What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Small Business Underwriting position at Ohio Farmers Insurance Company?
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The Opportunity:
At Westfield Small Business, we are committed to leading innovation and excellence in the small business insurance sector. Our goal is to empower independent agents with a broad risk appetite and automated solutions to enable efficient growth and uncover new opportunities. By prioritizing superior customer service and disciplined underwriting, we ensure consistent and stable financial outcomes, making us a reliable partner in our customers' success. We utilize advanced technology and data analytics to streamline our processes and deliver exceptional value to our clients. Join us and be part of a team that is revolutionizing the small business insurance industry through strategic agency partnerships, innovative capabilities and cutting-edge automation.
The ideal candidate plays a pivotal role in shaping our underwriting strategies and driving operational excellence while leading a dynamic team, implement innovative solutions, and make a significant impact on our business and the clients we serve.
- Set the Vision: Develop and implement comprehensive underwriting strategies that drive profitable growth and align with our business objectives. Your vision will guide initiatives in field underwriting, automated systems, and the integration of third-party data sources.
- Lead Innovation: Oversee the optimization of our Automated Underwriting model, ensuring seamless alignment with field processes. Leverage technology to enhance underwriting speed, precision, and scalability, staying ahead of market trends and emerging opportunities.
- Collaborate and Influence: Partner with the Distribution team to build strong relationships with agency partners. Engage in underwriting submissions and deliver tailored solutions that meet market demands and profitability targets.
- Drive Operational Excellence: Provide strategic and operational leadership for all aspects of the underwriting function. Implement strategies to achieve profitable growth while advancing the maturity of our risk management framework.
- Financial Stewardship: Drives Small Business segment financial performance by monitoring underwriting trends, portfolio performance, and market dynamics to maximize profitable growth while aligning with risk appetite and business strategies. Collaborates with Product, Actuarial, and Finance teams to refine underwriting appetite, pricing models, and expenses. Proactively analyzes industry trends to adapt strategies, identify growth opportunities, and address emerging risks, ensuring alignment with financial goals and market competitiveness.
- Risk Management: Ensure sound risk assessment practices and continuous improvement of underwriting guidelines. Balance growth with maintaining underwriting discipline and adapting to market dynamics.
- Build the Team: Builds and leads a high-performing team with a strong culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. Drives talent strategy, including hiring, succession planning, and career pathing, to strengthen underwriting excellence and reinforce the importance of the UW relationship with independent agents.
- Drive Change: Lead and manage change initiatives, ensuring smooth transitions and effective communication across the organization.
- Foster Collaboration: Act as the primary liaison between Underwriting, Product Development, Operations, and executive leadership to ensure alignment and execution of business strategies.
- Champion Innovation: Spearhead initiatives to advance underwriting disciplines through technology, data analytics, and automation. Drive the evolution of underwriting models to increase efficiency and accuracy in decision-making.
- Proven leader with 12 years of experience in underwriting, focusing on insurance operations and strategy.
- 8 years of leading leaders.
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Sales, Risk Management, Insurance, or a related field preferred; Master's degree is a plus.
- CPCU certification preferred.
- Strong strategic mindset with the ability to drive vision and purpose.
- Inspiring Leader, Excellent communicator, capable of collaborating effectively with technical teams and executive stakeholders.
- Passionate about talent cultivation; building the next generation of Westfield Small Business underwriters.
- Curious - constantly strives to learn and understand. Creative - ideates to create agent centric solutions, uses data, technology to drive innovation and underwriting excellence.
Why Join Us:
At Westfield Small Business, you'll be part of a forward-thinking organization that celebrates innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. The candidate will have the opportunity to set the strategic direction for Small Business Underwriting while building an organization that serves independent agents better than anyone else, shaping the future of Westfield Small Business insurance.
Location: Hybrid/Remote
Behavioral Competencies
- Collaborates
- Communicates Effectively
- Customer Focus
- Decision Quality
- Nimble Learning
- Builds Effective Teams
- Business Insight
- Develops Talent
- Directs Work
- Ensures Accountability
- Manages Complexity
- Drives Vision and Purpose
- Strategic Mindset
Westfield celebrates diversity and is committed to inclusion. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
