Director, Property & Casualty Staff Underwriting

Nationwide; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 122,000 - 214,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision

Life insurance

401(k) with company match

Pension plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Nationwide is seeking a Director, Staff Underwriting - Property & Casualty to lead the underwriting rules, risk filters, and models across Personal Lines. You will guide technology-enabled initiatives and collaborate with product, pricing, and field underwriting to improve decision quality, speed, and profitability.

The role requires strong leadership, strategic planning, and the ability to drive cross-functional programs in a large, matrixed organization with complex delivery needs.

Qualifications

• Typically 10 years of property and casualty underwriting with at least 5 years of management experience.
• Experience leading underwriting rules, risk filters, models, or technology-enabled changes.
• Strong knowledge of property & casualty products, insurer operations, and strategic objectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic development, governance of underwriting rules and related control gaps.
• Own risk-filter management end to end including testing and issues resolution.
• Oversee model implementation, KPI measurement, and recalibration impact analysis.
• Set technology roadmap and modernization opportunities with delivery partners.
• Design and implement underwriting solutions with stakeholders and coordinate validation.

Skills

Underwriting leadership

Modeling

KPI analysis

Strategic planning

Executive communication

Team leadership

Partnership building

Automation/AI awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

Underwriting decision platforms

Rules engines

Workflow software

Vendor management systems

Job description

Job Conditions

If you’re passionate about helping people protect what matters most to them at a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales, as well as innovating and simplifying processes and operations to provide the best customer value, then Nationwide’s Property and Casualty team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers and partners are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

This role leads the Personal Lines underwriting rules and technology portfolio, translating underwriting strategy into scalable capabilities that improve decision quality, speed, consistency, customer and agent experience, and profitability. Provide business leadership across rules, risk filters, models, and related technology solutions while partnering with Underwriting, Experience, Product, Pricing, Business Insights, Technology, Operations, and Distribution.

Key Responsibilities

• Underwriting rules: Lead the strategic development, implementation, governance, and ongoing management of underwriting rules, guidelines, and related control gaps.
• Risk filters: Own risk-filter management end to end, including new and changed filters, testing, vendor coordination, monitoring, issue resolution, and controls.
• Underwriting modeling: Oversee model implementation, KPI measurement, performance analysis, recalibration impact analysis, and follow-up actions.
• Technology strategy: Prioritization, roadmap, and modernization opportunities. Accountability with delivery partners in managing related scope and budget.
• Solution delivery: Partner with Product, Pricing, Technology, Business Insights, Experience, field underwriting, and other stakeholders to design and implement underwriting solutions; coordinate UAT, post-production validation, and stabilization.
• Partnership: Build strong partnerships and feedback loops to ensure solutions improve usability, adoption, workflow effectiveness, and customer, agent, and field-underwriting outcomes.
• Efficiency and enablement: Identify automation and emerging-technology opportunities that improve underwriting speed, accuracy, consistency, and profitability.
• People and enterprise leadership: Lead and develop a specialized team while setting priorities, resolving dependencies, managing delivery risk, and influencing senior stakeholders across a complex, matrixed organization.

Strategic priorities

The Leader Will Focus On Four Connected Outcomes

• Make underwriting strategy executable: Strengthen business-enabled rules, guidelines, and risk filters so strategy is translated into consistent, well-governed decisions with connected consideration. Monitor, measure, and adjust.
• Improve decision performance: Enhance Auto and Property model implementation, KPI measurement, monitoring, recalibration, and use in profitable risk selection.
• Improve experiences and new business activation: Partner with Experience and field underwriting to reduce friction and support an efficient journey from quote through policy issuance.
• Build scalable future capabilities: Set the technology roadmap and identify modernization, automation, and emerging-technology opportunities, including the potential development or adoption of a new underwriting rules engine. Deliver on countermeasures from activation kaizen.

Experience And Capabilities

We welcome candidates with different combinations of experience.

• Personal Lines underwriting knowledge and the ability to connect strategy to day-to-day decisions.
• Experience across Auto, Property and other lines of business.
• Experience leading underwriting rules, risk filters, models, decisioning capabilities, or technology-enabled underwriting change.
• Experience with model performance, KPI analysis, recalibration, or impact assessment.
• Experience leading delivery through design, UAT, implementation, validation, and stabilization.
• Ability to build productive partnerships with Experience, field underwriting, Product, Pricing, Technology, Business Insights, Operations, and Distribution.
• People leadership, talent development, strategic planning, roadmap, budgeting, prioritization, risk management, and executive communication skills.
• Experience with underwriting decision platforms, rules engines, decision management, workflow technology, third-party data or vendors, or modernization initiatives is helpful.
• Familiarity with automation, analytics, AI, or other emerging technologies in underwriting

Job Description Summary

Developing the underwriting strategy and ensuring it meets our risk appetite is essential to Nationwide's profitability and overall success. Our team utilizes our analysis and problem solving skills to enable solutions that drive underwriting efficiency and streamlined approaches. If you are a creative problem solver, have strategic agility, and are an excellent communicator, we want to know more about you!

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

• Assists in the development of strategy and direction for the assigned product(s). Participates in key initiatives to address the product strategy and profitability objectives. Reinforces understanding, communication and execution of product/underwriting strategy.
• Provides technical assistance and support to state/regional underwriting and services leadership. Maintains relationships with new entities, access points and distribution channels that need the support and expertise of product/underwriting staff operations.
• Leads projects for assigned profitability initiatives. Ensures that each area within the function is following the formal project management process for those projects designated as high priority.
• Serves on various committees, project teams and industry boards as assigned.
• Ensures various support functions, including product functional audits, training, vendor selection and management, employee career enhancement, competitive monitoring, systems and acting as a liaison to other business units.
• Manages associates, including performance management, salary planning and administration, training and development, workflow and organizational planning, hiring and placement and disciplinary actions.

May Perform Other Responsibilities As Assigned

Reporting Relationships

Reports to Staff Vice President or Officer. Leads a team of six or more Underwriting professionals and support staff.

Typical Skills And Experiences

Education

Bachelor's degree or post-graduate studies preferred.

License/Certification/Designation

Relevant professional designation such as CPCU highly desirable.

Experience

Typically, 10 years of property and casualty (personal and/or commercial) lines underwriting, including at least five years of management experience. Exposure to both field and staff office operations preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Requires proven knowledge of property/casualty products, insurance company operations, field and staff functions, industry trends, and project management. Demonstrated decision-making and strategic abilities. Ability to drive for results, deal with ambiguity, communicate with upper management, and conceptualize strategic objectives. Ability to lead staff, committees and project participants in all aspects of product/underwriting activities.

Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.

Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager's leader and HR Business Partner.

Values

Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions

Overtime Eligibility

Not Eligible (Exempt)

Working Conditions

Normal office environment. Frequent travel may be required.

ADA

The above statements cover what are generally believed to the principal and essential functions of the job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.

We currently anticipate accepting applications until 11/12/2026. However, we encourage early submissions, as the posting may close sooner if a strong candidate slate is identified before the deadline.

Benefits

• medical/dental/vision
• life insurance
• short and long term disability coverage
• paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date
• nine paid holidays
• 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off
• 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off
• 401(k) with company match
• company-paid pension plan
• business casual attire

Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.

This position could be filled within any of the lower 48 U.S. states.

Smoke-Free Iowa Statement: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates and subsidiaries comply with the Iowa Smokefree Air Act. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas on or around company premises as well as company issued vehicles. The company offers designated smoking areas in which smoking is permitted at each individual location. The Act prohibits retaliation for reporting complaints or violations. For more information on the Iowa Smokefree Air Act, individuals may contact the Smokefree Air Act Helpline at 888-944-2247.

For NY residents please review the following state law information: Notice of Employee Rights, Protections, and Obligations LS740 (ny.gov) https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/02/ls740_1.pdf

Nationwide pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement within the actual starting salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. If a Sales job, Sales Incentives, based on performance goals are possible in addition to this range. Note on Compensation for Part-Time Roles: Please be aware that the salary ranges listed below reflect full-time compensation. Actual compensation may be prorated based on the number of hours worked relative to a full-time schedule.

The national salary range for Director, Staff Underwriting - Property & Casualty : $122,000.00-$214,000.00

The expected starting salary range for Director, Staff Underwriting - Property & Casualty : $122,000.00 - $182,000.00