Head of Underwriting Operations in London

Job Details: Head of Underwriting Operations

Full details of the job.

• Job Title
• Job Title Head of Underwriting Operations
• Vacancy No
• Vacancy No VN578
• Basis
• Basis Permanent
• Full Time / Part Time
• Full Time / Part Time Full Time
• Entity
• Entity Rokstone Group Ltd
• Location City
• Location City London

Role Summary

The Head of Underwriting Operations is the senior leader accountable for the strategy, operating model, performance and transformation of Underwriting Services and Credit Control.

The role leads through the Head of Underwriting Services and Credit Control Manager, bringing the functions together around a single end-to-end view of policy, premium, debt and cash administration.

The role ensures that policy processing, data quality, premium recognition, cash collection, allocation and operational control support Rokstone's underwriting strategy, financial objectives and carrier obligations.

As a key partner to the Global COO and Underwriting leadership, the role sets direction, establishes governance and management information, builds management capability and sponsors the process, outsourcing, technology and automation changes required to create a scalable, controlled and data-led Underwriting Operations function.

• Role Accountabilities
• Strategy and Target Operating Model
• Define and own the Underwriting Operations strategy and target operating model for Underwriting Services, Credit Control and the outsourced partner, aligned to Rokstone's business plan, risk appetite, systems roadmap and financial priorities.
• Create an integrated end-to-end operating model from underwriting handoff and policy booking through debt management, cash collection, allocation and downstream reporting, with clear ownership at each stage.
• Establish decision rights, governance forums, service standards and escalation routes that enable the functional managers to operate effectively while providing appropriate executive oversight.
• Translate business growth, new product, carrier, facility and system plans into operational requirements for process, capacity, controls, data, training and implementation.
• Set the strategic roadmap for standardisation, simplification and scalability across UK and outsourced delivery, ensuring that local fixes support rather than fragment the wider operating model.
• Leadership, Performance and Organisational Capability
• Lead, coach and hold accountable the Head of Underwriting Services and Credit Control Manager, ensuring each function has clear objectives, authority, performance measures and development plans.
• Build a collaborative leadership model in which Underwriting Services and Credit Control jointly manage handoffs, priorities, root causes and outcomes rather than operating as separate processing teams.
• Own workforce, capacity and succession planning across the functions, ensuring resources are aligned to business demand, control requirements, seasonal peaks and transformation activity.
• Ensure management routines include effective one-to-ones, performance reviews, team communication, quality feedback, skills assessment and succession planning.
• Develop a structured capability framework covering technical insurance knowledge, policy and premium processing, debt management, cash allocation, data quality, systems, controls and stakeholder management.
• Promote a culture of accountability, constructive challenge, continuous improvement and understanding of how operational activity affects premium recognition, cashflow, carrier settlement and business performance.
• Service Delivery, Governance and Executive Oversight
• Maintain executive oversight of policy processing, endorsements, cancellations, instalments, paid-only and fee-only transactions, aged debt, cash chasing, allocation, query management and operational backlogs.
• Ensure the functional managers deliver agreed SLAs, quality standards and control outcomes, with transparent prioritisation of material business, financial and regulatory risks.
• Establish a regular governance cadence that brings together operational performance, backlog, aged debt, unallocated cash, processing defects, disputed balances, resource constraints and remediation actions.
• Provide the Global COO and relevant leadership forums with concise, evidence-based reporting on performance, trends, risks, root causes, decisions required and delivery against improvement plans.
• Ensure year-end, renewal peaks and other critical business periods are supported by integrated operational plans for booking completeness, credit control, cash allocation and stakeholder escalation.
• Act as the senior escalation point for systemic or material Underwriting Operations issues, ensuring immediate containment, clear accountability and sustainable remediation.
• Data Quality, Controls and Operational Risk
• Own the first-line control framework for Underwriting Services and Credit Control, ensuring that procedures, quality controls, reconciliations, approvals, audit trails and segregation of duties are proportionate and consistently applied.
• Establish a common data quality and quality assurance strategy across UK and outsourced teams, focused on accuracy at source, downstream usability and the financial or reporting impact of defects.
• Ensure quality outcomes are used as a management tool, with recurring errors, debt blockers, cash allocation issues, rework and audit findings translated into changes to training, SOPs, controls, systems or accountability.
• Own the closed-loop improvement model through which issues are identified, corrected, root-caused, trained or designed out, and then monitored to confirm that they do not recur.
• Ensure material operational risks and control weaknesses are recorded, assessed, escalated and remediated in line with Group governance and regulatory expectations.
• Maintain effective support for internal and external audit, carrier review and regulatory evidence requests across the functions.
• Stakeholder Partnership and End-to-End Accountability
• Act as the senior operational partner to Underwriting leadership, ensuring that handoff standards, mandatory data, booking instructions, settlement terms and exception ownership are clear and consistently applied.
• Build effective working relationships with Delegated Authority, Bordereaux Management, IBA, Finance, MI, Claims, Technology, regional Operations and other functions whose outputs depend on accurate policy, premium, debt and cash data.
• Ensure new products, facilities, carriers, system changes and process changes receive appropriate Underwriting Operations readiness assessment before go-live.
• Use cross-functional governance to address upstream and downstream causes of poor data, delayed booking, aged debt and unallocated cash, rather than accepting repeated manual correction within the teams.
• Represent Underwriting Operations in strategic planning, investment prioritisation and senior management discussions, providing clear recommendations on operational feasibility, risk, cost and benefit.
• Outsourcing, Technology and Transformation
• Own the strategic governance of WNS and other outsourced Underwriting Services or Credit Control activity, including scope, sourcing approach, service levels, productivity, quality, controls, capacity and remediation.
• Set the transformation roadmap for workflow, data validation, reconciliation and automation and management reporting across Underwriting Services and Credit Control.
• Act as senior business sponsor for relevant system and process initiatives, ensuring clear requirements, accountable product ownership, effective user acceptance testing, adoption and post-implementation benefit realisation.
• Prioritise automation opportunities that remove complete units of work, reduce control risk or materially improve service, rather than automating isolated tasks without a credible operating model benefit.
• Work with MI and Technology to introduce management reporting, system controls and exception workflows that enable earlier intervention and reduce dependency on spreadsheets, email and manual reconciliation.
• Ensure that change is implemented through controlled transition plans, documented procedures, training, capacity management and clear measures of success.
• Management Information and Continuous Improvement
• Define and own an integrated performance framework covering policy volumes, turnaround, backlog, booking completeness, data accuracy, quality defects, rework, aged debt, cash collection, unallocated cash, allocation turnaround, query ageing and outsourced partner performance.
• Use management information to identify trends, forecast demand, direct resources, challenge performance and demonstrate the impact of operational improvement or technology investment.
• Agree clear improvement targets with the functional managers and hold them accountable for sustained movement in service, quality, debt and cash outcomes.
• Ensure lessons from incidents, audits, peak periods and implementation activity are captured and embedded into the target operating model.
• Undertake any additional duties reasonably assigned in support of the Operations strategy.
• Any additional duties as assigned.
• Role Requirements
• Significant senior leadership experience in Underwriting Operations, Underwriting Services, technical operations, premium operations, credit control or a related function within a London Market MGA, insurer, syndicate or broker.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end policy and premium lifecycle, including underwriting handoff, policy administration, premium booking, settlement due dates, aged debt, cash collection, allocation, IBA and carrier settlement interfaces.
• Proven experience leading multiple operational teams through functional managers, with accountability for service, quality, control, people and change outcomes.
• Experience defining target operating models, governance, SLAs, management information, quality frameworks and first-line controls in a complex insurance environment.
• Experience managing outsourced or offshore service provider and aligning third-party delivery to internal controls and performance expectations.
• Good working knowledge of Sequel Eclipse or comparable London Market policy administration, ledger and accounting systems, together with workflow, data and reporting tools.
• Strong understanding of operational risk, auditability, data quality, financial controls and the downstream use of policy and premium data in bordereaux, IBA, Finance, carrier reporting and MI.
• Demonstrable experience sponsoring system implementation, automation, workflow or operational transformation programmes and delivering sustainable business adoption.
• Experience operating effectively with senior Underwriting, Finance, Technology and executive stakeholders.

Skills and Abilities

• Strategic and commercially aware leader who can translate business objectives into a practical operating model, priorities and investment roadmap.
• Strong leader of managers, able to set direction, delegate authority, build capability and maintain accountability without becoming the day-to-day process owner.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the credibility to challenge senior colleagues and align functions around end-to-end outcomes.
• Data-led and analytical, with the ability to convert operational information into concise insight, decisions and measurable improvement.
• Strong understanding of control design, root‑cause analysis and the difference between temporary correction and sustainable remediation.
• Confident decision-maker able to balance service, financial impact, customer and broker relationships, operational risk and strategic priorities.
• Clear communicator with the ability to chair governance forums, present to senior leadership and create accountability across complex stakeholder groups.
• Resilient, pragmatic and improvement-focused, with the ability to lead through competing priorities, organisational change and periods of high operational demand.
• Management Duties
• Yes

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• FCA Conduct Rules
• You must act with integrity.
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