Underwriting Manager in Leicester

Welcome to Hastings Direct – We’re a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become the best and biggest in the UK market. We’ve made huge investments in our pricing and data capabilities over the past few years, along with nurturing our 4Cs culture.

We provide insurance for over four million customers, but we know there’s even bigger opportunity out there – our Pricing, Data and Analytics community value curiosity, collaboration and constructive challenge. Great pricing is built on trust, innovation and precision, so our aim is to ensure customers receive a fair and accurate price based on their individual risk, supporting fair outcomes, while delivering sustainable and profitable growth for our company.

Pricing is more than just a number – it’s a strategic capability. At the heart of Hastings is deep risk insight – continually improving how we assess, segment and price risk through data and analytics.

We are entering a period where cars will develop faster in the next 10 years than they have in the past 50 years. This goes beyond their propulsion methods (EV development) and includes wider design, construction and technology developments. All of which has wide implications for the risk motor insurers are covering. This is a new role, in a relatively new team focused on building Hastings knowledge and understanding of these developments, and how they are interpreted into vehicle risk selection and the terms applied.

The Underwriting Manager role is critical to delivering the business’s objectives of growth, profitability, and good customer outcomes. This role will use our expanding data capability to deepen our understanding of vehicle risk — and how that risk interacts with people, geography, evolving vehicle technology, and changing driving behaviours. By doing so, the Underwriting Manager will help shape smarter underwriting decisions and enable the business to stay ahead in a rapidly changing risk landscape.

A real opportunity to make this role your own, whilst making a difference in a fast-paced, flexible and delivery focussed environment.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for a curious, creative and experienced UW Manager to help shape the future of our vehicle underwriting risk selection capability. This is a high-impact role focused on identifying opportunities to grow market share in low-conversion segments, strengthening how we use data in our decision-making, and developing smarter prediction models and risk-pricing overlays.

Although vehicle-focused, this role is highly collaborative. You’ll work closely with our Footprint, Risk Pricing, Technical Underwriting, Operations and Claims teams to build a more sophisticated, data-driven understanding of risk and support better outcomes for our customers and the business.

If you’re someone who enjoys exploring complex data, challenging assumptions, and a continuous improvement culture, we’d love to hear from you.

Key Skills:

• Strong background in motor general insurance (highly preferable).
• Excellent numerical ability with strong problem-solving skills.
• Solid analytical and coding experience — Python preferred, though experience in other programming languages is welcome, and training can be provided.
• Comfortable working with numerical and statistical datasets to generate insights and inform decisions.
• Appetite to learn new tools and skills, especially in data and modelling.
• A genuine drive to create positive change and improve underwriting capability.
• Inquisitive and curious mindset, always exploring the “why” behind outcomes.
• End-to-end thinker who understands how decisions affect the full customer and commercial value chain.
• Strong critical evaluation skills, able to interpret information and challenge assumptions.
• Enthusiastic and positive attitude, even when facing complex problems.
• Collaborative mindset, working effectively with colleagues across multiple teams and business areas.

Interview Process:

• Recruiter screening call
• 1st Round – Intro call with Hiring manager
• 2nd Round – Case study round

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are fully inclusive – what this means to you is if you’re applying for a job with us, you’ll have fair access to support and adjustments throughout your recruitment journey. We also welcome applications through the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS).

What we offer

Join us and you’ll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company and community. As one of our colleagues, you’ll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we’ll give you all the support, training and development you need. Not to mention plenty of recognition and rewards, and the scope to voice your ideas and put them into practice.

Reward

• Salary – Attractive salary based on experience + car allowance (pay reviews also completed each year)
• Flexible Working – We champion a flexible and hybrid working approach so please speak to your recruiter to discuss in more detail, including days in the office and at home.
• Competitive Bonus Scheme - All colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus, which is usually paid in March. The scheme is based on Hastings’ performance against our business goals and your own personal performance.
• Physical Wellbeing – as a Band 4 colleague, Hastings pay for you to receive private medical Insurance (also known as PMI) This gives you flexibility and convenience to see a specialist or consultant and allows you to decide when and where you will be seen.
• Financial Wellbeing – As well as providing you with 4x your salary with our life assurance cover and income protection at no extra cost, pension contribution match up to 10%, we are proud to provide you with an AWARD WINNING package which includes – discounts and cashback at everyday retailers and on our own products, fee free independent mortgage advice, and free access to financial wellbeing support.
• Mental Wellbeing programme – At Hastings Direct we understand that mental health cannot not be scheduled, that’s why we have a range of support to help you keep yourself well. We have the thrive mental health app, our colleague assistance programme available 24/7, our own, in-house mental health first aiders, support groups and a dedicated team to make sure we are covering your needs.
• There’s more! – 27 days annual leave + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one of your contracted weeks, access to our health care cash back plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, Cycle to work and tech schemes, discounted and free onsite facilities, social events throughout the year and much more.

Our 4Cs principles are simple: we believe by creating the right culture for our colleagues and giving them the right tools to do their job, we’ll deliver good outcomes for every customer, helping us to grow the company profitably and sustainably and allowing us to invest in the communities we serve.

We deliver good outcomes for our customers every time by providing great products at the right price with our simple and straightforward service. We treat customers like we want to be treated - fairly, respectfully and with their best interests at heart.

Hastings Group is an equal opportunity employer.