Senior Underwriter

About the Job

Unico American Corporation, through its subsidiaries, underwrites property and casualty insurance in the western states, primarily, California. The company's subsidiaries provide property, casualty, health, and life insurance products, as well as insurance premium financing and membership association services. The company's subsidiaries market their insurance products through a network of brokers and retail agents. Unico American Corporation was founded over 35 years ago, is publicly owned (traded under the symbol “UNAM”) and is located in Calabasas, California.

We are passionate about serving our business owners, agents, and brokers and take pride in being a values-based organization. Guided by our beliefs in Excellence, Success, Integrity, People, Diversity and Stability, we are a company looking for unique individuals who want to contribute and be part of a growing company.

Our ideal candidates are personable, high-quality professionals who “think outside of the box,” take ownership of their decisions and work in collaboration with others. We offer a great work environment which fosters personal growth and rewards performance.

The Senior Underwriter is responsible for driving profitable growth within their assigned department.

The Senior Underwriter will ensure a profitable book of business by evaluating the acceptability of risks within delegated authority levels; partnering with agents to manage a book of commercial business and build strong working relationships; supporting marketing activities to producers; and actively participating in the agency management process. The Senior Underwriter serves as a mentor providing technical support, training, and problem solving for other underwriters on an ongoing basis.

Salary Range

• $70k - $90k/year

Essential Functions:

• Analyzes commercial lines accounts to make decisions based on individual risk characteristics, exposure analysis, hazard recognition and control; utilizes underwriting guidelines and Company best practices to ensure compliance with state regulations; within delegated authority levels and continuous process improvement work principles, accepts, rejects or modifies new and/or renewal business to ensure a profitable book of business.
• Prices business according to Company underwriting and pricing guidelines; assists less experienced underwriters in the handling of high hazard or more complex accounts; ability to use creativity and underwriting knowledge to write risks and retain business.
• Partners with Marketing to support marketing activities by developing ongoing relationships with agents to discuss market appetite, quality and profitability of submissions, service standards, and underwriting and/or product changes; communicates with agents on underwriting issues including, but not limited to, decisions on cancellations, declinations, exposure concerns, and survey results.
• Partners with Marketing to identify issues or patterns and works to resolve or improve them; participates in agency planning and review processes; and may identify sales and marketing opportunities.
• Travels, with or without Marketing team, to assigned agent locations to develop agency partnerships.
• Trains and educates producers and their staff on Company products, services, processes, and underwriting philosophy.
• Trains, coaches, and serves as a technical resource to other underwriters; mentors others encouraging individuals and the team to improve and accelerate performance.
• Actively participates in continuous improvement by fully engaging in meetings, generating suggestions, following appropriate procedures and continuous process improvement work principles, participating in problem solving activities, and utilizing continuous improvement tools to support the work of the team.

Other Functions

• All other duties, as assigned.

Competencies

• Interpersonal Skills.
• Communication Proficiency.
• Time Management Skills.
• Organizational Skills.
• Technical Capacity.
• Personal Effectiveness/Credibility.
• Presentation Skills.
• Good Judgment.
• Ethical Conduct.
• Decision Making.
• Discretion.
• Financial Management.
• Problem Solving/Analysis.
• Thoroughness.

Managerial/Supervisory Responsibility

This position does not have direct managerial/supervisory responsibilities, but does serve as a coach and mentor to less experienced Underwriters.

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment and routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and to hear. The employee frequently is required to sit and stand; walk; use hands to hold, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time position. Though some flexibility in hours may be allowed, the employee must be available during the company’s regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 5pm and for additional time outside of regular business hours, to support the company’s business needs.

Travel

A minimum of 20% travel is expected for this position.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree or comparable insurance industry designation (i.e. CPCU, AU, CIC).
• Five or more years of commercial lines underwriting experience.
• Comprehensive knowledge of commercial lines products and contract knowledge including regulatory and policy differences among applicable states.
• Demonstrated depth in negotiation, analytical and problem solving skills.
• Strong computer skills and ability to work with multi-faceted systems.
• Ability to effectively and independently manage complex workload while exhibiting very sound judgment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain relationships with agents and other departments and must also exemplify superior teamwork.