AVP, National Inside Underwriting - Middle Market

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.

Please Note: This position is open to working remotely in the United States.

Job Description Summary

Are you seeking an incredible opportunity to drive underwriting strategy and own profit and loss results for a Fortune 100 company? Are you an expert and accomplished leader in Commercial Lines Middle Market insurance? If you thrive in an environment where you will collaborate with senior leaders across the company leveraging your strategic vision and industry expertise to achieve targeted returns as a national carrier, then we want to hear from you!

As the Underwriting Middle Market leader, you will be responsible for development and leadership of an Inside Underwriting operation to support underwriting excellence and efficiency for the Middle Market business unit. We’ll count on you to develop effective workflows and processes and manage the execution of referred accounts. In addition, you will optimize underwriting support roles, build an effective model office capability, and oversee the underwriting growth and profitability for all Middle Market industry practices through the development and management of profit strategies consistent with underwriting business objectives. We’ll count on your leadership to build and direct a national underwriting organization by focusing on effective risk selection, agent and/or broker relationships, portfolio and catastrophe exposure management, and strategic decision-making.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Partners with product, field underwriting, line of business and technical underwriting organization to strategically align book to appropriate risk, growth, profitability, catastrophe experience, portfolio mix, and executes accordingly via high touch, moderate touch, low touch, and automated processes.

• Responsible for organizational structure, roles and tools needed to achieve underwriting excellence in the Inside Underwriting team.   

• Oversees direction of organizational efficiency, engaging a large team, and driving automation of transactional underwriting-based decisions.

• Leads overall underwriting execution and relationship management nationally. This includes productive collaboration with field underwriting, risk management, chief underwriting office, automation and claims along with internal partnership with inside underwriting, associate underwriting and model office teams.  

• Responsible for leadership of in-office underwriting of low touch and renewal business while leveraging where expansion of services can further enhance the support of the field underwriting operations and execution.  

• Oversees leadership of Middle Market Associate Underwriting team that focuses on strong territory management partnerships, efficient analytical support and responsiveness within a specialized industry and expert driven environment.   

• Leads a team that delivers Model Office capabilities to include distribution approach alignment, specialized underwriting, risk management, broadening role of agents and/or brokers and maintains stabilization when market share shifts.  

• Oversees associate management including performance management, engagement, salary planning and administration, training and development, workflow and organization planning, day-to-day management, hiring and placement, and disciplinary actions for direct and possibly indirect reports.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships: This job reports to SVP, Middle Market. Manages a team of 3 Middle Market Underwriting Leaders and 1 Model Office Leader.

Typical Skills and Experiences:  

Education: Undergraduate studies preferably in business or a related field; graduate studies preferred.

License/Certification/Designation: CPCU, ARM or other industry designations preferred.

Experience: Typically, 15 years of Middle Market and/or other related commercial lines underwriting or inside underwriting leadership experience, including at least 10 years of management experience.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Comprehensive knowledge and mastery of industry strategy including underwriting, pricing, operations, finance and product development. Strong underwriting acumen, insurance industry segments acumen, and overall business acumen. Demonstrated competency in strategic and o