E&S Property Technical Underwriting Director

Zurich North America (ZNA) is seeking an E&S Property Technical Underwriting Director for Zurich E&S, ZNA’s independent business division servicing the excess and surplus lines industry.

The E&S Property Technical Underwriting Director is a new position that will be responsible for the development and implementation of underwriting rules, guidelines and products to support the full limit and shared and layered property offerings for Zurich E&S.

This role will monitor market trends for profitability indicators and emerging issues and ensuring the property offerings remain current and appropriate to the customer segments served by the E&S unit.

The role will be responsible for recommending and developing underwriting rules and guidelines including identifying opportunities to leverage objective data points as drivers of risk selection, coverage and terms.

Products supported will include primary and full limit property utilizing ZNA admitted and surplus lines products as well and shared and layered participations using ZNA products or manuscript policy forms.

The role will work with the Head of Underwriting, Head of E&S Property and Property Portfolio Managers in identifying opportunities to expand appetite supported by market sizing and profitability assessments, and to identify opportunities for corrective actions to enhance profitability.

The position will also work with the Product Development team as an SME in the development of new standard or bespoke coverages and will assist the Property Portfolio Managers in optimizing the manuscript review and approval processes for manuscript coverage forms.

As part of the product development process, the role will collaborate with actuaries to ensure product changes are appropriately reflected in rating plans.

The role will also assist in the identification and development of reporting capabilities to support monitoring of portfolio KPI’s and insights and report regularly to the line of business management team.

Lastly, the role may provide training to underwriting teams on new products or processes and well as participate in ongoing Quality Assurance reviews.

We are looking for a leader with strong influencing and leadership skills and the ability to cultivate portfolio insights and actionable underwriting plans.

The new position reports to the Head of Underwriting E&S. The role can be a located in Atlanta, GA, Schaumburg, IL or New York, NY.

Flexible work arrangements may be available. Some travel may be required.

This role will be filled at either the AVP or VP level. The hiring manager will determine the appropriate level based upon the selected applicant’s experience and skill set relative to the qualifications listed for this position.

Candidate requirements include :

AVP Level :

• Bachelors Degree and 8 or more years of experience in the Underwriting area
• High School Diploma or Equivalent and 10 or more years of experience in the Underwriting area
• Strong listening, verbal and written communication skills

VP Level :

Bachelors Degree and 10 or more years of experience in the Underwriting area

Preferred Requirements :

• 10 or more years of property underwriting, product or portfolio management experience
• Extensive knowledge of surplus lines property markets and products
• Experience across an array of risk segments including large and mid-sized risks, as well as underwriting knowledge of both primary property underwriting and shared and layered property accounts.
• Demonstrated experience in drafting underwriting guidelines for complex and diverse schedules that align with business unit strategy objectives as well as business unit and corporate risk tolerances
• Demonstrated ability to leverage data and technology to drive underwriting outcomes
• Expertise in product forms, coverage and manuscripting
• Experience in capacity deployment including for catastrophe risk
• Excellent communications skills and a demonstrated ability to translate complex underwriting concepts into actionable protocols and processes
• Ability to conduct market research including knowledge of reliable tools and resources
• Strong portfolio management skills and a demonstrated track record of strong underwriting performance in property

As a condition of employment at Zurich, employees must adhere to any COVID-related health and safety protocols in place at that time ().