Westfield - Westfield Center, OH
posted 5 months ago
The Middle Market Senior Underwriter plays a crucial role in managing and servicing a profitable renewal book of Commercial Lines business within a defined territory of agencies. This position operates under minimal supervision and is responsible for enhancing technical underwriting skills while actively participating in monthly renewal strategy meetings. As an Account Steward, the Senior Underwriter serves as a key point of contact for agencies, ensuring the implementation of effective service strategies that align with the company's customer service commitments. The role involves making informed decisions regarding risk acceptability and pricing, as well as escalating issues when necessary. Additionally, the Senior Underwriter is tasked with providing agency service and maintaining effective intra-company communications. In this role, the Senior Underwriter is expected to manage the underwriting profitability growth and retention of both new and renewal business, ensuring alignment with established underwriting strategies. This includes collecting accurate information to assess potential clients and determining acceptable risks for policies. The Senior Underwriter will also compare various policies with similar risk profiles and conduct actuarial studies to evaluate the company's loss records. Building strong relationships with agencies, producers, and other distribution partners is essential, as is understanding their needs to effectively leverage portfolio underwriting and analytics. The Senior Underwriter will provide valuable feedback to leadership regarding product, pricing, and competitive rate/rule activities, while also reviewing high-value inspections for assigned agencies. Effective communication is key, both externally with agents and internally within the company, to ensure clarity on underwriting procedures, growth goals, and agency relations. The role requires negotiation skills to achieve positive and profitable outcomes, as well as coordination of agency business plans and key activities under the oversight of the Region Leader. Familiarity with Westfield's standardized hardware, software programs, and processing procedures is necessary, along with the ability to influence agencies and distribution partners to promote Westfield's products and services. The Senior Underwriter will also address inquiries from external contacts and escalate issues to leadership as needed, collaborating with corporate shared services to align with competitive strategies and governance while maintaining a customer-centric focus.