E&S Business Development Underwriting Manager - West Region

Berkley Aspire is an excess & surplus lines insurer of commercial risks unable to find a home in the standard markets. We are an operating unit of WR Berkley, a publicly traded global insurer founded in 1967. We make excess & surplus lines easy for our distribution partners and the businesses they represent. The lines of coverage we underwrite include general liability, property, and excess liability. Our model is different than our competitors; we do the premium billing without adding interest/finance percentage, offer enhanced commissions, and handle the stamping, affidavit filings, and other behind-the-scenes paperwork. Our company culture is entrepreneurial, employee-centric, and focused on sustainable growth. Aspire teammates work either remotely or on a hybrid schedule from offices in Scottsdale, Cincinnati, and Richmond. If you are looking for a company that offers room for advancement, great benefits, and positive vibes, then Aspire may be the place for you!

Responsibilities:

• Manage your assigned underwriting territory in the Western US to achieve profitable growth, including underwriting new business, renewals, endorsements, and other transactions.
• Identify new business opportunities and manage agency relationships.
• Develop relationships and educate agents within the agency plant to maximise opportunities and achieve profitable growth.
• Initiate outbound calls to agencies to identify sales opportunities and collect agent intelligence.
• Achieve new business premium, renewal premium retention, and rate change objectives.
• Evaluate new and renewal account information to determine risk acceptability, terms/conditions to be quoted, and pricing.
• Make sound risk and pricing decisions that achieve profitable loss ratios.
• Maintain underwriting quality score of 90% or greater.
• Document underwriting file to support acceptability and pricing in accordance with company guidelines.
• Achieve customer service standards, including established objectives for new business quote turnaround, renewal quotes, endorsement, cancellation, audits, and other transactions.
• Provide detailed issuance instructions to ensure policy is delivered consistent with quoted terms and conditions.
• Review mid-term endorsement requests for acceptability and provide instructions for processing.
• Evaluate premium audit referrals to determine class acceptability and/or appropriateness of current exposure base.
• Order and review inspections to confirm accounts written are consistent with preliminary underwriting information.
• Assist with training, mentoring, and coaching of less experienced team members.
• Determine if facultative reinsurance is needed and factor reinsurance cost in gross pricing.
• Utilise various underwriting tools to determine acceptable risk characteristics, accurate exposure classifications, and set adequate property limits.
• Support other underwriters as assigned when they are traveling or out on vacation/sick time.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated success in commercial lines property casualty insurance businesses.
• 5+ years of commercial lines underwriting experience, E&S experience highly preferred.
• Past experience working with independent agents is preferred.
• Surplus lines underwriting experience is highly preferred.
• Basic knowledge of computer programs in a Windows environment, including Word, Excel, and E-mail is required.
• Prior experience working in a paperless environment, including familiarity with online underwriting tools is preferred.
• Ability to travel within your territory up to 50%.

Additional Company Details:

We do not accept any unsolicited resumes from external recruiting firms. The company offers a competitive compensation plan and robust benefits package for full-time regular employees, which includes health, dental, vision, life, disability, wellness, paid time off, 401(k), and profit-sharing plans. The actual salary for this position will be determined by various factors, including the scope, complexity, and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials, and experience of the candidate; and other conditions of employment. This role will be eligible to participate in the annual discretionary bonus program.