Commercial Manager

Stride Resource Management; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 81,000 - 99,000; Full time

Job summary

Stride Resource Management is seeking a senior broker with leadership credibility to guide a high-performing Account Handling team in a UK-wide commercial insurance operation.

You will balance people leadership with hands-on insurer relationship building, influencing placement strategy and market access to deliver better client outcomes.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership of an Account Handling team.
• Strong commercial broking experience with client outcomes at the forefront.
• Proven ability to build and maintain insurer relationships and trading momentum.
• Commercial broker with appetite for market-facing activity and negotiation.
• Experience coaching and developing high-performing teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of commercial Account Handlers with performance and capability accountability.
• Set expectations for service quality and team ownership across workloads.
• Resource workload to ensure consistent client service.
• Coach individuals and develop strengths within the team.
• Act as senior escalation point for complex client or broking issues.

Skills

Leadership

Commercial broking

Insurer relationships

Trading mindset

People development

Tools

Acturis

Job description

This role brings together two things that are often separated in commercial broking; leading a strong Account Handling team and having real influence with insurers.

The remit is straightforward. Build a high-performing team, strengthen insurer relationships and create a more commercially effective broking operation around both.

The opportunity

The role is built around two clear priorities:

First, you will lead and develop an established team of commercial Account Handlers, with responsibility for performance, service, workload and capability.

Second, you will play a much more active role in insurer trading, building stronger market relationships, improving access to decision-makers and helping the team get better outcomes through stronger placement and negotiation.

That combination gives the role real breadth. It is not purely operational and it is not purely market-facing. You will have influence over the people doing the work and the insurer relationships that underpin it.

What the role looks like

• Leading and developing a team of commercial Account Handlers, with clear responsibility for performance, capability and day-to-day direction.
• Setting expectations around service, quality and accountability across the team.
• Managing workload and capacity so the team is properly resourced and client service remains consistent.
• Coaching people individually and helping stronger team members continue to develop.
• Acting as a senior escalation point when more complex client or broking issues need experienced input.
• Building stronger relationships with key insurers and creating a more active trading culture across the team.
• Spending time with insurer partners to understand appetite, improve access to decision-makers and strengthen the overall relationship.
• Helping the team approach placement more commercially, with better use of markets and stronger negotiation.
• Working closely with senior broking leadership on insurer strategy, service standards and wider performance.
• Maintaining strong oversight around quality, compliance and Consumer Duty while keeping the focus on practical client outcomes.

Who this could suit

• You will have strong commercial broking experience and enough leadership credibility to manage an established team.
• You may currently be a Broking Manager, Team Leader, Senior Account Handler with supervisory responsibility or another experienced commercial broker who has naturally moved into leading people. Strong insurer relationships will also help.
• The best fit will be somebody who genuinely enjoys trading, knows how to build credibility with underwriters and understands how better insurer engagement can improve outcomes for both clients and the wider broking team.
• You will be comfortable giving people direction, addressing performance issues and making decisions, but you will still want to stay close to the commercial side of the market.
• Experience with Acturis or a similar broking platform will be useful, alongside a solid understanding of FCA requirements and Consumer Duty.

The business

You will be joining a substantial UK commercial insurance business with a strong regional broking presence and continued investment behind its growth.

The business is looking closely at how it strengthens both its people leadership and its insurer relationships, which is why this role has a broader remit than simply managing an Account Handling team.

There is already scale, established market relationships and a sizeable commercial operation in place. The opportunity is to bring stronger leadership to the team while also making the insurer side of the role more visible, more structured and more commercially effective.

The position sits close to senior regional leadership and will have influence across both people performance and wider broking strategy.

Package and working pattern

• Salary up to £90,000 depending on experience.
• Hybrid working, with regular office attendance expected.
• Based in Northern England, with the exact location deliberately withheld.
• Senior responsibility across both team leadership and insurer relationships.
• Direct exposure to regional broking leadership.
• Scope to influence how the business develops its insurer strategy and trading approach.

The next step

You will want to understand the size and experience of the team, how much insurer-facing responsibility genuinely sits with the role and how much scope there is to influence the wider broking operation.

We can talk you through that confidentially, including the leadership remit, the trading expectations and what the business wants this person to achieve, before you decide whether it is worth taking the conversation further.