Technical Underwriting Manager

Neptune; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Neptune in South Africa is seeking a Technical Underwriting Manager to lead specialist underwriting across the mid-corporate portfolio, applying deep commercial expertise to price, structure and govern complex exposures that protect the business while enabling sustainable growth.

Reporting to the Head: Complex Commercial, the role balances growth with profitability, governance, and capacity to guide brokers and internal stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Specialist technical underwriting expertise across mid-corporate portfolios.
• Ability to assess, price, structure and manage complex commercial risks.
• Strong governance and broker engagement skills.

Responsibilities

• Assess new business, renewals, mid-term adjustments, and referrals for complex commercial risks with focus on property damage and business interruption exposures.
• Evaluate construction, occupancy, fire protection, catastrophe exposure, accumulation risks, and other material underwriting considerations.
• Review claims experience, loss trends, exposure changes, and risk improvement measures to support sound underwriting decisions.
• Determine appropriate terms, conditions, deductibles, warranties, exclusions, and subjectivities aligned to risk quality and underwriting appetite.
• Apply approved rating methodologies and technical pricing principles to maintain portfolio profitability and premium adequacy.
• Identify concentrations, adverse trends, pricing anomalies, and emerging risks across the portfolio.
• Interpret engineering surveys and risk improvement recommendations, ensuring material vulnerabilities are appropriately addressed.
• Oversee referrals, capacity management, facultative reinsurance requirements, and treaty eligibility considerations.
• Ensure policy wordings, endorsements, schedules, deductibles, and coverage structures accurately reflect underwriting intent and reinsurance requirements.
• Provide technical guidance and support to regional underwriting teams, brokers, and internal stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong broker relationships while ensuring underwriting independence and consistency of decision-making.
• Coach and develop underwriting capability through training, technical guidance, case reviews, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Contribute to product enhancements, wording development, underwriting frameworks, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Monitor portfolio performance, premium adequacy, retention, loss experience, referral trends, and accumulation exposures.
• Deliver quality reporting, governance oversight, and audit-ready underwriting documentation.

Job description

Technical underwriting is about more than reviewing risks.

It’s about applying deep commercial insurance expertise, balancing profitability with risk quality, and making informed decisions on complex exposures that protect the business while enabling sustainable growth.

We're looking for a Technical Underwriting Manager who understands that

Reporting to the Head: Complex Commercial, this role is responsible for providing specialist technical underwriting expertise across HCC's mid-corporate portfolio. You'll play a critical role in assessing, pricing, structuring, and managing complex commercial risks while supporting underwriting excellence through referrals, broker engagement, governance, and capability development.

What you'll be trusted to own

This is more than a technical underwriting role.

It's about balancing growth, profitability, underwriting governance, broker relationships, and portfolio quality to ensure complex commercial risks are written within appetite, authority, and reinsurance frameworks.

How you'll make your mark:

• Assess new business, renewals, mid-term adjustments, and referrals for complex commercial risks, with a particular focus on property damage and business interruption exposures.
• Evaluate construction, occupancy, fire protection, catastrophe exposure, accumulation risks, and other material underwriting considerations.
• Review claims experience, loss trends, exposure changes, and risk improvement measures to support sound underwriting decisions.
• Determine appropriate terms, conditions, deductibles, warranties, exclusions, and subjectivities aligned to risk quality and underwriting appetite.
• Apply approved rating methodologies and technical pricing principles to maintain portfolio profitability and premium adequacy.
• Identify concentrations, adverse trends, pricing anomalies, and emerging risks across the portfolio.
• Interpret engineering surveys and risk improvement recommendations, ensuring material vulnerabilities are appropriately addressed.
• Oversee referrals, capacity management, facultative reinsurance requirements, and treaty eligibility considerations.
• Ensure policy wordings, endorsements, schedules, deductibles, and coverage structures accurately reflect underwriting intent and reinsurance requirements.
• Provide technical guidance and support to regional underwriting teams, brokers, and internal stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong broker relationships while ensuring underwriting independence and consistency of decision-making.
• Coach and develop underwriting capability through training, technical guidance, case reviews, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Contribute to product enhancements, wording development, underwriting frameworks, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Monitor portfolio performance, premium adequacy, retention, loss experience, referral trends, and accumulation exposures.
• Deliver quality reporting, governance oversight, and audit-ready underwriting documentation.