Director - Underwriting, Religious Markets

**This is a HYBRID position that requires in office days Tuesday-Thursday at one of our office locations below:

• Merrill, WI (preferred location)
• Milwaukee, WI
• Madison, WI
• Mechanicsburg, PA

We will also consider fully remote for candidates who are not within commuting distance to one of our offices.

Drive results. Lead teams. Strengthen a specialized market.

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Underwriting Director to lead our Religious Markets segment. This role is responsible for delivering profitable growth, building strong distribution relationships, and developing underwriting talent within a specialized and evolving market.

Position Summary

Provide strategic underwriting leadership for a business segment or line of business, with accountability for underwriting philosophy, risk appetite, market positioning, and portfolio performance. This role drives profitable growth, risk quality, and long-term business results by leading underwriting management staff, guiding complex decision-making, and ensuring alignment between underwriting execution and enterprise objectives. In addition, this role plays a key part in strengthening broker relationships, expanding market presence, and delivering consistent production results within a specialized and evolving market.

Primary Job Responsibilities:

Strategy & Execution

• Lead development and execution of underwriting goals, objectives, and budgets
• Translate business strategy into underwriting direction and team execution plans
• Ensure underwriting execution aligns with enterprise goals and business priorities
• Accountable for driving production results and top-line growth through underwriting execution and market engagement with sales partners
• Support consistent achievement of growth objectives while maintaining underwriting discipline

Portfolio Performance & Financial Management

• Own profitability, growth, and retention results for assigned book(s) of business
• Analyze underwriting results including loss ratios, growth, retention, and exposure trends
• Identify opportunities for profitability improvement and growth optimization
• Ensure balance between risk selection, pricing discipline, and market competitiveness
• Maintain accountability for delivering consistent, profitable portfolio performance

Underwriting Decision Leadership

• Provide guidance on complex underwriting decisions, coverage structures, and pricing strategies
• Review and approve risks within assigned authority levels or involving significant complexity
• Ensure consistent application of underwriting guidelines
• Maintain underwriting discipline while balancing growth, profitability, and risk quality objectives
• Provide leadership across complex risks, large accounts, and program business

Leadership & Talent Management

• Recruit, hire, onboard, and develop underwriting and support staff
• Conduct performance evaluations and manage employee development
• Administer compensation decisions, including salary adjustments and promotions
• Build organizational capability across underwriting roles and drive succession planning
• Establish clear expectations, drive accountability, and develop high-performing underwriting teams aligned to business objectives

Operations & Execution

• Oversee workflow across underwriting support, assistants, and underwriters
• Monitor productivity, service levels, and workload distribution
• Partner with supervisors to ensure consistent execution quality
• Optimize workflow execution to improve service, consistency, and capacity management

Collaboration & Market Engagement

• Partner with Sales to support production goals and relationships
• Collaborate with Actuarial and Claims to inform underwriting decisions
• Maintain strong, strategic relationships with key brokers and distribution partners to support growth and retention
• Participate in customer meetings, presentations, and negotiations
• Support expansion of broker relationships and market engagement to drive new business opportunities

Change & Continuous Improvement

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives across processes, tools, and workflows
• Support adoption of organizational changes
• Identify opportunities to improve underwriting effectiveness and performance

Qualifications:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree required
• CPCU or advanced industry designation strongly preferred
• 10+ years of property and casualty underwriting experience
• Demonstrated experience managing highly complex risks and portfolios
• 5+ years of leadership experience; experience leading leaders strongly preferred
• Demonstrated experience leading production-focused underwriting teams with a track record of achieving growth and profitability objectives

Technical Knowledge

• Expert-level knowledge of underwriting principles, pricing strategies, and risk management
• Deep understanding of portfolio performance drivers, including profitability, growth, and retention
• Advanced knowledge of reinsurance concepts and application
• Strong understanding of underwriting guidelines, regulatory requirements, and compliance standards
• Knowledge of product development, market dynamics, and competitive positioning

Skills & Abilities

• Strong strategic thinking and ability to translate business goals into underwriting direction
• Demonstrated ability to lead leaders, develop talent, and build organizational capability
• Strong financial and business acumen
• Executive-level communication and influencing skills
• Ability to partner effectively across functions and leadership levels
• Proven ability to lead change and drive organizational results
• Ability to make complex, high-impact decisions in dynamic environments
• Ability to balance growth objectives with underwriting discipline in a results-driven environment

What Sets This Role Apart

• Direct impact on business performance and underwriting results
• Leadership responsibility for both talent and portfolio outcomes
• Opportunity to influence strategy and execution within a specialized market segment
• High level of interaction with broker partners and senior leadership

Who We're Looking For

A leader who:

• Takes ownership of results and accountability
• Brings both technical underwriting expertise and market perspective
• Can align team performance, structure, and execution to business goals
• Builds credibility with brokers and internal stakeholders through consistent delivery

Work Environment & Travel

• Work is performed in a professional office or remote/hybrid environment, consistent with organizational policy
• Occasional overnight and day travel may be required for training, customer, or business needs
• Travel requirements may vary by product line or Center of Excellence