Underwriter - Schemes & Affinities

About us

ERS Syndicate 218 at Lloyds is managed by Starr. We are the UK’s largest specialist motor insurer with an A+ rating and have been making motoring passions and livelihoods possible since 1946. We work exclusively with motor insurance brokers to help get under the skin of the most difficult insurance risks, helping build products to meet their customer’s needs. Starr is a global insurance and investment organisation providing property and casualty insurance solutions to business and industry. Starr has grown into one of the world’s fastest‑expanding insurance organisations, writing business in 128 countries across six continents. Our talented and experienced associates manage risk and ultimately support the profitable growth of organisations in a dynamic, competitive and ever-changing marketplace. Join us and become part of our talented and passionate workforce.

Role Purpose

The Underwriter’s primary responsibility is to support the Senior Underwriter in executing our underwriting strategy and supporting the development of our underwriting appetite, working closely with the Pricing and Product Technology teams. You may also act as a referral point for team members with a lower level of authority helping to develop their technical knowledge and understanding. The role is market visible, which will see you working closely with our broker-partners and forming solid trading relationships, to help ERS achieve their short to medium-term financial plans by seeking to broaden our market penetration. Success in the role requires technical knowledge in our product(s) and frequent collaboration with other business functions to ensure that we leverage capabilities from across the business in delivering first class propositions to our chosen market.

Key responsibilities

• Contributing to the management of portfolio performance through the analysis of results, supporting the execution of our selection and pricing strategies and providing recommendations that will drive continuous performance improvement, contributing to meeting or exceeding our financial plans.
• Working alongside the Product Performance Analysts within the team, where appropriate providing them with direction and support to improve their knowledge and utilising their skills to support the delivery of our strategic goals.
• Providing input to the development of our underwriting appetite for our product(s) based on your view of the market to take advantage of market opportunities.
• Supporting the Team Leader and Operations Manager to create a high-performance culture by demonstrating role-model behaviours.
• Where appropriate, working with the operational leadership team & technical training team to help identify training needs and support employee development through feedback, coaching and training to improve team competency and performance.
• Always aiming to get things right first time, achieving the agreed levels of quality.
• Act as our first line of defence.
• Understand and adhere to the zero-tolerance fraud strategy by identifying and referring potentially fraudulent activity to the Policy Validation Unit within the required timeframe.
• Having significant awareness of and ensuring adherence to all regulatory requirements, guidelines and working practices – both internally and externally.
• Understand and adhere to the complaint handling process, attempting to resolve complaints informally whenever possible and referring any unresolved complaints to the escalation point or Customer Relations within the specified timeframe.
• Proactively seeking to learn and develop to ensure the best possible performance.
• Support and actively demonstrate through behaviours, interactions and appearance, the high-performance culture IQUW aspires to develop.
• Achieve personal performance targets and work collaboratively with others to deliver against our combined key metrics, business objectives and strategy.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list, and you may be required to undertake other reasonable duties compatible with your experience and competencies. This description may be varied from time to time to reflect changing business requirements.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

This role carries financial responsibility, as well as being recognised as, or aiming to become, a subject matter expert in your product(s). We therefore require our role-holders to demonstrate technical capability and to use commercial judgment in the fulfilment of their role. We expect our people to demonstrate the following skills, attributes, and knowledge:

• An ability to understand underwriting strategy and risk appetites and ability to operate within these.
• Developing strong technical knowledge of the product(s), including the features of the product, factors that drive product performance, market dynamics which influence how the product is delivered and the requirements of customers using the product(s).
• Underwriting, risk selection and pricing skills which will ensure that we optimise the financial performance of a range of product propositions in a complex and competitive market.
• Good commercial awareness that allows you to identify and take advantage of market opportunities.
• Possess an ability to understand pricing practices and methodologies, with the ability to help us constantly enhance our pricing capability, providing insight and feedback on our pricing models. Experience in these practices is a positive, but not a requirement.
• Interpersonal skills which will allow you to build and maintain relationships. Being able to articulate what a mutually beneficial relationship looks like and being comfortable having at times challenging conversations with our broker partners.
• Knowledge of the legal, regulatory and compliance provisions that apply to the UK motor insurance market.

Core behavioural competencies

• Analysis and decision making
• Strategic perspective
• Commerciality
• Relationships
• Performance focus
• Communication and influence

Starr is an equal opportunity employer, which means we will consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We offer first class training and development opportunities to all employees. Our aim is to grow our own talent and bring out the best in people.