Sr. Personal Lines Underwriter

JOB SUMMARY

Responsible for Personal Lines underwriting activities, agency relationship/account servicing, and applying sound underwriting judgment within an assigned Underwriting territory. One must be able to handle a significant volume of complex request and serve as a lead technical resource and principal contact on personal lines underwriting projects. Assist the PL Underwriting management team with training, mentoring, referral review and basic supervision of daily workflow operations for other underwriters as assigned.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Review risks when referred for prior approval and refer any risk over authority level to a supervisor; prepare appropriate referral document.
• Review and analyze coverage applications to determine acceptability under current company guidelines and policies; determine appropriate terms for accepting risks to include appropriate coverages, need for inspection reports, corrective measures, and the like.
• Communicate underwriting decisions with agents in a timely fashion.
• Order property inspection or other Underwriting reports when needed; review inspection results, initiate recommendations; determine appropriate follow-up action.
• Review policies coming up for renewal and within the predefined renewal timeframe and take the appropriate action.
• Review policy endorsements that have been referred for completeness of information and acceptability of risk, obtain additional information if needed.
• Review cancellations that have been referred by the agent, Service, or other Underwriters for approval. Approve and route to cancellation flow or request additional information needed.
• Initiate company cancellations and non-renewals, ensuring that legal notice requirements are met; execute cancellation request, ensuring that all proper documentation is completed. Approve or decline reinstatement/rewrites on policies that have cancelled for non-payment or other Underwriting reasons; notify direct bill if they need to take any action.
• Assist Underwriting Supervisor with agency audits, training, and other reporting needs[TS1] .
• Maintain service processing standard and productivity goals for all workflows.
• Review losses to detect frequency or severity problems; suggest changes to improve loss ratio and monitor potential problem policies; initiate cancellation if problems continue and no alternative coverage approaches are viable.
• Perform key liaison functions with agents within assigned geographic area: solicit information for quotes give quotes, explain declined business, discuss problems or unusual situations, provide with a wide variety of information related to policy and coverage options encourages continuing business, and the like.
• Serve as lead technical resource and principal contact on personal lines underwriting projects.
• Keep abreast of relevant changes in legal requirements, industry standards and trends, company policies and guidelines, changes in policy forms or coverages and research as needed through Department OneNote, Reference Connect, etc.
• Learn and understand Underwriting programs and reports such as: Insurance Now, Riskmeter and other underwriting tools.
• Assist the supervisor or manager with special projects or system testing when requested.
• Provide back-up phone, email, and territory coverage for other underwriters as directed by supervisor.
• Proactively monitor agency relationship and book of business; work with marketing representatives and the Research & Development Department to resolve any issues and keep supervisor and manager informed of issues. Utilize reporting to diagnose performance or productivity issues with individual agencies.
• Assist the Underwriting Supervisor with training new hires in the general job function; provide feedback to the Supervisor on the new hire’s progress and review new hire’s work for accuracy and completeness.
• Attend Senior Underwriting meetings to provide input on market trends observations, status updates on assigned projects, suggest process and product improvement, etc.
• Performs other duties or special projects as required or as assigned.

SUPERVISION EXERCISED

Partial functional supervision and supports training and skill development of Personal Lines Underwriting staff as directed by a Supervisor or the Manager.

SUPERVISION RECEIVED

Minimal supervision is received from either the Personal Lines Underwriting Manager or Supervisor as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

• Associate's degree in business or other appropriate discipline plus 5 or more years of relevant work experience, with some industry experience desirable, or a combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and skills are acquired.
• Broad base of knowledge/skills related to underwriting personal lines of insurance. Good general knowledge of the industry, including insurance company and independent agency operations.
• Good math, analytical and problem-solving skills. Good writing skills.
• Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook; Experience working with computerized information systems, including imaging.
• Desire to train, mentor, direct and coordinate the work of Personal Lines Underwriting staff with limited oversight.
• Ability to represent the company to and work cooperatively and effectively with company personnel and agents, as well as others outside the company, in carrying out the varied liaison and account servicing functions of the job.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORKING CONDITIONS

• Predominately sedentary office position with high frequency of keyboarding/computer work required.
• The physical demands are minimal and typical of similar jobs in comparable organizations.
• The work environment is representative and typical of similar jobs in comparable organizations.

The salary range reflected is a good faith estimate of base pay for the position. In addition to base salary, this role is incentive compensation and benefits eligible, and individual salary will ultimately be determined based on individual experience, skills, qualifications and geographic location.