Director, Underwriting Operations

Role Summary

The purpose of this position is to be responsible for the management, leadership, and oversight of the Underwriting Department. Implements underwriting strategy and operational policies for product lines. The Underwriting Director oversees the review and approval process for decisions and recommendations related to complex cases. Defines and establishes procedures for risk criteria, application, and renewal and acceptance and rejections. Responsible for ensuring integrity of underwriting activities and processes. Works with reinsurers on updating any underwriting guidelines. The Director must continually monitor and adjust workflow to ensure that all daily processing or other required work is completed efficiently and perform quality checks to ensure accuracy from both departmental and regulatory standpoints. This role is also accountable for providing support to the staff by assigning the proper coverage subject matter experts. The Director is responsible for performance evaluations, performance counseling and training of their staff members as well as assisting them in their growth and career development.

Responsibilities

Develops strong relationships with multiple business units and cross functional teams.

Leads and / or participates in business strategy and to continually enhance operational effectiveness and achieve business objectives.

Accountable for workload, workflow, and customer service to maximize efficiency.

Drive and manage day-to-day activities to meet production goals, ensure compliance, audit, performance,

and quality standards are achieved and maintained at defined service level agreements utilizing all

available resources in a cost-effective manner.

Coaches employees toward business performance standards, individual performance, and development

objectives.

Responsible for monitoring and coaching s calls and provide feedback to ensure desired call quality.

Leads and / or participates on special projects.

Stays abreast of new product information and system changes. Leads the effective implementation of

new technologies and the utilization of existing systems and provide management information reports as

required.

Monitors operations to ensure compliance with governmental requirements external environment and

competitive landscape.

Will perform various processing duties to meet the teams deadlines as required.

Provides technical expertise and leadership to the team and handles complex and escalates issues

independently.

Qualifications & Skills

Post Secondary degree and 5+ years in team leadership, with underwriting experience.

Excellent oral and written communication skills with a high level of professionalism

Excellent decision-making skills with the ability to solve problems innovatively to find "win-win" solutions

Self-starter with excellent teamwork skills and an innate sense of urgency

Proficient in Microsoft Office and the ability to learn proprietary software

Bilingual / Spanish communication a plus

Position Specific Competencies

Managing & Measuring Work : Clearly assigns responsibility for tasks and decisions; sets clear objectives

and measures; monitors process, progress, and results; designs feedback loops into work.

Developing Direct Reports : Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent

development discussions; is aware of each direct report's career goals; constructs compelling

development plans and executes them; pushes direct reports to accept developmental moves; will take

direct reports who need work; is a people builder.

Managerial Courage : Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct,

complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they

stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and

directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

Sizing Up People : Is a good judge of talent; after reasonable exposure, can articulate the strengths and

limitations of people inside or outside the organization; can accurately project what people are likely to

do across a variety of situations.

Organizational Competencies

Integrity and Trust : Is widely trusted; is seen as a direct, truthful individual; can present the unvarnished truth in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; doesn't misrepresent him / herself for personal gain.

Customer Focus : Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses if for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respects. (Customer = Applicants / Members / Agents / Associates)

Problem Solving : Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn't stop at the first answers.

Total Quality Management : is dedicated to providing the highest quality products and services which meet the needs and requirements of internal and external customers; is committed to continuous improvement through empowerment and management by data; is willing to re-engineer processes from scratch; is open to suggestions and experimentation; creates a learning environment leading to most efficient and effective work processes.

Action Oriented : Enjoys working hard; is action oriented and full of energy for the things he / she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.

Self-Development : Is personally committed to and actively works to continuously improve him / herself; understands that different situations and levels may call for different skills and approaches; works to deploy strengths; works on compensating for weakness and limits.

Time Management : Uses his / her time effectively and efficiently; value times; concentrates his / her efforts on the more important priorities; gets more done in less time than others; can attend to a broader range of activities.

Statement of Understanding

I have read and understand the job description for my position. I am able to perform all of the essential functions of this position.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that may be required of the employee. Management may change or revise the activities, duties, or responsibilities in this job description at any time.