Senior Manager, Underwriting Associates

Pie's mission is to empower small businesses to thrive by making commercial insurance affordable and as easy as pie. We leverage technology to transform how small businesses buy and experience commercial insurance.   Like our small business customers, we are a diverse team of builders, dreamers, and entrepreneurs who are driven by core values and operating principles that guide every decision we make.

The Senior Manager, Underwriting Operations is a strategic leadership role responsible for the comprehensive management, strategic direction, and operational excellence of the Underwriting Associate function. This role serves as a key member of the Underwriting Leadership team, driving enterprise-wide transformation through innovation, automation, and scalable process optimization. Responsibilities include leading a multi-tiered organization of Team Leads and Underwriting Associates, while aligning and collaborating with Underwriting Leadership in all opportunities that will benefit Underwriting, including: ad hoc projects, strategic planning, people and organizational initiatives, and data and performance analytics. This role requires strong interpersonal skills, a metrics-based approach to operations and the ability to influence across departments.  This individual must also be capable of representing Pie to and interfacing with senior management of agency partners.  In this capacity, there is accountability for developing and executing long-term strategic initiatives for the team that align with corporate objectives. This role is expected to embrace the Pie principles of Integrity, Ownership, and Curiosity. 

How You’ll Do It

Manage the team’s underwriting functions:

• Ensure the Underwriting Associate team adheres to targeted service levels by coordinating “load balancing” and adjusting as necessary.
• Serve as the top level point of contact for UA questions and risk evaluations.  Requires professional maturity, clear communication, and an owner attitude.
• Be a sounding board for the UA Team Leads as they manage the day-to-day functions of the team.
• Oversee regular and frequent training to UA teams and ensure that team leads update training and SOP materials. Work with team leads to ensure the team is up to date on product appetite, pricing models, industry trends, etc.  
• Ensure UA Team Leads are managing queues and headcount capacity in order to meet SLAs.
• Utilize capacity model for continuous monitoring and forecasting of staffing needs based on growth

Strategy and process improvement:  

• Serve as a top subject matter expert on UA processes for internal and cross-functional needs. 
• Establish organizational design principles and structure to support scalable growth and operational excellence in policy processing
• Drive cultural transformation initiatives focused on accuracy, efficiency, customer service excellence, and regulatory compliance
• Oversee UA adherence to guidelines and procedures, while also evaluating processes and implementing improvements to better serve our partners and internal stakeholders.
• Works with Underwriting Leadership to identify opportunities and strategies to ensure the team can achieve their goals in service of Pie's overarching OKRs.
• Supports the creation of business cases and proposals for the advocacy of team requirements and business future needs.
• Collaborates on cross functional process improvement projects and teams as the advocate for the UA team.
• Implement business strategies to ensure the UA team meets and exceeds UA goals and OKRs.

Mentor, develop and grow team members for future needs and operational excellence:

• Support, mentor and coach as well as provide professional development for UA team leads. Provide continuous feedback and opportunities for career development. 
• Establish succession planning frameworks and talent pipelines to ensure organizational continuity and specialized expertise in policy administration
• Work in partnership with the People team and Team Leads on creating alignment in performance improvement and coaching plans.
• Identify hiring needs and be the hiring manager for recruiting high quality UAs. Partner with the Talent team to scale the UA team to align with company growth. 
• Work through conflict management and team member needs with help and direction from the People team. 
• Work collaboratively with the People Partner throughout the team member lifecycle, including, but not limited to hiring, onboarding, performance management, team member relations and offboarding. 

The Right Stuff

• High school diploma/GED required.
• Bachelor's Degree o