Director, Workers' Compensation Underwriting

Corgi; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Job summary

Corgi is building a new Workers’ Compensation business and seeks an experienced underwriting leader to own key decisions and shape a high‑impact program. You will work with brokers, regulators, and internal partners to define strategy, governance, and operations for a modern, scalable underwriting platform.

The role demands deep WC market knowledge across multiple states and the ability to grow a team while maintaining rigorous controls and profitability. Flexible within the United States.

Qualifications

• 4-7+ years of Workers’ Compensation experience with senior underwriting leadership.
• Deep knowledge of multi‑state WC markets and state-specific experience.
• Experience with regulators, brokers, and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of Workers’ Compensation underwriting strategy.
• Establish appetite, authority structures, and risk controls.
• Develop pricing, risk selection, reserving, and portfolio management frameworks.
• Collaborate with actuarial, regulatory, legal, claims, and finance teams.
• Recruit and develop the initial Workers’ Compensation team.

Skills

Workers’ Compensation

Senior underwriting leadership

Job description

Location: Chicago, IL (Flexible within the United States)

Experience: 4-7+ years

About Corgi

Corgi is building the next generation of financial institutions. We’re rethinking how insurance, financial products, and other complex financial services are built and operated from the ground up.

Corgi is a licensed insurance carrier with several property and casualty (P&C) lines of business, and we are expanding into additional lines. We’re building modern insurance products and operating systems from the ground up, combining deep insurance expertise with technology to make insurance work better.

We move quickly, work across disciplines, and expect people to take meaningful ownership from day one. Our teams are small, ambitious, and highly execution-oriented.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Workers’ Compensation insurance professional to help build Corgi's Workers’ Compensation business and take ownership of important underwriting decisions.

This role is a strong fit for a senior Workers’ Compensation leader who has owned underwriting results and wants to build a business from the ground up. You should be comfortable leading broker, regulator, and cross-functional relationships across the full underwriting lifecycle.

You will help define the overall underwriting strategy for the business, establish the appropriate controls and governance, and build the team and infrastructure required to operate a sophisticated Workers’ Compensation insurer.

This is a hands‑on role for someone who understands the Workers’ Compensation lifecycle and wants to help shape how a new business is built from the ground up.

What You’ll Work On

• Lead the development of Corgi's Workers’ Compensation underwriting strategy.
• Establish underwriting appetite, guidelines, authority structures, and risk controls.
• Develop frameworks for pricing, risk selection, reserving, portfolio management, and profitability.
• Help establish appropriate state-by-state underwriting and operational processes.
• Work with actuarial, regulatory, legal, claims, and finance teams on the development of the business.
• Develop relationships with regulators, reinsurers, brokers, and other industry stakeholders.
• Evaluate complex Workers’ Compensation risks and provide senior underwriting judgment.
• Establish portfolio monitoring and performance-management frameworks.Help recruit and develop the initial Workers’ Compensation team.
• Serve as a senior subject‑matter expert across the organization.

What We’re Looking For

• 4-7+ years of Workers’ Compensation experience, including senior underwriting leadership.
• Several years of hands‑on Workers’ Compensation underwriting experience, ideally at a carrier or specialty insurer.
• Deep knowledge of multi‑state Workers’ Compensation markets.
• Experience with NCCI and independent rating bureau states (e.g., California, New York, Pennsylvania), and familiarity with monopolistic‑fund states.
• Experience across guaranteed cost, large deductible, and other loss‑sensitive programs.
• Strong understanding of pricing, underwriting, claims, reserving, and portfolio economics.
• Experience working with regulators and other external stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to build trust with brokers and internal partners.
• Ability to operate at both the strategic and technical level.

Especially Valuable

• Experience taking ownership of a book, underwriting initiative, or cross‑functional project.
• Experience at a leading Workers’ Compensation carrier such as Travelers, The Hartford, AmTrust, Zurich, Chubb, Berkshire Hathaway (GUARD / BHHC), Liberty Mutual, or ICW Group.
• Deep regulatory and state‑market knowledge.
• Track record of building, growing, or turning around a Workers’ Compensation book.
• Experience with trucking and transportation classes (e.g., NCCI 7219, 7228, 7229).

Benefits

Corgi offers health insurance to eligible employees, subject to applicable plan terms and eligibility requirements.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Corgi is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, citizenship status, or any other status protected by applicable law. We welcome applicants with different backgrounds and experiences. Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, as required by law.