act as the Underwriting Liaison for Claims and Legal departments, reviewing coverage questions and determining appropriate actions for policies with adverse loss histories.
• Collaborate with Product Development, Marketing/Sales, IT, CSR Managers, Premium Accounting, and integration vendors to address escalated or complex policies, design workflow solutions, and improve operational efficiency.
• Conduct regular reviews of underwriting workflows, recommending updates to guidelines to mitigate risks, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance productivity.

Technology and Process  Improvement:

• Identify technology issues  impacting underwriting operations and proactively open IT tickets as needed, collaborating with IT and relevant departments for timely resolution.
• Oversee and manage JIRA IT tickets, ensuring issues are tracked, addressed promptly, and system enhancements are effectively implemented.
• Implement technology-driven solutions to optimize underwriting processes and improve operational efficiency.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives within the underwriting department by deploying process automation, workflow optimizations, and technology upgrades to enhance productivity and service quality.

Financial Oversight:

• Review, reconcile, and approve underwriting-related invoices, ensuring accuracy and adherence to budgetary guidelines.
• Facilitate timely payments for underwriting integrations and vendor services, maintaining financial accuracy and compliance.

Additional Duties:

• Complete additional tasks as assigned by the supervisor, with flexibility and adaptability to support departmental and organizational needs. Job responsibilities are not limited to the listed tasks and may evolve as the needs of the organization change.
• Responsibilities are not limited to listed duties and may require adaptation depending on organizational directive. 

Requirements

  The Ideal Candidate will have the following:  

• Demonstrated ability to work  autonomously and exercise self-guidance in managing underwriting processes.
• Extensive prior experience in P&C underwriting.
• Self-starter with strong critical thinking, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to rationalize, reason, and self-identify inefficiencies within workflows and processes.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across departments and with external partners.

Other Important Information:  Occasional travel may be required. This role will work fully on-site in Anaheim initially, followed by a transition to a hybrid work schedule. 

Competitive Compensation – Salaries will be established commensurate with experience. 

Our Benefits - Protection is the name of the game in the insurance industry, and we believe in benefit plans that offer protection to our employees for medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and retirement plans. Our 401k plan and company match are second to none. The company will make a matching contribution equal to 60% of your qualified salary deferral contribution!  All qualified applicants for employment will be considered without regard to an individual’s race, color, sex, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local laws.  

Pacific Specialty Insurance Company is a member of the McGraw Group of Affiliated Companies. Pacific Specialty Insurance Company is an equal opportunity employer 

Salary : $75,000 - $130,000