Operational Underwriting Specialist

Aviva; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Bonus opportunity

Pension scheme

Private medical benefit

Share plans

Volunteer days

Flexible benefits

Job summary

Aviva is seeking an Operational Underwriting Specialist to manage a portfolio of complex commercial risks and provide technical underwriting guidance. You will influence underwriting decisions, support colleagues, and drive profitable growth within your authority levels.

You will collaborate with brokers and customers to deliver excellent outcomes, ensure compliance with controls and legislation, and contribute to underwriting capability across the team. This is a hybrid role based in the UK.

Qualifications

• Proven experience underwriting commercial risks, including complex cases.
• Strong technical underwriting knowledge for risk decisions and referrals.
• Experience building and managing relationships with brokers and customers.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Good understanding of insurance regulation and governance.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop a profitable portfolio of complex risks.
• Underwrite new business and renewals within authority levels.
• Collaborate with brokers and customers to deliver outcomes.
• Provide technical guidance to colleagues and support referrals/escalations.
• Identify market trends and contribute to process improvements.

Skills

Commercial underwriting

Technical underwriting

Broker relationships

Stakeholder management

Regulatory understanding

Job description

Operational Underwriting Specialist

Salary: Competitive salary, depending on experience

Are you an experienced Commercial Underwriter looking for your next challenge?

We're looking for an experienced Operational Underwriting Specialist to join our team. This is an exciting opportunity to manage a portfolio of complex risks while using your technical expertise to support colleagues, influence underwriting decisions, and drive profitable growth.

You’ll work closely with brokers, customers, and internal stakeholders, acting as a technical point of reference within the team while helping to shape underwriting excellence across the business.

A bit about the job:

As an Operational Underwriting Specialist, you’ll be responsible for managing and developing a profitable portfolio of business, underwriting complex new business and renewal risks within your authority levels.

You’ll collaborate with brokers and customers to deliver great outcomes, handling policies from end to end while maintaining strong underwriting discipline and ensuring compliance with controls, regulations, and relevant legislation.

In addition, you’ll provide technical guidance to colleagues, support referrals and escalations, identify emerging market trends, contribute to projects and process improvements, and help develop underwriting capability across the wider team.

Skills and experience we’re looking for:

• Proven commercial underwriting experience, including underwriting complex and high-value risks across new business and renewals.
• Strong technical underwriting knowledge, with the ability to make sound risk decisions and handle complex referrals.
• Experience building and managing successful broker and customer relationships.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to support, coach and influence others.
• Good understanding of insurance regulation, governance requirements, and delivering positive customer outcomes.

What you’ll get for this role:

Our purpose - with you today, for a better tomorrow - is a promise we make to our colleagues too.And one of the ways we live up to that promise is by investing in you.We have so much to offer when it comes to being an Aviva colleague.

• Competitive Salary (depending on location, skills, experience, and qualifications)
• Bonus opportunity - 10% of annual salary, (actual amount depends on your performance and Aviva’s.)
• Generouspensionscheme e.g. if you put in 8%, Aviva adds 14%
• 29 days holiday plus bank holidays, and you can choose to buy or sell up to 5 days
• Aviva-funded Private Medical Benefit to help you get expert support when you need it
• Make your money go further - Up to 40% discount on Aviva products, and other retailer discounts
• Up to £1,200 of free Aviva shares per year through our Matching Share Plan and share in the success of Aviva with our Save As You Earn scheme
• Brilliantly supportive policies including parental and carer’s leave
• Flexible benefits to suit you, including sustainability options such as cycle to work
• Make a difference, be part of our Aviva Communities and use your 3 paid volunteering days to help others
• We take your wellbeing seriously with lots of support and tools

Aviva is for everyone:

We’re inclusive and welcome everyone - we want applications from all backgrounds and experiences. Excited but not sure you tick every box? Even if you don’t, we would still encourage you to apply. We also consider all forms of flexible working, including part time and job shares.

We flex locations, hours and working patterns to suit our customers, business, and you. Most of our people are smart working - spending at least 50% of their time in our offices every week - combining the benefits of flexibility, with time together with colleagues.

To find out more about working at Aviva take a look here