Senior Surety Underwriter

$88,200 - $143,800/Yr

Liberty Mutual - Seattle, WA

Full-time - Mid Level

Seattle, WA

Insurance Carriers and Related Activities

About the position

Liberty Mutual Surety is currently seeking a Senior Surety Underwriter to join our contract team in Seattle, WA. In this role, you will be responsible for marketing, underwriting, and servicing independent agents, brokers, and contract surety accounts within an assigned territory. Your primary focus will be on building and maintaining positive relationships with agents and brokers, emphasizing relationship building over transactional sales. You will leverage your business and financial acumen to conduct primary credit underwriting and financial/risk analysis, providing recommendations and making decisions on both new and existing accounts. This position offers an excellent opportunity for an experienced and self-motivated surety professional looking to advance their career with a leading surety company that prioritizes its employees and customers. As a Senior Surety Underwriter, you will meet with agents and brokers from your assigned customer base to solicit business submissions through marketing efforts and educate agency representatives on Liberty Mutual Surety policies, procedures, appetite, and requirements. You will act in a consultative capacity, discussing and reviewing agency accounts and performance. Your responsibilities will include underwriting new and existing account submissions, utilizing the underwriting authority granted by the Chief Underwriting Officer, and making thorough evaluations of customers' financial, technical, organizational, and management capacities. You will also perform analytical evaluations of financial statements, determining the present and historical financial position of accounts and monitoring their financial status through analysis of quarterly statements and work in progress data. In addition to underwriting responsibilities, you will develop and maintain strong relationships with agents and brokers, overseeing a book of Contract Surety business within your defined territory. You will be expected to meet production, marketing, and profitability goals set by your manager and assist in developing a marketing plan. Staying abreast of Liberty Mutual Surety product lines, you will identify cross-selling opportunities and engage appropriate parties as necessary. You will also be responsible for investigating, analyzing, and managing all necessary underwriting, accounting, and workflow issues within the framework of Surety policies and procedures. This role may involve mentoring more junior staff and performing special projects and other duties as assigned.

Responsibilities

• Meet with agents and brokers from assigned customer base/territory to solicit business/submissions via marketing efforts and educate agency representatives on Liberty Mutual Surety policies, procedures, appetite, and requirements.
• Underwrite new and existing account submissions utilizing underwriting authority granted by Chief Underwriting Officer.
• Perform analytical evaluations of financial statements on both a static and trend basis.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with agents/brokers and oversee a book of Contract Surety business within defined territory.
• Stay abreast of Liberty Mutual Surety product lines and identify cross-selling opportunities with agents.
• Monitor an existing book of business from an underwriting standpoint and continuously evaluate qualitative characteristics of the business.
• Assist in the evaluation of business continuity arrangements and funding mechanisms.
• Provide direction for topics to be addressed in meetings with agents, customers, and others as necessary.
• Prepare and implement instructions for administering workflows and accounting/billing issues to service unique situations.
• Perform special projects and other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting or equivalent.
• Minimum of 7 years experience expected, preferably 10 or more years of surety underwriting experience and/or equivalent surety related business experience.
• Strong preference with the contract Surety product line.
• Solid understanding of financial and accounting principles.
• Proven analytical ability to evaluate and judge underwriting risks within scope of responsibility.
• AFSB certification preferred.
• Demonstrates strong ability to communicate complex analyses and information in understandable written and/or oral directives for underwriting or training purposes.
• Demonstrates strong communication and interpersonal skills in dealing with agents, brokers, CPAs, bankers, attorneys, etc.
• Excellent organizational skills as well as attention to detail.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with contract Surety product line is highly preferred.
• AFSB certification is a plus.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with company matching.
• Paid time off and holidays.
• Tuition reimbursement for further education.
• Professional development opportunities.
• Flexible work arrangements.