Director, Underwriting - Commercial Lines (Small Commercial Underwriting (Field))

If you’re passionate about helping people protect what matters most to them, as well as innovating and simplifying processes and operations to provide the best customer value, then Nationwide’s Property and Casualty team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

These roles (2 - East and West) will lead Small Commercial field underwriters and will report to the AVP, Small Commercial Underwriting.  Core responsibilities include:

• Serving as a technical resource and coaching field underwriters on attracting and writing profitable business
• Coaching field underwriters on driving agency engagement and new business production through intentional interactions with distribution partners
• Partnering with Small Commercial Distribution at the TM, Director and AVP level to ensure alignment and joint success in field underwriting-supported agencies
• Actively drive regular new business pipelining conversations in partnership with Distribution
• In-person field traveling with field underwriters to successfully build a steady flow of profitable business opportunities

Successful candidates will possess significant commercial underwriting experience including experience with larger Small or Middle Market-type accounts as well as the proven ability to drive agency partnerships and engagement. 

Experience serving in a field role or managing associates in field roles is desired.

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Job Description Summary

Success on our team requires a blend of customer service skill and analytical prowess. There’s no shying away from challenges here. Each account we work on is complex and interesting. Satisfaction comes from finding solutions that provide the best coverage and give our partner agents a way to differentiate themselves from the competition. If you are adaptable, responsive, love customers and really want to make a difference, we want to hear from you!

As a Director, you'll lead a team and drive profitable underwriting results through leadership, development, and engagement. We’ll count on you to develop leadership within the team and help to identify and prepare future Small Commercial Underwriting leaders within the department. We'll depend on you to direct resources to deliver quality and timely underwriting decisions in support of the business. In addition, you'll have opportunities to identify issues, share ideas and make recommendations to profitably grow the business. We’ll count on you to exhibit extraordinary care to set expectations for the team to meet customer needs and to collaborate with key partners in National Underwriting Organization (NUO), Automation, Business Development (BD), Product, and other leaders across the organization as needed.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Develops strategic plans to improve growth and profitability in all lines of business on a regional and or national scope.  Communicates strategic plans to associates and works closely with peers and leaders across disciplines to achieve the strategic vision.

• Creates business plans, goals and priorities based on cellular structure, regional and or national plans to ensure methodologies and outcomes meet business objectives and Key Performance Indicators.

• Identifies organizational needs and works with partners, managers and associates on effective problem solving to include opportunities and efficiencies.  Sets expectations and best practices for analysis.

• Ensures compliance to legal requirements and organizational, business, and strategic objectives.  Engages at a regional and or national level with internal organizations that share common interests to contribute to policy and best practice discussions. 

• Determines project priorities and workflow standards for the department. Monitors and manages performance measurements to ensure effectiveness of the department's service delivery process. Aligns organizational structure to effectively drive business needs. 

• Reviews underwriting guidelines, referral protocols, training, and communications.  Implements continuous improvement of underwriting and collaborates with Automation to develop and implement automated underwriting support.

• Provides recommendations to leadership regarding underwriting strategy and opportunity. Participates in problem solving and provides counsel for commercial processing and quality. Takes part in agency management and in agency