Director, Underwriting - Excess Casualty

W. R. Berkley Corporation; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental & Vision

401(k) + Profit Sharing

Paid time off

Job summary

Berkley Custom Insurance Managers seeks a Director, Underwriting - Excess Casualty to analyze financials, assess risk, and set pricing under guidance. The role emphasizes broker management, enduring client partnerships, and disciplined risk selection.

Responsibilities include evaluating submissions, preparing documentation, and coordinating with underwriting teams to protect profitability while supporting brokers and clients. This is an in-office role with hybrid work arrangements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a related field.
• Strong technical knowledge of excess casualty underwriting theories and practices.
• Established network of wholesale brokers and creative problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to analyze financials at a college level and communicate findings clearly.

Responsibilities

• Analyze potential and renewing accounts to determine underwriting acceptability.
• Set rates and coverage levels under supervision while building underwriting skills.
• Maintain relationships with peers, customers, and brokers/agents; develop new business from evaluation to pricing.
• Assist with input of underwriting information and pre-underwriting on renewals.
• Process underwriting documents, collect missing information, and ensure accuracy before release.

Skills

Excess casualty underwriting

Financial analysis

Written & verbal communication

multitasking and prioritization

Team player

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree

7-10+ years related experience

Job description

Company Details

From middle market to Fortune 500 companies, Berkley Custom’s team is committed to providing excellent service and a consistent approach to meet the needs of their brokers and their customers, bringing specific expertise in excess casualty as well as a variety of targeted primary and excess programs.

They seek to outperform competitors with focus and deep understanding of their client’s priorities and by developing creative risk solutions to meet their long-term needs. Their key differentiators include the following:

EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIPS -Berkley Custom works exclusively the wholesale brokerage community as well as their program partners, and continually builds upon long established relationships with a passion for superior service for their appointed producers.

INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS- Berkley Custom attracts and retains professionals with significant experience in their field, many with over 25 years in the business. Their culture values and promotes deep industry knowledge, integrity, excellence, and respect.

LONG-TERM APPROACH TO ACCOUNTS- Berkley Custom continually seeks partners for the long term who share their values and risk management discipline.

Long-term relationships have been their management’s trademark in over 30 years of serving customers in the E&S and Program marketplace. Their team is dedicated to serving the varied casualty exposure needs of their brokers and their customers. By truly understanding risk exposures in a constantly changing global environment, they can better work with you to keep risk placement recommendations current and responsive.

The company is an equal opportunity employer.

Berkley Custom Insurance Managers

Responsibilities

The Director, Underwriting - Excess Casualtyis responsible for analyses of potential and existing customers by gathering and reviewing information on the companies’ financial condition, loss and exposure history, and other relevant information to determine underwriting acceptability. Duties will also entail assessing economic acceptability of the risks and other important criteria that may affect the type of insurance coverage provided and premiums charged.

Under supervision, the person in this role will assess risk, set rate and coverage levels. The successful candidate with excellent experience while developing their critical underwriting skills, through both independent and on-the-job training (e.g., job shadowing, mentorship, etc.).

It is expected that the person in this role will establish, support, and maintain effective relationships with peers, customers, and brokers/agents. The person will also focus on learning how to evaluate both new and renewal book of business from evaluation to the pricing of the risk.

Broker Management

• Understand the relationship between the brokerage community and underwriting; includes importance of managing the expectations of and communicating underwriting decisions, requirements, and philosophies to brokerage community.
• Maintain producer / agency contact log information in electronic databases.
• Participate in agency visitations with underwriters, claims representative or loss control representative to begin developing customer contacts.

Underwriting Duties

• Evaluate risk characteristics of submissions to determine business opportunities in accordance with guidelines and company philosophy.
• Review underwriting documents for accuracy prior to their release to brokers and/or company clients.
• Learn to analyze coverage and limit requests to determine terms to be offer. Prices business in accordance with company guidelines.
• Assesses risk quality and compliance within company guidelines and initiates appropriate loss prevention actions.
• Orders and screens miscellaneous reports needed in the rating and underwriting processes, such as loss history reports, credit checks, outside inspections, loss control, etc.

Pre-Underwriting Duties

• Assist with the input of preliminary underwriting information; gather third party reports and information on submissions, according to priority ranking by the underwriting team.
• Assist with pre-underwriting on renewals prior to the policy expiration date to determine whether notice of non-renewal or notice of a change in risk letters are required. Within guidelines.
• Assist with gathering prior claim history information on renewals and utilize judgment to assist in determining extent of pre-underwriting or non-renewal.

Underwriting Documents Processing

• Receive, accept and follow up for and evaluate additional information for submissions on hold status.
• Follow up with producer to collect accurate lost quotation information.
• Receive, accept and evaluate binder conditions.
• Other duties and special projects as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (B. A.) from a four-year college or university; or 7-10+ years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Strong technical knowledge of excess casualty underwriting theories and practices, broad understanding of the specialty insurance market and operations (Risk Control, Actuarial, Claim, Finance and Compliance).
• Established network of wholesale brokers ready to work with you and find creative solutions.
• Must be able to conceptualize and analyze financials at a college level, as required by product line.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are a must.
• Must be able to manage multiple priorities and possess the ability to make independent judgments.
• Must be a team player, willing and eager to learn, organized, detailed and flexible.
• Position requires occasional travel, including overnight trips.

#LI-FL1 #LI-HYBRID

This position is an in-office, in-person role - 4 days a week, in-office and 1 day remote.

Additional Company Details

We do not accept any unsolicited resumes from external recruiting agencies or firms. Base Salary Range: $ 130,000 - 170,000 The actual salary for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including the scope, complexity and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; and other conditions of employment. Eligible to participate in the annual discretionary bonus program. Benefits: Health, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability, Wellness, Paid Time Off, 401(k) and Profit-Sharing plans.

Sponsorship Details

Sponsorship not Offered for this Role