Sales Underwriting Specialist, Human Services

The Hanover Insurance Group; Minneapolis (MN); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The Hanover Insurance Group is seeking a Senior Underwriting Specialist for our Central Zone, with hybrid or remote work options. This role focuses on underwriting and selling Middle Market accounts, using advanced analysis to balance risk and profitability.

You will manage a complex portfolio, build strong agency relationships, and apply market insights to drive profitable growth. Strong communication and decision-making are essential in this senior role.

Qualifications

• 5-7+ years underwriting experience with Middle Market accounts.
• Experience underwriting MM accounts with profitability focus.
• Proven ability to manage agency relationships and drive new business.
• Strong communication and decision-making skills.

Responsibilities

• Identify, solicit, underwrite and sell middle market accounts for growth.
• Apply underwriting guidelines and tools to ensure compliant risk decisions.
• Manage a high-complexity portfolio to meet profitability and mix goals.
• Develop and maintain agency relationships to drive new business.
• Present to agents and customers to negotiate and close opportunities.
• Monitor market trends and adjust pricing and terms accordingly.

Skills

Underwriting expertise

Agency relationships

Sales & negotiation

Data analysis

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent

Job description

Our Human Service Team is seeking a Senior Underwriting Specialist to add to their growing team in Central Zone.

This is a full time, exempt role either a hybrid or remote setting.

Position Overview

Responsible for identifying, soliciting, underwriting and selling new and renewal Middle Market accounts that drive profitable growth and align with the Human Services Industry segment, appetite and mix goals. Apply advanced technical, sales and analytical skills to provide insurance solutions that help Hanover's customers manage risk. Demonstrates a thorough understanding of Hanover's strategies and Human Services appetites and will use internal and external data to make appropriate individual and portfolio Human Services risk decisions. Operates within a broad Letter of Authority for all underwriting decisions and with limited direction while managing an assigned book of business, generally with high technical complexity and coordination. Willingness to build and foster key agency relationships, identify emerging issues, obtain competitive intelligence and engage in industry-specific continuing education.

Key responsibilities

Technical Underwriting

• Knows and applies advanced underwriting concepts including risk selection, exposure and hazard identification and control, coverage implications, and loss analysis.
• Uses all appropriate underwriting tools (e.g. RQI, WC RST, UWWS, and CLAY.), disciplines and knowledge of strategies to ensure underwriting guidelines are followed.
• Advanced knowledge of pricing components and rating methodology and correlates pricing to exposure, financial and competitive analysis.
• Completes file documentation according to best practices guidelines and state regulations and can clearly explain account decisions.
• Adheres to CAT guidelines and underwriting discipline to minimize exposure and appropriately price individual risks. Applies increased knowledge of CAT aggregation to decision making.

Portfolio Management & Financial Acumen:

• Manages assigned portfolio to achieve gross written premium, profitability, rate, retention, industry and LOB mix, new business and portfolio management goals.
• Reviews key metrics and uncovers trends that may lead to new business opportunities with agents while achieving profitable growth in accordance with business strategies.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the market factors and trends that can affect pricing (i.e. distribution channels, competition, organization's growth/ profit strategy, regulation, reinsurance costs and branding).
• Prepares or analyzes information on adverse underwriting decisions, rate appeals, underwriting requirements, status and declinations in order to drive results within the assigned territory.
• Supports the implementation of profit improvement initiatives with key agents.

Sales Acumen & Customer Advocacy:

• Can identify, solicit, pipeline, negotiate, and close accounts aligned with MM branch strategy. Ability to profile assigned agency plant and to strategically market our capabilities to agents.
• Operates with a franchise perspective to identify and drive enhanced sell opportunities and create growth within other lines of business and customer segments. Utilize our value proposition to enhance agency economics, partner conversion and product specialization in partnership with local management.
• Prioritizes and drives effective relationship management and producer activities to build trust, facilitate negotiation, and secure commitment in order to improve yield and retention ratios.
• Keeps current on state/territory issues, regulations and trends. Utilizes market and competitor information to enhance agent relationships by becoming a trusted advisor.
• Through stewardship process engage at the customer level for the most complex and prominent accounts within their territory.
• Independently implements territory business plans, monitors performance, adjusts plan to ensure a substantial pipeline for future profitable growth.
• Makes sales presentations to agents and customers on a regular basis and participants in more complex accounts:
  • Utilize Industry Solutions partners to augment sales process through enhanced knowledge transfer, strategic producer visits/sales calls, and effective training sessions for both agents and customers.
  • Effectively utilize Claims, Risk Solutions and Operations to display service and/or technical expertise to build confidence in customers to further secure business opportunities.

Core Competencies, Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
• 5-7+ years Underwriting experience, with a minimum of 3 years of experience underwriting MM accounts.
• 5+ years of experience driving agency relationships resulting in profitable new and renewal business.
• May specialize /certify in one or more Industry Segments.
• Acts as a change advocate, and is open to new and different ways of thinking.
• Communication (verbal and written) - Interacts and communicates with confidence with all levels of external and/or internal business partners within scope of responsibility, team and/or matrix environment. Can judge appropriate means and method to communicate based on the nature of the communication. Able to influence desired outcomes to drive actions and results. Adept at influencing even when holding a position contrary to the majority opinion.
• Judgement and Decision Making - Ability to exercise judgement, negotiate and make sound business decisions based on level of authority. Applies judgment and expertise to determine when escalation is needed. Demonstrates confidence in one's ability to apply decision making to UW assessment.
• Agile and Adaptive - Strong ability to identify, analyze and solve problems as well as the ability to learn rapidly, adapt quickly to change, exercise influence, and manage and prioritize multiple concurrent projects.
• Team work and Collaboration - Consistently fosters collaboration and respect among team members. Easily adapts to the diverse interests, styles and perspective of key players. Is able to engage multiple members of a group to share information and to consider other points of view to reach objectives, consensus and/or deadlines.
• Experienced in working with a wide range of teams and readily shares lessons learned.
• Informal Leadership -Viewed as an informal leader amongst the team/branch/region/LOB. Open to and proactively shares knowledge and expertise with peers, management and leadership. Acts as a mentor for less experienced underwriters or newly hired underwriters, may assist with training other team members. Is used as a resource by others to collaborate on more complex risks, pricing, trends, industry segments coverages and product knowledge. May conduct peer-to-peer self-audits under the direction of management.