Head of UK Underwriting
Location: Hybrid – with visits to our office in Wimbledon as and when required
Salary: Competitive
Contract Type: Permanent
We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of UK Underwriting to join our Underwriting team here at Domestic & General. Reporting into the Director of Group Underwriting, you will be responsible for maximising profitability, exceeding internal budgets for our warranty business across several major accounts and countries.
The role will also consist of forecasting and managing the profitability of new and existing lines of warranty business across corporate and consumer products. Your involvement will have a direct impact on the profitable growth of our organisation as you work across a diverse array of business sectors. Operating within a fast growing and dynamic business, the role contributes directly to the profitable growth of the organisation.
It will be supported by a team of two to three Managers and their direct reports (of which there are 4 to 6)
The team are responsible for:
- Developing and delivering creative solutions to complex warranty design problems, including those related to our pricing engine and policy admin system
- Shaping and enhancing our underwriting strategy and working with Data, Analytics, Pricing, Commercial Finance, Product and Tech teams to deliver these changes.
- Analysing new data sources or avenues for understanding how they might benefit our strategy
- Using algorithmic and hypothesis-driven research to enhance our performance
- Managing a portfolio of warranty products
- The development and maintenance of claims forecasting models and monitoring frameworks that help identify key trends in the performance of our portfolio and influence customer level risk based pricing
- Setting viable pricing and commission structures for new and existing warranty business in collaboration with Pricing and Commercial Finance
- Ensuring the pricing, commercial arrangements and product design of warranty business delivers against cost and target margins over a lifecycle, through accurate costing and modelling
- Producing 1 Year and 5 Year fees, Income and Claims forecasts, as part of budget cycle
- Working with Finance, Service and wider business stakeholders to understand and explain drivers of variances.
- Being fully embedded within the business supporting key decisions and actively collaborating across functions to identify opportunities for value creation
Domestic & General is a company with an ambitious future. We are expanding our horizons and entering new markets and we need your expertise to help make it happen. We are an international company who works with some of the worlds most respected and well-known brands of domestic appliances and electronic consumer goods. These opportunities don’t come around often, so this really is a position not to be missed.
Key role responsibilities:
- Line management of two to three Underwriting Managers and wider responsibility for four to six analysts. Mentoring and managing the team and environment for individuals to unleash their potential.
- Work with large data sets, analyse key trends and drivers, using new methods of modelling using R or Python, instead of current Excel methods to support customer level risk based pricing
- Gain the trust of the business and become a critical friend providing challenge on performance and future strategy.
- Represent Underwriting on the relevant leadership teams or committees across the business ensuring all stakeholders have the right level of understanding of underwriting performance and are sufficiently supported in their decision-making.
- Delivery of high quality and well understood forecasts and budgets and subsequent updates with well understood risks and opportunities, encouraging a no surprises culture.
- Work closely with key stakeholders in the data team to understand, identify and execute opportunities for value creation
Skills and experience required:
- Previous experience of underwriting or credit strategy in an insurance or financial services business partnering in a complex, fast paced environment.
- Proven leader of high performing teams
- A critical thinker with strong analytical and problem solving skills.
- Ability to lead a team through period of change
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; interpersonal and collaborative skills
- Capable of building effective relationships with stakeholders across all levels and fully understands the challenges of the function being supported
- Ability to maintain professional relationships with senior management of all disciplines
- Strategic thinking capability
- Able to operate effectively in a complex business environment
- Work collaboratively across functions, recognising and utilising the expertise across the business to drive value
- Confident in holding self and others to account
- Commercial acumen
- High level of personal integrity, and the ability to professionally handle confidential matters and exude the appropriate level of judgment and maturity
- Excellent degree of initiative, dependability and ability to work with little supervision
We offer lots of great benefits! Some of which include:
- Competitive salary and annual discretionary bonus
- 25 days annual leave plus bank/public holidays, as well as an annual option to buy up to 5 additional days of annual leave
- Training opportunities as well as clearly defined career progression
- Health cash plan – employer funded cover to enable you to claim money back on essential healthcare costs, including dental, optical, physiotherapy and many more. Cover also includes unlimited access to a 24/7 virtual GP service
- Attractive company pension scheme
- Life assurance – employer funded cover of 4x basic salary
- Dedicated online benefit portal offering access to saving and lending facilities, financial wellbeing and support services:
- Salary Finance – access to savings and borrowing through payroll
- Car Leasing – access to a carbon neutral salary sacrifice car leasing scheme, with an all-inclusive monthly cost covering all charge, taxes, insurance, repairs and maintenance on a range of brand new vehicles
- Travel Loans – interest free loans to help spread the cost of annual travel tickets
- Cycle to Work – tax efficient bike and cycling equipment worth up to £1,000
- Health & Wellbeing – discounted gym membership, online virtual workout sessions, online culinary classes
- OnHand – Giving you the opportunity to be an Eco & Social volunteer via a handy app. Volunteer individually or in groups to get involved in Youth Mentoring, Food Poverty, Homelessness & Elderly help.
- Employee Assistance Programme – specialist advice and support on issues such as finance, relationships, illness and family issues
- Free Domestic & General protection plan – one free plan each year with access to discounted rates of up to 50% on additional plans, including referrals for family and friends
- Employee discounts – access to discounted Sky TV and broadband packages, together with a range of discounts for 100s of online and high street retailers
Domestic & General are an equal opportunities employer which means we treat people fairly. We welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status.
Please note that we have a thorough referencing process, which includes criminal record checks.