Swiss Re

Head Contracts L&H North America (Toronto)

Swiss Re$170K — $204K *
Finance & Insurance
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12-15+ years of experience in Life & Health reinsurance or insurance contracting required
  • Law degree is mandatory
  • Strong legal foundation or substantial experience in drafting and negotiating reinsurance agreements
  • Proven commercial judgment and ability to articulate risk trade-offs
  • Experience in a regulated, high-complexity reinsurance environment
  • Demonstrated experience leading multi-location teams
  • History of driving workflow modernization and technology-enabled change

Responsibilities

  • Strengthen contracts to reflect underwriting intent and promote disciplined risk-taking
  • Act as a trusted partner to Client Markets and cross-functional teams
  • Provide decisive recommendations on wording and structural trade-offs
  • Lead the analysis and restructuring of existing agreements
  • Ensure consistent application of global contracting standards
  • Own deviation governance and promote documentation rigor
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Contracts Specialists

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model with in-office expectations
  • Opportunity to shape the evolution of the Contracts function
  • Direct partnership with North America leadership and global heads
  • Full accountability for the largest L&H portfolio in the company
  • Focus on innovation with GenAI integration in workflows
Full Job Description
The Opportunity

The North America (US, Canada, English Caribbean) portfolio represents the largest and most complex region within Swiss Re's L&H reinsurance portfolio.

The L&H Contracts Team Lead - North America is a senior leadership role with full regional accountability for the Contracts function across traditional reinsurance agreements. This role leads contract drafting discipline, governance rigor, and in-force contractual risk review within a high-volume, performance-driven underwriting environment.

You will serve as a business partner to Swiss Re L&H's North America Market Units and translate underwriting intent and legal advice into disciplined, repeatable contract execution that protects performance and long-term value. The role owns deviation discipline, negotiation consistency, contractual integrity, and contractual analysis across the region, while driving modernization through workflow tools and GenAI-enabled practices.

While strong legal and drafting expertise is essential, this role sits within the L&H Pricing & Portfolio Performance (PPP) function and partners closely with legal, underwriting, pricing, claims, portfolio management and risk functions to support Swiss Re's North America business. It is accountable for ensuring contracts reflect disciplined risk-taking and align with underwriting performance objectives.

Reporting to the Global Head of L&H Contracts, this role is a member of the global L&H Contracts Leadership Team and plays a visible role in shaping the evolution of the Contracts function.

Your Mandate

1. Strengthen Commercial Discipline
  • Ensure contracts reflect underwriting intent and disciplined risk-taking
  • Act as a trusted partner to Client Markets and cross-functional stakeholders (Underwriting, Pricing, Claims, Legal), shaping deal structure and contract outcomes on key accounts
  • Provide clear, decisive recommendations on wording and structural trade-offs, including hands-on involvement of key client accounts
  • Lead interpretation, analysis, and restructuring of existing agreements

2. Strengthen Governance & Standardization
  • Ensure consistent application of global contracting standards
  • Own deviation governance, tracking, and transparency across the region
  • Strengthen documentation rigor and decision traceability

3. Talent Management & Leadership
  • Lead, mentor, and develop team of Contracts Specialists across the US and Canada
  • Define clear roles, accountability, and career pathways for Contracts Specialists
  • Represent North America within the global L&H Contracts Leadership Team

4. Accelerate Digital Workflow & GenAI Adoption
  • Lead regional adoption of contracting workflow tools and GenAI-enabled practices, embedding AI into standard drafting and review workflows
  • Ensure responsible use of GenAI is operationally embedded and scalable across the region


What Success Looks Like

Within 18-24 months:
  • Contracts is recognized as a disciplined commercial and risk partner across North America
  • Strong governance and deviation discipline across markets
  • Broad adoption of digital workflow and GenAI tools


Your Profile
  • 12-15+ years' experience in Life & Health reinsurance or insurance contracting - must have Law degree
  • Strong legal foundation orsubstantial experience drafting and negotiating reinsurance agreements
  • Demonstrated commercial judgment and ability to articulate risk trade-offs
  • Experience operating in a regulated, high-complexity reinsurance environment
  • Experience leading multi-location teams
  • Experience driving workflow modernization and technology-enabled change


You are:
  • A high-accountability leader who drives performance and sets clear standards
  • Decisive and comfortable owning difficult calls
  • Commercially pragmatic while uncompromising on risk discipline
  • Confident challenging stakeholders constructively
  • Committed to developing talent and strengthening capabilities


Why This Role Is Compelling
  • Full regional accountability across Swiss Re's largest L&H portfolio
  • Direct partnership with the North America leadership and the Global Head of L&H Contracts
  • Mandate to strengthen commercial discipline and governance at scale
  • Opportunity to shape the evolution of the Contracts function, including integration of workflow and GenAI


The base salary hiring range for this existing position is CAD $170,000 - 204,000. The specific base salary offered for this or any given role will take into account a number of factors including but not limited to job location, scope of role, qualifications, complexity/specialization/scarcity of talent, experience, education, and employer budget. At Swiss Re, we take a "total compensation approach" when making compensation decisions. This means that we consider all components of compensation in their totality (such as base pay, short-and long-term incentives, and benefits offered), in setting individual compensation.

Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office three days per week.

Keywords:
Reference Code: 138241

About Swiss Re

Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, commonly known as Swiss Re, is a reinsurance company based in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the world's second-largest reinsurer, after Munich Re. Swiss Re provides insurance and reinsurance products and services to customers globally. The company operates through four segments: Property & Casualty Reinsurance, Life & Health Reinsurance, Corporate Solutions, and Admin Re. Swiss Re has a long history, dating back to 1863, and has grown to become a leading player in the global insurance and reinsurance industry. The company is committed to sustainability and has set ambitious targets to reduce its carbon footprint and promote renewable energy.
Learn more about Swiss Re
Size
13,189 employees
Industry
NASDAQ

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