Professional Liability Underwriting Lead

Shepherd

Los Angeles (CA)

On-site

USD 200,000 - 240,000

Full time

5 hours ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Equity

Unlimited PTO

Dog-friendly office

Job summary

Shepherd is transforming commercial insurance with software, data, and deep underwriting expertise. We are launching a professional liability vertical to support construction, energy, and future markets, led by an experienced underwriter who can shape strategy, guide pricing, and build a high-performing team.

Based in one of our major offices (NYC, SF, Chicago, LA, or Dallas–Fort Worth), you will own the professional liability book, manage growth, and partner with brokers to deliver competitive,

Qualifications

8+ years of professional liability underwriting experience, including E&O exposure.
Profitable growth track record: originate, quote, bind, grow the book.
Strong command of risk selection, pricing, and coverage.
Experience managing underwriters and setting authority.
Established broker relationships at regional/national levels.

Responsibilities

Define strategy for professional liability: target classes, lines, limits, geographies, appetite and growth targets.
Develop underwriting guidelines, rating approach, and referral rules.
Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Data on submission-to-bind workflow, pricing tools, and exposure views.
Underwrite new and renewal primary/excess professional liability within authority.
Own book profitability, loss ratios, and retention results.
Leverage broker relationships to drive submissions and market Shepherd's professional lines.
Hire and coach underwriters as the book scales.
Coordinate with Claims, Actuarial, CX and Finance to ensure serviced and reported results.

Skills

Professional liability underwriting

Broker relationships

Leadership experience

Underwriting models

Pricing & coverage

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

What We Do

The world is building data centers, energy projects, hospitals, schools, and critical infrastructure. Every one of those projects needs insurance to move forward. Yet the process of getting that insurance still depends on scattered documents, manual work, and weeks of back‑forth.

Build the insurance behind the physical world.

What We Do

Build the insurance behind the physical world.

Shepherd is rebuilding commercial insurance with software, data, AI, and deep underwriting expertise. We started in construction and energy, where understanding the specifics of a project matters and better decisions have consequences far beyond a screen.

We develop insurance products, decide which risks to insure and how to price them, and partner with established insurers to back the coverage. We own the platform our team uses to turn complex submissions into coverage for the builders and operators shaping the world around us.

Real problems. Real ownership. Our engineers, designers, underwriters, and actuaries build together. The problems span turning messy documents into reliable data, making pricing more precise, and designing AI agents that can take on increasingly complex underwriting work.

The ambition is a platform where experts spend more time on judgment and relationships, supported by software that handles the work around them. Join us to build systems whose decisions help real projects get built.

630+ customers / $500B+ insured project value

Our investors

Capital to build. Partners to grow with.

$67M total funding / $42M Series B in March 2026

Shepherd is backed by Intact Private Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Spark Capital, Susa Ventures, and Y Combinator. In March 2026, we announced a $42M Series B led by Intact Private Capital, bringing our total funding to $67M.

Intact is also a capacity partner. Alongside its investment, Intact works with Shepherd to bring insurance products to market. That relationship connects our platform and underwriting expertise with the resources of a global insurer.

A bigger opportunity ahead

We are investing in new insurance products, our underwriting team, and the path toward autonomous underwriting. For the people joining Shepherd, that means the chance to shape both the technology and the business it makes possible.

Our backing brings together investors who build technology companies and partners who understand insurance. We are building a company that earns the confidence of both.

Professional Liability Underwriting Lead

Shepherd is launching a Professional Liability product to support its existing Construction and Energy verticals as well as future verticals. The Professional Liability Underwriting Lead will play a lead role in building and shaping the new product expansion, with an initial focus on Errors & Omissions (E&O) and Miscellaneous Professional Liability (MPL). This is an opportunity to help define the underwriting strategy, go‑to‑market, and drive long‑term profitable growth for the core pillars of Shepherd’s business. We're looking for someone with 8+ years of professional liability underwriting experience, a proven track record of leadership, deep broker relationships, and an entrepreneurial mindset who is excited to build something new with modern technology and a forward‑thinking team.

About You

8+ years of professional liability underwriting, with deep expertise across architects and engineers E&O as well as exposure to other industries such as technology, financial services, real estate, manufacturing or healthcare.
A proven record of profitable growth: originating new business, quoting, binding, and building a professional liability book while managing to loss‑ratio and combined‑ratio targets.
Strong technical command of risk selection, underwriting models, exposure and loss analysis, loss development and trends, pricing, and coverage across E&O and MPL.
Strong technical command of risk selection, application and financial review, pricing, and coverage, including claims‑made forms, retroactive dates, prior acts, extended reporting periods, retentions, and primary and excess structures.
Sound judgment on manuscript endorsements, contractual liability, and emerging exposures across professional services, including technology, regulatory, and litigation trends.
Established broker relationships at the regional and national level that can drive submission flow from day one.
People leadership experience leading, mentoring, or managing underwriters, including setting authority and running underwriting audits.
Executive presence to present strategy and results to leadership, capacity partners, and reinsurers.
Comfort with ambiguity: you make sound decisions with incomplete information and adapt quickly as the business evolves.
Willingness to travel about 25% to meet brokers, partners, and the team.
A bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

About the Role

Shepherd's underwriting approach is client‑centric with a heavy emphasis on an efficient process. Our goal is to leverage our technology and data to make quick, informed underwriting decisions tailored to our clients' specific needs.

Define the strategy for professional liability, including target classes, lines of business, limits, attachment points, geographies, appetite, and growth and loss‑ratio targets.
Support the development of underwriting guidelines, rating approach, authority framework and referral rules.
Partner with Product, Engineering, and Data to design the submission‑to‑bind workflow, pricing tools, and exposure and loss‑trend views.
Underwrite new and renewal primary and excess professional liability within your authority.
Own premium, profit, loss‑ratio, and retention results for the book.
Use your broker relationships to drive submission flow in the first year, and actively market Shepherd's professional lines products at broker and client meetings, industry events, and through targeted business development.
Hire, coach, and grow a team of professional liability underwriters as the book scales.
Work with Corporate Underwriting to help set letters of authority, run underwriting audits, and coach from the results.
Work with Claims, Actuarial, Customer Experience and Finance so the business is underwritten, serviced, and reported well.

This is a position based in our New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Dallas–Fort Worth offices.

Compensation

The base salary range for this role is $200,000 – $240,000, plus an annual performance bonus and equity in Shepherd. Offers within the range depend on experience and the relationships and market following you bring.

How We Work

Think big, build big. We exist to protect progress and the industries that rely on it. You're building a professional lines vertical meant to scale nationally, so the guidelines, products, and tools get designed for where the book is going, not just where it starts.
Win together. We rise as one. We support each other, raise the bar, and celebrate collective success. As the first underwriter in this vertical, you set the standard for every professional liability underwriter after you inherit.
Cross the aisle. Collaboration wins. We listen deeply, work across boundaries, and prioritize shared success over individual lanes. The best underwriting tools here come from underwriters who sit with engineers and data scientists, and much of this job is making that partnership work.
Go get it. We act with urgency, move with confidence, take smart risks, and push forward with intention. Nobody hands you the appetite, the broker list, or the first submission. You build the plan, make the calls, and bind the first deal.

Benefits

100% contribution to top‑tier health, dental, and vision
Fertility Benefits & Family Building Support
Unlimited PTO
Flexibility to take the time off, recharge, and perform
Daily Lunches, Dinners & Snacks
We work together, and enjoy meals together too
SF, NYC, Dallas–Fort Worth, Chicago & LA Offices
Professional Development – Access to premium coaching, including leadership development
Competitive 401(k) Plan
Dog-Friendly Office – Plenty of dogs to play with and make friends with in the SF office

Benefits