Senior Underwriter - Inherent Defects Insurance

About us

HDI is a Corporate & Specialty Insurer part of the Talanx Group. With over 120 years of experience, HDI operates across five continents, around 40 countries and employs over 5,000 people worldwide.

The Engineering and Construction Team is a multi-class Underwriting unit which includes Inherent Defects Insurance programmes in the UK and Ireland, along with CAR and EAR covering annuals and project specific programmes in the UK and Internationally.

The role involves developing and maintaining a profitable book of business in line with the business plan, having a significant impact on new business development, and contributing to new ideas, strategy and projects as required. It also includes providing monitoring, oversight and referral functions for more junior members of the team.

Key accountabilities:

• Actively engage with brokers and clients in the UK & London markets to promote HDI as an insurer of choice, build close and trusted relationships with key broker and client partners, and provide excellent service at all times.
• Represent HDI at external networking events and enhance and promote the HDI brand and proposition.
• Underwrite individual risks, responding to insurance proposals, gathering background information, assessing the risk considering exposure, attachment point, loss history and terms and conditions, and determining appropriate insurance premiums using actuarial information, other statistics and own judgement, within own authority level, making necessary referrals in accordance with company policy.
• Assist in the development and evaluation of portfolio steering strategies and measures using actuarial models and key metrics such as profitability, coverage, and risk ratios to assess their impact on the business result.
• Use judgement, management information and external sources of information to effectively steer the portfolio, adjusting underwriting approach where necessary to deliver on KPIs.
• Leverage cross-sell opportunities, working alongside Distribution and other Product Lines.
• Accurately enter data into company systems and produce management reports to ensure alignment with strategy and appropriate internal awareness of the nature and financial impact of risks written.
• Work collaboratively with business partners (customers, claims, risk consulting, Head Office, finance, network, policy wordings, compliance and other Product Lines) and colleagues to successfully deliver HDI’s product and proposition.
• Analyse existing processes to identify potential bottlenecks, improvement opportunities and risks, as well as deriving appropriate measures for process optimisation.
• Comply with HDI-UK & Ireland branch and Global policies, underwriting guidelines and underwriting authority.
• Represent the Team and actively participate on internal Branch and Head office sponsored forums, committees and projects.
• Proactively participate in projects or other initiatives designed to improve the effectiveness or efficiency of the Team and/or Branch.
• Undertake any other tasks as requested by the Head of IDI/Director of Engineering & Construction to ensure that the team achieves its objectives.

Skills & experience:

• Relevant technical experience of Inherent Defects Insurance.
• Understands Clients’ businesses and their needs and challenges around insurance.
• Has a strong knowledge of key brokers and their marketing and placement strategies.
• Has up to date knowledge of existing insurance laws and legal frameworks and awareness of upcoming changes.
• Has good technical understanding about underwriting policy construction for IDI; able to read underwriting files and understand what data needs to be captured for regulatory and analytical purposes.
• Numerate with a good understanding of analytics and pricing tools.
• Ability to critically evaluate information from a variety of sources and use this information to effectively steer the portfolio, adjusting underwriting approach where necessary to deliver on KPIs.
• Ability to organise own workload effectively to meet service standards.
• Ability to work under pressure to deliver to tight deadlines when required.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; comfortable with phone & face to face discussions with underwriters, brokers and other technical colleagues.
• Excellent negotiation and networking skills.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with internal stakeholders and external clients.
• Ability to set clear goals and take responsibility for decisions and can explain and justify the need for certain actions.
• Demonstrates curiosity alongside a positive and proactive mindset and a willingness to embrace change.
• Shows innovation and creative problem solving skills.

As an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, recognising that a diverse and inclusive workplace is a creative and prosperous one.

If you require support with your application, please contact UK&IRE_Recruitment@hdi.global