Senior Commercial Lines Specialist, Service Intelligence

Harper; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision

Meals in office / commuter or parking

Licenses filed and paid by us

Job summary

Harper in San Francisco or Atlanta is seeking a senior specialist to handle the hardest commercial insurance cases on-site in either city. You will own audits, complex placements, and policy reads, turning judgment into scalable playbooks and checks.

We value deep expertise, strong underwriter relationships, and the ability to teach others. This role shapes the AI-native brokerage and is measured by outcome quality, not a traditional book of business.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in commercial lines account management, wholesale, MGA or carrier underwriting.
• Active property and casualty license.
• Strong relationships with underwriters and wholesalers.
• Ability to read a policy form and explain coverage clearly.

Responsibilities

• Lead the hardest 15% of cases, audits with deadlines, and cancellations worth saving.
• Own carrier and wholesaler relationships; understand quotes, bindings and billing.
• Create playbooks and teach operators; document learnings from outcomes.

Job description

At a glance: Atlanta or San Francisco, on site · $135K to $170K in either city, plus 10 to 15% bonus and equity · Property and casualty license and 4+ years of commercial lines · We file and pay for the nonresident licenses for the states you serve

Harper is an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage, backed by Y Combinator, with offices in San Francisco and Atlanta. We do the insurance work end to end for about 1,000 new small businesses a month, with more than 150 underwriting relationships.

Role in one line

The accounts that need an expert instead of a script are yours, and your judgment becomes the system everyone else runs on.

A business opens a second location, wins a contract with insurance requirements it does not meet, adds a fleet, gets hit with a premium audit, or outgrows the market it started in. Those accounts do not need a queue. They need someone with deep expertise and the latitude to act on it.

Why now

We are building the expert layer of an AI-native brokerage, and the first specialists shape it. A rule at Harper can touch thousands of accounts. If the judgment behind it is vague, scale multiplies the mistake; if it is right, scale multiplies that too. At a traditional brokerage your expertise helps your book. Here it becomes the playbook, the checks and the agent behavior a whole service organization runs on. This is not a producer role with a book: you are measured on the hard cases you close, the operators you make better, and the errors caught before they reach a customer.

What you own

• The hardest 15% of cases. Audits with deadlines, excess and surplus lines placements, remarketing, coverage read against contracts, and cancellations worth saving. You are the last stop inside service.

• Carrier and wholesaler relationships. Every underwriter and wholesaler we work with has a named owner, and you will be one of them. You know how each one quotes, binds and bills.

• Judgment that compounds. Every hard case leaves something behind: a playbook entry, a check, or an example our agents learn from. You see a bad outcome and ask what intake should have asked and what the system should have caught.

• The quality bar. You work alongside our agents and operators, hold them to your standard, and say exactly where they fall short.

• Teaching. You check new hires’ work in their first weeks and are measured partly on how fast the people around you ramp.

What done means

• Hard cases close in days, not weeks, and fewer come back.
• Your top recurring case types each have a playbook the operators actually use.
• At least one check or agent behavior is live because of something you caught.

Your first 90 days

• Before the first Atlanta cohort: you are in seat and the cohort’s playbooks have your review on them.
• Day 60: escalations to you close faster, and the operators you paired with handle one case type on their own.
• Day 90: a check or agent behavior you specified is live and measured.

Who thrives here

• You have taught someone else to do what you do, and they got good. This matters more to us than any credential.
• Underwriters and wholesalers take your call.
• You can read a policy form and a contract and explain in plain English what is actually covered.
• You would rather decide with the facts you have and document your reasoning than let an account sit for three weeks.
• You use AI tools in real work and know where they help and where they get things wrong.

What we teach, what you bring

We teach our systems, our agents and how the company runs. You bring four or more years in commercial lines account management, wholesale, MGA or carrier underwriting, an active property and casualty license, and relationships you can put to work. Nice to have: surplus lines license, workers’ comp and class-code depth, premium finance, CPCU or similar.

Who should not apply

• You want to protect your book rather than make your expertise everyone’s.
• You need three approvals to do the obviously right thing, and like it that way.
• You do not want to learn new tools.

Pay, schedule and place

• $135K to $170K in either city, plus a 10 to 15% bonus and equity. The job and the pay are the same in both cities.
• Atlanta: casework and teaching. Most specialists sit with our licensed and senior operators, take the hard cases and escalations in person, and teach. San Francisco: systems. A smaller group sits beside our AI operators, turning judgment into checks, playbooks and agent behavior.
• In the office Monday to Friday, starting around 8 AM local. After a new hire’s first weeks you do not work the routine queue. When something needs a founder’s decision, you bring it with your recommendation attached.
• Next steps: lead specialist for a line or a pod, or our AI operations team.

Benefits

Health, dental and vision, plus each office’s meals and commuter or parking support. Nonresident licenses filed and paid by us.

How we hire (usually two weeks)

1. A call with a founder about insurance judgment and pace. We reply within 48 hours at every stage.
2. A case review: walk us through the messiest account you ever untangled.
3. A Super Day: work practice cases with the team, then teach one of our operators how to handle the next one. We decide within 48 hours.

Harper is an equal opportunity employer. If you need an accommodation at any point in the process, tell us and we will make it work. For San Francisco roles, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. Licensed roles require the state’s background check for an insurance license; a record does not automatically rule you out.