Underwriting Supervisor

Description

PRISM is a joint powers authority (JPA) that provides risk management and coverage programs for public entities throughout California, including 93% of California counties, 77% of California cities, 30 joint powers authorities, educational organizations, special districts, housing authorities, fire districts and 10 national participants through PRISM's captive insurance company. Our organization is member driven meaning that our public entity members have numerous opportunities available to participate in the governance of our JPA.


One of PRISM's greatest assets is its staff. PRISM employees are smart, creative, hard-working, and passionate individuals working in areas ranging from member services, risk control, claims administration, information technology, accounting, and risk pool administration. Working here requires energy, commitment, and teamwork. At the same time, we offer a great work environment built upon our Core Values of People, Families, Trust, Integrity, and Growth . We are looking for an individual who shares these values to join the PRISM team.

A first review of applications will be conducted on September 3rd, and weekly thereafter until the position is filled. Tentative in-person interviews are scheduled for September 9th and September 11th.

POSITION SUMMARY

This is not a traditional account-underwriting position. The role supervises PRISM's Underwriting team and helps manage a number of public-entity coverage programs, coordinating pricing, coverage, renewals, reinsurance, program administration, and creating operational improvements across various PRISM teams including Claims, Finance, Actuarial, Risk Control, Data & Analytics, Member Services, and service brokers.

The Supervising Sr. Underwriting Specialist provides day-to-day supervision, technical oversight, workflow management, and professional development for assigned Underwriting Department staff. Reporting to the Director of Underwriting, this position ensures quality, accuracy, and timely completion of underwriting, renewal, and reinsurance-related work, while providing coaching, mentoring, and performance management to team members. The position is also responsible for evaluating and improving departmental and cross-functional operational processes to increase efficiency, strengthen quality control, reduce the potential for error, and ensure consistent and timely service delivery. The Supervising Sr. Underwriting Specialist also performs technical underwriting duties directly, providing a superior level of service to members, fellow departments, and service partners to support Underwriting Department goals while adhering to department and PRISM policy.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supervise, coach, and mentor assigned Underwriting Department staff, providing day-to-day guidance, performance management, and professional development.
• Assign and prioritize work; monitor employee workloads, deliverables, and deadlines; and reallocate resources as necessary to meet departmental objectives.
• Review technical underwriting work, premium calculation, renewal analyses, allocation results, reinsurance analyses, and other deliverables to ensure quality, accuracy, and consistency with program standards.
• Evaluate departmental workflows and cross-functional processes involving Underwriting, Finance, Actuarial, Member Services, Claims, Data & Analytics, Information Technology, and external service partners to identify inefficiencies, control gaps, duplication, and opportunities for improvement.
• Serve as the first point of contact for routine technical and operational questions from team members, escalating complex or significant issues to the Director of Underwriting as needed.
• Manage day-to-day workflow and prioritization of Department projects, particularly during the Director of Underwriting's absence, to keep renewal, budget estimate, and committee deadlines on track.
• Conduct performance evaluations and participate in employee recruitment, onboarding, recognition, performance improvement, and corrective-action processes in coordination with the Director of Underwriting.
• Develop staff capabilities through cross-training, knowledge transfer and individualized development opportunities. Support Director of Underwriting in Succession Planning efforts.
• Complete analysis and underwriting of prospective new members, including premium development, and review similar work completed by team members.
• Develop knowledge of pooling, PRISM operations, and coverages, including PRISM coverage forms' standard terms and exclusions, to analyze documents on how coverage applies.
• Analyze and process endorsements and coverage change requests, including premium calculations and reviewing coverages to determine if appropriate for program standards.
• Review and analyze renewal data for multiple coverage programs and oversee the budget estimate process, including communicating responsibilities to team members and broker partner, Alliant.
• Assist the Director of Underwriting and Alliant Client Manager in developing timelines for budget estimates and work in partnership with program leads of Alliant's service team on all aspects of renewal.
• Develop a strong understanding of UW program allocations and communicate how allocations function, extract financial information, and keep program allocations data updated timely throughout the year.
• Assist in the analysis of proposed reinsurance terms (including rating plans).
• Provide premium information to other departments and assist departments in extracting accurate information from allocation data.
• Assist with the development of the pool management system to ensure it meets the Underwriting Department's operational needs.
• Prepare and provide program premium billing to Finance.
• Oversee the collection of completed renewal applications from members.
• Oversee completion of member payroll audits for staff and Alliant.
• Provide customer service directly to members on all coverage and premium matters, and act as an escalation point for complex member inquiries.
• Assist other PRISM Departments to support PRISM goals and build PRISM culture.
• Prepare and present reports/recommendations to management, various committees, and PRISM Board of Directors.
• Assist in governance, including creation and documentation of standard operating procedures, for member committees.
• Assist in developing and archiving historical department data.
• Attend industry conferences and seminars.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

For approximately the first month following hire, selected candidates will report to our Folsom office three times a week for training. After successful completion of training, selected candidates will have the option to work full-time in our Folsom office, or remotely from a home location within a commutable distance from our Folsom, office, up to three times per week. Candidates must also be able and willing to report in person to our Folsom location for committee meetings and agency events several times throughout the year.

Possession of a Bachelor's Degree in fields such as finance, business, economics, risk management, statistics, or a related discipline and seven years of experience in property and casualty insurance, risk-pooling, or related field with at least 5 years performing technical underwriting, including experience leading, mentoring, or providing technical guidance to others; or an equivalent combination of education, professional certifications and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Our ideal candidate will have:
• Knowledge of insurance and risk management principles and methodologies.
• Experience in JPA pooling, underwriting, risk management, or policy administration is desirable.
• Knowledge of analytical methods and techniques.
• Professional designation such as CPCU, ARM, ARM-P, AU, or an applicable designation.
• Moderate to advanced knowledge and working experience in systems including pool and policy administration systems, Microsoft Office suite products, especially with knowledge of advanced functions, formulas and features in Excel. Candidates should be familiar and comfortable developing and working with lookup formulas, pivot tables, logical formulas (SUMIF), and basic statistical formulas.
• Prior supervisory, lead, or team-mentoring experience in an underwriting, insurance, or related professional environment.
• Demonstrated ability to review and provide constructive feedback on the technical work of others to ensure quality and accuracy.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to multi-task and juggle competing projects and deadlines, both individually and for a team.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbally and in writing.
• The ability to present information both in person and in virtual environments.
• A strong customer service orientation.
• The ability to conduct research, analysis, interpret information/coverage, and make sound recommendations.
• The ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and good public relations with other employees, agencies, members, and the public.

Physical Requirements

Physical requirements of this position typically include: reaching, grasping, talking, hearing, seeing, repetitive motions, exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or negligible amount of force constantly to move. Some travel may be required.