Underwriter Team Leader

Safire Insurance Company ?; Pietermaritzburg; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Safire Insurance Company is seeking an Underwriter Team Leader to guide a team of underwriters in delivering accurate, timely, and compliant outcomes. You will lead decision-making, enforce mandates, and ensure quality across risk assessments and policy loading.

You will coach staff, manage workload, and report on risk, claims, growth, and retention, while upholding FSCA compliance and industry best practices.

Qualifications

• Senior, trusted underwriting leader with oversight of complex or high-risk endorsements and adjustments.
• Experience in enforcing underwriting mandates and governance across policy loading and risk assessments.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior oversight for complex or high-risk policy endorsements, approvals, and adjustments.
• Act as escalation point for broker and policyholder queries requiring authoritative underwriting judgement.
• Review, approve, and issue quotations and underwriting decisions within delegated authority.
• Oversee new policy loading and corrective actions, ensuring compliance with underwriting standards.
• Allocate, prioritise, and manage team workload and resourcing to maintain efficiency and quality.
• Maintain governance and quality of underwriting documentation and risk assessments.
• Lead, coach, and develop underwriting staff; facilitate knowledge transfer and team capability growth.
• Enforce underwriting strategies, monitor trends, and provide reporting to management on risk, claims, growth, and retention.

Skills

Underwriting principles

Leadership

Communication

Pricing methodologies

Risk assessment

AI tools

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Finance or Business

Full qualification in Short-Term Insurance; FSCA Fit & Proper; Representative

National Senior Certificate (Grade 12)

Tools

Copilot

ChatGPT

Job description

As an Underwriter Team Leader, you will lead a team of underwriters in delivering accurate, timely, and compliant underwriting outcomes. You will guide decision-making, enforce underwriting mandates, manage capacity, and ensure quality and control objectives are consistently met.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide senior oversight for complex or high-risk policy endorsements, approvals, and adjustments.
• Act as escalation point for broker and policyholder queries requiring authoritative underwriting judgement.
• Review, approve, and issue quotations and underwriting decisions within delegated authority.
• Oversee new policy loading and corrective actions, ensuring compliance with underwriting standards.
• Allocate, prioritise, and manage team workload and resourcing to maintain efficiency and quality.
• Maintain governance and quality of underwriting documentation and risk assessments.
• Lead, coach, and develop underwriting staff; facilitate knowledge transfer and team capability growth.
• Enforce underwriting strategies, monitor trends, and provide reporting to management on risk, claims, growth, and retention.
• National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) and Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business, or related field.
• Full qualification in Short-Term Insurance; FSCA Fit & Proper compliant; registered as a Representative.
• Minimum five years’ short-term insurance experience, with senior underwriting exposure across domestic, commercial, and agricultural lines.
• Proven experience in technical underwriting and first-line people leadership or mentoring.

Key Skills & Attributes:

• Advanced technical knowledge of underwriting principles, policy wordings, endorsements, and pricing methodologies.
• Strong judgement in complex or ambiguous risk scenarios.
• Leadership and coaching capability to develop a high-performing underwriting team.
• Proficiency in AI tools (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT) for research, drafting, and administrative support.
• Excellent communication, integrity, decisiveness, and professional credibility.