Position Overview: The Head of Underwriting is responsible for leading the company's underwriting function, driving risk selection, pricing discipline, and portfolio performance. This role combines strategic ownership with team leadership, ensuring underwriting excellence through strong guidelines, data-driven decision-making, and consistent execution.
The Head of Underwriting plays a critical role in balancing growth and profitability, particularly in catastrophe-exposed portfolios, while building a high-performing underwriting team. This role also proactively identifies opportunities to streamline processes and implement automation, leveraging a forward-thinking approach to position the organization for long-term success in an evolving industry.
Key Responsibilities: Underwriting Strategy & Leadership• Define and execute underwriting strategy aligned with company risk appetite and growth goals
• Establish clear underwriting frameworks, guidelines, and authority structures
• Lead and develop the underwriting team to ensure consistent, high-quality decision-making
Team Management & Development• Manage, mentor, and scale a team of underwriters
• Set performance expectations, KPIs, and accountability standards
• Foster a culture of discipline, collaboration, and continuous improvement
Portfolio Management• Own portfolio performance, including loss ratio, exposure, and concentration risk
• Monitor trends and adjust underwriting strategy based on performance and market conditions
• Actively manage catastrophe exposure, including wildfire and other perils
Pricing & Risk Selection• Ensure alignment between underwriting decisions and pricing models
• Partner with actuarial and data teams to refine segmentation and risk selection
• Maintain balance between growth targets and profitability
Data & Analytics Integration• Drive adoption of data-driven underwriting tools, models, and risk scores
• Collaborate with data science teams to improve model performance and usability
• Ensure underwriting decisions are informed by robust analytics and insights
Reinsurance & Risk Alignment• Partner with reinsurance to align underwriting strategy with risk transfer programs
• Ensure portfolio construction reflects reinsurance structures and constraints
• Support optimization of retention and exposure
Governance & Compliance• Ensure underwriting practices meet regulatory requirements and internal controls
• Maintain clear documentation, auditability, and consistency
• Support regulatory interactions and internal reviews
• Cross-Functional Leadership
• Collaborate with claims, finance, and revenue teams to align on performance and strategy
• Provide insights into loss drivers and emerging risks
• Serve as a key advisor to executive leadership on portfolio risk and growth
Qualifications:- 10-15+ years of underwriting experience, preferably in property insurance
- Active Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance license in at least one U.S. state is required. If not currently licensed in California, candidates must be able to obtain a California Non-Resident Property & Casualty license within 90 days of hire.
- Proven leadership experience managing and developing underwriting teams
- Strong expertise in catastrophe-exposed risks; wildfire experience strongly preferred
- Deep understanding of underwriting, pricing, and portfolio management
- Experience in insurtech or data-driven underwriting environments preferred
- Familiarity with regulatory and compliance frameworks
Compensation and Benefits• Competitive salary plus equity stock options
• Flexibility to work from anywhere in the United States
• Unlimited PTO, including sick leave and company holidays
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance. (25% paid by employee, 75% covered by Delos including dependents)
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Professional development opportunities and tuition assistance
The pay range for this role is:
175,000 - 200,000 USD per year (Remote (San Francisco, CA, US))
