Underwriting & Data Manager

Howden Group Holdings; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

DUAL UK, part of Howden, is seeking an Underwriting Performance & Data Manager to drive data-led insights across Commercial and Specialty portfolios. You will work with trading underwriting, finance, actuarial and data teams to deliver robust reporting, insightful analysis and actionable intelligence for executive decision-making.

The role focuses on performance oversight, KPI development, and enhancing reporting suites to support growth, profitability and efficiency across multiple UK units.

Qualifications

• Strong analytical and reporting skills with experience in underwriting or insurance performance analysis.
• Proficiency in Excel (pivot tables, lookups) and BI tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Familiarity with metrics like GWP, earned premium, loss ratios, and commission structures.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyse underwriting performance across UK Commercial & Specialty units, focusing on GWP, revenue, fees and loss ratios.
• Lead monthly and quarterly performance packs for senior leadership and capacity providers; build dashboards and reporting tools.
• Collaborate with UK and Group data teams to enhance reporting suites; apply data science techniques to improve efficiency and identify trends.
• Oversee profit commissions, capacity reviews, and binder/capacity oversight through monitoring and reporting.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Excel

Power BI

Tableau

SQL

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Tableau

SQL

Python

Job description

About DUAL

Working across 21 countries, DUAL has built a reputation as a specialist underwriting group and the market of choice for insurance intermediaries around the world. That’s how we have become one of the world’s largest international underwriting agencies (or MGAs) with US$3.4bn GWP. DUAL is part of Howden, a leading global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Founded in 1994, it provides insurance, reinsurance and underwriting services to clients ranging from private individuals to the largest multinational companies. The Group operates in 57 countries, employs over 24,000 people and manages premiums totalling US$50bn on behalf of its clients.

Role overview

Join DUAL UK as an Underwriting Performance & Data Manager and play a central role in driving data‑led insights across our Commercial and Specialty insurance portfolios. This is a high-impact role that supports the strategic oversight of underwriting performance across 20+ business units, ensuring that growth, profitability, and operational excellence remain at the forefront of our business. As part of the central underwriting team, you will work closely with the trading underwriting teams, finance, actuarial and data teams to deliver robust reporting, insightful analysis, and actionable intelligence. Your work will directly support executive decision‑making, capacity negotiations, and the continued evolution of our UK reporting suite.

Role responsibilities

Underwriting Performance Oversight

• Monitor and analyse underwriting performance across all UK Commercial & Specialty business units, focusing on key metrics such as GWP, revenue, fees, and loss ratios.
• Identify trends, variances, and areas of concern or opportunity across portfolios and product lines.
• Support the development of UW performance KPIs (Submission metrics, rate, retention, exposure, volumes) to track underwriting effectiveness.

Reporting & MI Delivery

• Lead the collation and production of monthly and quarterly performance packs for senior leadership and capacity providers.
• Build and maintain dashboards and reporting tools that provide clear, timely, and actionable insights.
• Collaborate with the UK and Group data teams to enhance the reporting suites and ensure alignment with strategic objectives.
• Use data science techniques and AI tools to improve underwriting and operational efficiency, reduce manual reporting effort and identify emerging portfolio trends and risks.

Profit Commission & Capacity Support

• Oversee the collection, tracking, and reconciliation of profit commissions across all delegated authority arrangements.
• Support the preparation of performance data for capacity reviews, renewals, and negotiations.
• Enhance binder and capacity oversight through, Premium income monitoring, threshold and exception reporting, performance tracking against binder limits and authorities.

Data Governance & Process Improvement

• Work with data owners and system teams to ensure data quality, consistency, and completeness across underwriting systems.
• Contribute to the documentation and refinement of reporting processes, controls, and methodologies.
• Identify opportunities to automate and streamline performance reporting and analysis.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a key point of contact for underwriting performance queries from internal stakeholders and capacity partners.
• Liaise with Underwriters, Finance, Actuarial, and Group teams to ensure alignment on performance metrics and reporting outputs.
• Present findings and insights to senior stakeholders in a clear and compelling manner.

Key requirements

• Strong analytical and reporting skills, with experience in underwriting or insurance performance analysis.
• Proficiency in Excel (including pivot tables, lookups, and data visualisation); experience with BI tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau).
• Familiarity with insurance metrics such as GWP, earned premium, loss ratios, and commission structures.
• Data science and AI background and working knowledge highly desirable.
• Experience working with policy administration systems and data warehouses.
• Prior exposure to delegated authority or MGA environments is a plus.

Behaviours & Attributes

• Commercially aware, with a strong understanding of underwriting performance drivers.
• Detail‑oriented and methodical, with a commitment to data accuracy and integrity.
• Confident communicator, able to present complex data in a clear and engaging way.
• Proactive and collaborative, with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, evolving environment with multiple stakeholders.

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. Of course, we offer a competitive range of rewards and benefits to support you, but we know you expect all that. What you might not expect is a job where everyone has a voice, where volunteering in the community is part of the day job, and where everyone is encouraged to play a part towards our sustainability goals. We want people who want to make a difference – not just in the workplace, but in the industry and in the wider community.

The culture: people first

Our core values dictate how we live and work. We’re a group with independence and people at its heart – and a home for talent with a unique culture: the biggest small company in the world. Being a people-first business has always been central to who we are. Our vision was to create an independent organisation with a distinctive culture that would survive and thrive through the people who shape it. Finding the most talented and entrepreneurial individuals to join the group has been, and will continue to be, key to our success.

Diversity and inclusion

At DUAL, our people are our greatest strength. We are committed to building an open and inclusive culture where everyone feels trusted and that they belong. We work to ensure all candidates, employees, clients and business partners are treated with fairness and respect. We want every candidate to be able to bring their best to the recruitment process, so if you require reasonable accommodation at any stage, please let us know and we will work with you to provide appropriate support.

Permanent

Howden began in 1994, as just three people and a dog. Now there are 23,000 of us, and we're a leading global insurance group, managing $37bn of premiums for our clients. Our largest shareholder group is us – the people who work in the business – supported by three long-term, minority growth-equity partners who share our vision to build a business to last, one that will never be sold. The owner's mindset is something that's embedded in our culture; our people readily take ownership of their decisions, their actions, and their outputs. They’re invested in every sense. And we all know that by working together to drive the business forward, everyone will benefit from the extraordinary results we can achieve.