Senior Underwriter

NHBC company; Milton Keynes; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave + bank holidays

Enhanced pension scheme (up to 10.5%)

Life assurance

Subsidised private medical insurance

Employee discounts platform

Enhanced parental leave and pay

Job summary

NHBC is seeking a Senior Underwriter to assess complex, high-value risks across referred cases, major projects, and bonds. You’ll apply technical judgment, guide colleagues, and help shape underwriting standards while managing risk for NHBC.

You will lead on risk selection, terms, and conditions, and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure robust, compliant underwriting decisions. This role combines technical excellence with strategic influence.

Qualifications

• Extensive underwriting experience with delegated authority.
• Experience handling complex, non-standard or borderline risks.
• Strong technical judgement balancing commercial considerations.
• Understanding of underwriting principles, risk selection and counterparty considerations.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management; ability to influence decisions.
• Experience coaching or mentoring colleagues in underwriting teams.
• ACII qualification or equivalent; degree advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead assessment and underwriting of complex, high-value risks within delegated authority.
• Evaluate major developments, construction methods and risk exposures.
• Underwrite complex road and sewer bonds, assess contractor strength and insolvency risks.
• Make sound risk decisions and escalate for specialist approval when needed.
• Provide technical guidance, peer reviews and mentoring to Underwriters.
• Contribute to underwriting guidelines and process improvements.
• Build relationships with internal and external stakeholders to discuss and negotiate requirements.

Skills

Underwriting experience

Non-standard risk assessment

Technical judgement

Underwriting principles

Stakeholder management

Mentoring/coaching

ACII / insurance qualification

Education

ACII qualification or working towards it

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Tools

Underwriting guidelines

Job description

Working Location: Milton Keynes/London, Hybrid working, 2 days in office

Employment Type: Full Time, Permanent

Closing Date: 18 th November 2026

Job summary

As a Senior Underwriter, you'll play a key role in assessing complex, high-value and non-standard risks, using your technical expertise and commercial judgement to make informed underwriting decisions. Working across referred cases, major projects and surety and bonds, you'll take ownership of challenging assessments, provide technical guidance to colleagues and help shape underwriting standards and processes. This is a great opportunity to use your experience to influence underwriting quality, support continuous improvement and contribute to the management of risk across NHBC.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead the assessment and underwriting of complex, unusual and high-value risks within your delegated authority.
• Evaluate major developments, construction methods, contractor capability and associated risk exposures.
• Underwrite complex road and sewer bonds, assessing contractor strength, insolvency risks and appropriate security requirements.
• Make sound, evidence-based decisions on risk selection, terms and conditions, escalating cases where specialist approval is required.
• Provide technical guidance, peer reviews and mentoring to Underwriters, supporting consistent and high-quality decision-making.
• Contribute to underwriting guidelines, referral criteria and improvements to underwriting processes.
• Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, confidently discussing and negotiating complex underwriting requirements.

What we’re looking for

• Extensive relevant underwriting experience, with a strong track record of making independent decisions within delegated authority.
• Experience assessing complex, non-standard or borderline risks in referred-case underwriting, major projects, or surety and bonds
• Strong technical judgement, with the ability to balance commercial considerations and make well-evidenced decisions.
• A good understanding of underwriting principles, risk selection, credit and counterparty considerations, and delegated authority.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence, challenge and explain complex decisions.
• Experience supporting, coaching or mentoring colleagues and sharing technical expertise.
• A professional insurance qualification or equivalent senior-level experience. A degree and ACII qualification (or working towards it) would be advantageous.

What we offer

Our benefits package includes

• 27 days annual leave + bank holidays
• enhanced pension scheme (up to 10.5%)
• life assurance
• subsidised private medical insurance
• employee discounts platform
• enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption leave and pay for all new parents

+ many more!

Who we are

At NHBC, we pride ourselves on being truly unique. No other organisation in our sector matches the range of services and scale we provide. As the market leader, we are recognised as the go-to for new home warranties and insurance. Our team is united by a core purpose: to raise the standards of house building and protect homeowners.

Why you should join us

As a modern, family-friendly employer, we’re in a phase of rapid growth, embracing technology, data and new ways of working. We’re seeking passionate, skilled and driven individuals to join us on this exciting journey.

Once onboard, you’ll have access to fantastic opportunities for personal and career growth. You’ll receive thorough training, continuous development and the chance to earn recognised qualifications and professional memberships to support your journey.

We support flexible working and encourage our colleagues to find a balance that suits them. While we may not be able to accommodate every request, we’re always happy to have a conversation about flexible working arrangements.

Our inclusive culture

We are dedicated to fostering an inclusive culture where everyone feels empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. We firmly believe in the right of all our employees and customers to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, and free from discrimination. Our active employee networks support colleagues and their allies, providing safe spaces for open conversations and idea-sharing.

We are a Disability Confident organisation committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. Our first step is to review applications to ensure candidates meet the essential criteria for the role. We assess skills, experience, and potential objectively, and provide support or reasonable adjustments where needed. Candidates who meet the criteria will progress to the next stage.

Why NHBC

Work for the UK’s leading independent provider of warranty and insurance for new-built homes.

We have a range of job opportunities across the UK, including field and home-based roles within corporate, business operations and field tech. We welcome experienced professionals and those new to the world of work such as trainees, and with our flexible working approach we are open to helping you find a role that works for you.

NHBC colleagues have access to a wide range of additional benefits and we ensure our packages are attractive to current and potential employees.

Flexibility

Working flexibly is part of our commitment to supporting a positive work-life balance and we are always happy to talk about flexible and hybrid working, wherever possible.

Bonus

We offer a yearly performance based bonus to all employees based on a percentage of salary.

27 days holiday + bank holidays with the opportunity to purchase extra days.

Enhanced leave and pay

We offer equalised maternity, paternity, adoption leave and pay for all new parents.

We recognise the valuable contribution that our colleagues make, benchmarking our salaries, against the wider market to ensure our packages are attractive.

Our Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategy is focused on providing a shared direction and commitment for the organisation to respect and value our diverse workforce and continue to build a more inclusive workplace. We aim to attract and retain a workforce that represents the communities in which we work.

National House-Building Council and its subsidiaries (NHBC) engage with preferred recruiters or agencies on a formal basis. NHBC is unable to accept applications from recruiters or agencies who do not have signed terms of business with NHBC. If unsolicited applications or CVs are received from recruiters or agencies with or without such an agreement, NHBC will neither consider nor agree to any payment to that party.