AVP Underwriting, Inland Marine

Argo Group is a leader in specialty insurance with a vibrant culture built on respect, equality, wellness and opportunity. We’re an innovative organization that’s small enough to be agile and big enough to make a difference in our industry.  

Our collaborative workplace is continuously evolving to ensure all employees feel: 

• Comfortable bringing their whole selves to work. 
• Confident that they will be treated respectfully. 
• Recognized for their performance and provided with equal opportunities to succeed. 

At Argo, skill meets opportunity. If you’re wired to raise your hand and ask, “Where can I help?”, you’ll thrive with us. 

We are looking for an exceptional Assistant Vice President of Underwriting to join our team. The AVP of Underwriting will play a key role working with the SVP of Underwriting for Inland Marine lines of business helping coordinate the department’s strategic initiatives associated with growing a profitable book of business in a specified territory.  This position will serve as the team lead for the designated region and will be involved in production and profitability of a book of business, strategic actions, manage distribution and ultimately build and lead a team.

The AVP Underwriting takes an active role in partnering with the SVP of the business unit to develop and implement underwriting strategy that identifies profitable market opportunities, new product development, positive agent relationships, operational requirements and financial assessments.  The AVP Underwriting will serve as the key referral resource for less experienced Underwriters in the region.

Responsibilities:

• Meet new business and profit goals of the assigned region, individually and as a team.
• Initially, be the lead underwriter to develop a book of business within the region.
• Owns portfolio results and distribution management for the territory.
• Establish and communicate underwriting profit goals and other measurements including loss ratio, new business development, policy count, account retention, etc. once the team expands
• Analyze individual risks and book of business results to manage and control underwriting exposure and pricing strategy consistent with company objectives.
• Provide leadership and acts as a subject matter expert, if called upon.
• Partner with the SVP of Underwriting to develop strategies and actions to resolve adverse trends or deviations from established underwriting standards identified through producer and account review audits.
• Participate in the recruitment and selection process to ensure the organization has the necessary talent to accomplish business goals, when it is time to expand.
• Cultivate and maintain relationships within and outside Argo Group to develop and drive new business opportunities. Work with internal and external business units to develop joint business plans, value propositions and cross-marketing programs.
• Represent the company at networking functions and other industry-related events that present and promote departmental initiatives to other external constituencies as appropriate.
• Act as a role model demonstrating belief in, and commitment to, the aspiration values of Argo Group, continuing to build and lead a value-based organization committed to long-term success.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited university and 7+ years’ related experience.
• Experience with core inland marine lines such as construction, transportation and equipment lines.
• Adept at building relationships with Retail and Wholesale Brokers in the region
• Proven leadership capabilities with a sound influence in dealing with challenging situations. 
• Demonstrates strong ability to partner with finance, actuarial, IT and marketing resources. 
• Demonstrates significant contribution to underwriting profit.
• Independent decision maker – takes full responsibility for making decisions and consequences associated with decisions.
• Recognized as a leader within the organization that provides advice and guidance to others.
• Demonstrates knowledge of the Inland Marine external market and contributes to the development of business strategy.
• Have established relationships with external clients and professional network.
• Continually seeks opportunities for niche products and potential agent opportunities.

The base salary range provided below is for hires in those geographic areas only and will be commensurate with candidate experience. Pay r