Job Details

Job Description:
A prominent insurance provider seeking to strengthen its underwriting leadership team is looking to hire a Director of Underwriting Appetite and Standards. This senior leadership role reports directly to the Vice President of Underwriting Appetite and Standards. The position involves providing enterprise-wide technical underwriting expertise, overseeing complex referral cases, ensuring quality assurance, and delivering strategic guidance across all lines of business. The Director will serve as a key technical authority to support profitable growth through consistent risk selection, high-quality underwriting decisions, and efficient referral workflows. Collaborating closely with Underwriting Leaders, Training teams, Product Managers, and other stakeholders, this role aims to enhance underwriting capability, develop comprehensive guidelines and processes, and support expansion of market appetite and product offerings.

Responsibilities:

• Develop, review, and update underwriting guidelines to ensure clarity, consistency, and alignment across Small Business, Middle Market, and Large Commercial portfolios.

• Handle complex and high-severity underwriting referrals across all lines of business, exercising advanced technical judgment to make sound decisions.

• Conduct enterprise-wide quality assurance assessments, including individual file reviews and targeted initiatives, to evaluate underwriting accuracy, consistency, and adherence to standards.

• Analyze QA findings to identify trends, gaps, and training opportunities; communicate insights to underwritings leaders and teams.

• Partner with Underwriting Training to create and deliver technical training modules based on QA insights, appetite considerations, and growth initiatives.

• Support strategic initiatives related to new products, market expansion, and process improvements by providing technical underwriting expertise.

• Monitor market conditions, industry trends, and regulatory updates to ensure underwriting practices remain compliant and competitive.

• Assist in establishing and maintaining underwriting governance structures, including referral authority levels, exclusion criteria, and documentation standards.

• Lead and develop a team of underwriting professionals, fostering technical growth and operational excellence.

• Serve as a technical resource for underwriting and business units regarding complex exposures, coverage nuances, and industry risks.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Product, Actuarial, Claims, Safety, and Compliance to support profitable growth and maintain underwriting discipline.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, risk management or a related field; master’s degree preferred

• CPCU designation strongly preferred

• Minimum of 8+ years of progressive underwriting experience across Workers’ Compensation, Commercial Auto, General Liability, Commercial Property and Umbrella insurance

• Extensive technical knowledge of risk assessment, coverage analysis, pricing methodologies and regulatory compliance

• Proven experience handling large, complex, and non-standard risks in various industries

• Demonstrated ability to define, interpret, and govern underwriting standards, appetite, and eligibility criteria

• Strong understanding of underwriting governance concepts including guidelines, authority frameworks, referral processes, and controls

• Excellent consultative, analytical and decision-making skills

• Experience working collaboratively with Product, Actuarial, Claims, Safety, Compliance, and Sales teams to support growth and risk management

• Leadership experience managing, mentoring, and developing underwriting teams

Contact:
Justine Haley
jhaley@jacobsongroup.com

Salary Range:
The anticipated salary range for this position is $150,000.00 - $200,000.00 annually. We understand salary is an important factor in a job search and we encourage you to apply even if you feel that your desired compensation may fall outside of the listed range. The final pay for this position is determined based on several factors including but not limited to, relevant experience, skills and certifications, education and training, geographic location, market conditions, and internal equity. We are committed to finding the right candidate for this role and are open to discussing how your unique qualifications align with our needs.