Middle Market Underwriting Director

You are a driven and motivated problem solver ready to pursue meaningful work. You strive to make an impact every day & not only at work, but in your personal life and community too. If that sounds like you, then you've landed in the right place.

The Middle Market Underwriting Director of General Industries, Technology & Life Sciences supports the execution of strategic and operating plans within an assigned geographic region and provides direct management to a team of experienced General Industry field underwriters. This role provides sales and underwriting leadership, as well as strategy development and execution to the assigned territory.

The incumbent is accountable for the financial performance of an assigned territory within the region and they will report directly to the Regional Vice President. 

They will collaborate with multiple regional office leadership teams within the territory to drive profitable business for The Hartford, acting as a liaison with field leadership within other Middle Market business units to ensure clear communication, accountability and messaging to the external marketplace.  The position is charged with contributing to an environment that supports and motivates team members to develop expert technical, sales, underwriting and customer service skills with the goal of increasing the penetration of existing agency relationships and building new relationships within the aligned market.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Underwriting Director is responsible for managing and expanding a growing team of General Industry underwriters. This position reports into the RVP, and is a critical regional field leadership role within Middle Market’s Specialty businesses.

Distribution Management & Sales Leadership
• Builds strong, distinctive strategic partnerships with key agents, brokers and clients, and supports partner initiatives and strategies.
• Responsible for collaborating with Division and Regional Office leadership for agency management of top partners.
• Implements segment sales plans by reinforcing and supporting pipelining strategy and monitoring team execution.  
• Utilizes sales execution and business development strategies to generate robust quality pipelines, maximize client retention and drive new sales and net profitable growth of book.
• Coaches and manages team performance to ensure consistent practice of sales excellence discipline.
• Maintains keen insight into competitor’s strengths, weaknesses and strategies to leverage for profitable business and increased agency penetration.  
• Drives brand awareness, and gathers and responds to customer feedback

The Underwriting Director
• Directly manages and coaches a team of field underwriters, and provides indirect management support to center underwriting talent and account managers within region.
• Drives strong underwriting behaviors and discipline through oversight, quality management and compliance processes.
• Partners with the Head of Field Sales & Execution to develop and execute upon a localized talent strategy.
• Responsible for attracting, selecting and developing high caliber, diverse talent from within and/or outside of the organization.  Ensures staff continuity for key positions by anticipating and planning for future talent needs.  
• Effectively manages staff through active performance management, implementation of a meaningful development planning process, and reinforcement of a pay-for-performance compensation philosophy.
• Builds a strong team, fostering high levels of engagement, collaboration, open dialogue and involvement in decision making and planning activities.

 
Book Management, Planning and Monitoring Results:  
• Accountable for financial performance of assigned regional territory.
• Develops and implements territorial strategic and operating plans at the direction of the Head of Field Sales & Execution, which leverage agent/broker relationships and position The Hartford to profitably grow within the territory.
• Manages individual and book-level risk selection & pricing decisions to profitable underwriting results.
• Closely manages plan results and directs implementation of specific actions to address financial shortfalls.  
• Actively manages the flow and mix of business to ensure that short-term and long-term financial outcomes are optimized.

Enterprise Accountability & Underwriting Operations:  
• Partners with home office leadership and referral support to ensure that underwriting practices and guidelines are understood and adhered to, specifically focusing upon pricing, risk selection, mix of business, flow management and quality analysis.  
• Utilizes quality management and referral programs to identify opportunities to develop talent to ensure functional and regulatory integrity of the book of business and overall compliance with segment guidelines.
• Ensures claims, risk engineering and service operations partnerships are successfully leveraged within the region, recommending changes to process and partnering with key internal business partners as needed to improve offerings.
• Utilizes and champions enterprise tools and systems, and understands reporting capabilities in order to monitor success of initiatives.

QUALIFICATIONS:

· 8+ years of Commercial Carrier Underwriting, agency/territorial experience is required; strong preference for previous management/supervisory experience

· BS/BS degree; advanced degree and/or relevant industry designation

· Solid financial/business acumen skills and Commercial Underwriting expertise

· Highly regarded for leadership capabilities

· Experience with Microsoft computer package; ability to learn/navigate internal computer systems 

· Ability to travel regularly within an assigned geographic region

· Established personal brand in territory with prevalent general industry specialized brokers

·  The Hartford is proud to offer a hybrid work location model that is designed to support flexibility.

·  This position and title will be commensurate with the selected candidate's commercial underwriting and leadership experience

Compensation

The listed annualized base pay range is primarily based on analysis of similar positions in the external market. Actual base pay could vary and may be above or below the listed range based on factors including but not limited to performance, proficiency and demonstration of competencies required for the role. The base pay is just one component of The Hartford’s total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include short-term or annual bonuses, long-term incentives, and on-the-spot recognition. The annualized base pay range for this role is:

$128,880 - $193,320

Equal Opportunity Employer/Females/Minorities/Veterans/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity or Expression/Religion/Age

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Regional Director - UW07BA

Skills: