Vice President of Human Services

For more than 170 years, The Hanover has been committed to delivering on our promises and being there when it matters the most. We live our values every day, demonstrating we CARE through our values, ESG initiatives and IDE journey. Our Middle Market team is seeking a Vice President of Human Services to join our growing team. This is a Full-time, Exempt role. This is a Remote or Hybrid position.

Position Overview/Summary: In this role you will be responsible for the direct leadership of a team of dedicated Human Services underwriters. You will manage the profitability, growth, and retention of the Human Services business unit across all Zones nationally by developing and implementing industry-specific underwriting, sales, and distribution strategies based on short and long-term priorities, current trends, and underwriting results. You will drive team performance to achieve profit and growth goals through talent management and development, portfolio management, financial metric achievement, and best practices and tools optimization. You must consistently demonstrate a high level of underwriting expertise partnering with leaders, underwriters, and corporate underwriting resources to ensure underwriting discipline, effective organizational management, and communication in driving the business forward. You will ensure underwriting excellence by making risk-based decisions within authority grant, adhering to company guidelines and regulatory requirements, and achieving profitable growth while upholding underwriting integrity. You will foster strong enterprise partnerships and influence outcomes at various levels within the organization. You will work closely with internal team members to provide high-quality service and support in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities & Essential Functions:

• Leadership & Coaching: Lead and manage the daily operations of the underwriting team to meet business goals. Provide strategic direction, drive underwriting actions aligned with business objectives, and support underwriter training and education. Foster a performance-oriented culture through coaching, motivating, mentoring, regular feedback, and employee development. Establish a high-performance culture by setting clear goals, effectively communicating, differentiating compensation and performance, managing low performers proactively, and retaining top talent. Maintain an active talent pipeline within and outside the company. Cultivate a high-performing team by managing resources, identifying gaps, and implementing necessary changes to ensure efficient strategy execution. Delegate and effectively lead through others to achieve business unit results. Present information effectively to influence organizational leaders and key stakeholders. Address and resolve any issues or conflicts within the team promptly and successfully.
• Technical Underwriting: Use advanced expertise in exposure-control analysis and pricing for multi-line underwriting in the Human Services sector. Break down complex accounts and explain underwriting principles and business rationale clearly to the underwriters and colleagues. Assess underwriting referrals for risk acceptability in line with underwriting guidelines, corporate policies, and compliance standards. Approve, decline, or adjust recommendations within assigned authority level. Escalate complex or out-of-authority accounts to the relevant stakeholders. Offer clear, detailed, and timely feedback/recommendations, ensuring all stakeholders understand the reasoning behind underwriting decisions. Identify technical training needs and opportunities to enhance team capabilities. Conduct or facilitate training sessions and provide ongoing coaching. Assess underwriting skills, delegate authority based on skills and develop plans to enhance technical capabilities. Collaborate with business partners in Risk Control, Actuarial, Claim, Operations and Compliance to address governance and compliance issues related to underwriting practices. Identify and assess potential risks associated with specific geographies or lines of business and develop necessary mitigation strategies. Manage CAT aggregation and drive adherence to CAT guidelines and underwriting discipline to minimize exposure and price appropriately.
• Portfolio Management & Financial Acumen: Responsible for the profit and loss of the Human Services portfolio, accountable for the continuous development of this portfolio, including underwriting expertise. Monitor regional profitability and financial plan results on an ongoing basis. Achieve gross written premium, retention and new business plans by region for the Human Services industry sector. Drive appropriate rate ensuring utilization of tools and resources to achieve profit goals. Create and adjust strategic financial plans based on changing performance indicators. Understand financial relationships, dependencies, trends, risks and potential returns. Collaborate with senior leaders on overall direction of the industry sector. Analyze data, market trends, and risk factors to collaborate with corporate and field leadership in developing and implementing effective underwriting strategies. Stay informed on industry developments, regulatory changes, and emerging risks that could impact the underwriting process. Drive any identified profit improvement process throughout the portfolio. Complete self-audits monthly to assess underwriting quality, including timeliness and completeness of file documentation by underwriting team. Identify areas for continued education and skill set development. Drive operational efficiency through adherence to standardized practices for account handling, maximizing productivity and managing service and quality. Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and company-specific standards, policies, and procedures.
• Sales & Distribution Acumen & Customer Advocacy: Drive development and execution of specific Human Services business plan, sales, and distribution strategies working with regional field leaders, Risk Solutions and Claims. Drive strong engagement with agents and brokers specializing in the Human Services sector by forming robust relationships with key agency stakeholders. Partner with branch leaders to develop and implement local strategies and objectives to strengthen and maintain agency relationships. Manage effective pipelining process through individual and team coaching, including utilization of Salesforce resources and Agency Insights information. Lead the business, directing and managing the delivery of excellent customer and agency service. Foster collaboration with Industry Solutions partners to augment sales process through strategic producer visits/sales calls and effective training sessions for both agents and customers. Through stewardship process, drive engagement at the customer level for the most complex and prominent accounts within the portfolio.

Core Competencies, Skills, and Experience: Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience. 10+ years of commercial lines underwriting, with a minimum of 7+ years of experience with Human Services accounts and driving agency relationships resulting in profitable new and renewal business. 5+ years demonstrated success directly managing or leading others. Ability to effectively coach and develop talent. Strong analytical and decision-making skills with great attention to detail. In-depth understanding of commercial insurance products, underwriting guidelines, pricing strategies, and regulatory requirements. Serve as a mentor and role model to other managers/leaders for change management and inclusion and diversity across the organization. Effective problem solver who anticipates issues, seeks out and analyzes information collaboratively to propose solutions. Takes ownership for a successful resolution. Excellent communication skills are essential; effective face-to-face interactions and presentations to groups, as well as strong phone skills, along with sound written communications, including impeccable follow through. An exceptional leader and influencer enterprise-wide across a highly matrixed organization. An innovative and entrepreneurial thinker who can network effectively and leverage insights gained from diverse internal and external resources. Able to trade-off the risks and rewards in a particular situation while also considering the big picture of company-wide impact, industry trends, and strategic implications. Someone with a proven track record of working hand in hand with key business leaders, rolling up their sleeves to get the job done. A collaborative, team player with strong results orientation and sense of urgency.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT: It’s not just a job, it’s a career, and we are here to support you every step of the way. We want you to be successful and fulfilled. Through on-the-job experiences, personalized coaching and our robust learning and development programs, we encourage you – at every level – to grow and develop.

BENEFITS: We offer comprehensive benefits to help you be healthy, build financial security, and balance work and home life. At The Hanover, you’ll enjoy what you do and have the support you need to succeed. Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, 401K with a company match, Tuition reimbursement, PTO, Company paid holidays, Flexible work arrangements, Cultural Awareness Day in support of IDE, On-site medical/wellness center (Worcester only).

EEO statement: The Hanover values diversity in the workplace and among our customers. The company provides equal opportunity for employment and promotion to all qualified employees and applicants on the basis of experience, training, education, and ability to do the available work without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex/gender, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, ancestry or any other status protected by law. Furthermore, The Hanover Insurance Group is committed to providing an equal opportunity workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment based on national origin, race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information or any other status protected by law. As an equal opportunity employer, Hanover does not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities who wish to request a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, or to perform essential job functions, should contact us at: HRServices@hanover.com and include the link of the job posting in which you are interested.