Title: Underwriting Director/Manager, Commercial Habitational
Direct Reports: New business and renewal underwriters
Reporting To: Program Leader, Commercial Habitational
Position Summary:The MSI Commercial Habitational Director/Manager will own the strategic growth and profitability of our commercial habitational book, leading a team of new business and renewal underwriters and cultivate long-term relationships with key production sources across the commercial habitational market. This role sets underwriting strategy and appetite, drives new account submissions and profitable binding activity across the team, and is directly accountable for portfolio growth, rate adequacy, and loss ratio performance. The Director/Manager will build and develop underwriting talent, partner with senior leadership on product and distribution strategy, and serve as a key external face of MSI with brokers, agents, and reinsurance partners.
Principal Responsibilities:
- Lead, manage, and develop a team of underwriters, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and career development, to build a high-performing habitational property underwriting function.
- Drive the creation and growth of Commercial Habitational programs with a high degree of autonomy and decision-making authority.
- Set underwriting strategy, risk appetite, and pricing guidelines for the commercial habitational book, and own overall portfolio growth, rate adequacy, and loss ratio results.
- Underwrite and produce new and complex habitational accounts, including appropriate risk selection, negotiation of terms and conditions, and accurate account pricing, while providing referral and escalation authority for the broader team.
- Monitor market trends and competitive activity, and translate that insight into underwriting guidelines, product enhancements, and go-to-market strategy that keep the organization ahead of shifts and maintain a leading market position.
- Build and maintain senior-level relationships with key brokers, agencies, and reinsurance partners, serving as MSI's primary point of contact for strategic accounts and driving new business production across the team's territory.
- Ensure all issued policies comply with carrier and reinsurance requirements, and partner with Legal, Compliance, and Reinsurance on treaty terms, audits, and regulatory matters affecting the book.
- Establish and enforce underwriting guidelines, authority levels, and quality-control standards across the team to ensure guideline adherence, sound underwriting judgment, and consistent execution of underwriting processes.
- Partner with senior leadership on business planning, budgeting, and goal-setting for the habitational property unit, and report regularly on production, profitability, and team performance against plan.
Education, Experience, Skills and Abilities Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree, preferably in a Business, Economics, Marketing or Engineering field, or equivalent years' experience.
- 10+ years of Commercial underwriting experience within an insurance carrier, MGA / program administrator, or agency / brokerage, including substantial experience underwriting large or complex accounts.
- Significant E&S commercial underwriting experience required; habitational experience strongly preferred.
- 5+ years of experience directly managing and developing underwriting staff, with a demonstrated track record of building high-performing teams and holding direct reports accountable to production and profitability goals.
- Demonstrated ability to set underwriting strategy and risk appetite, and to own profit-and-loss outcomes for a book of business.
- Ability to demonstrate a sense of urgency to resolve problems and meet broker and market expectations of service.
- Above-average technical aptitude with proven capability to work effectively across multiple systems, tools, and digital platforms.
- Experience working with MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook).
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Ability to travel approximately 1-2 times per month to visit agents, brokers, and reinsurance partners and/or attend team meetings.
Special Working Conditions:
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and collaborate effectively with colleagues.
- Proven ability to work effectively in a remote environment, demonstrating strong self-management and accountability.
- Willingness to travel up to 25% as needed
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