Assistant Vice President, Underwriting

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Tangram is a portfolio company of Balavant. Tangram Insurance Services is recruiting for: Assistant Vice President, Underwriting

About Tangram

Tangram is an independent, growth-stage insurance MGA building something exceptional — on our own terms. For over 25 years, we’ve been redefining what an insurance intermediary can be: nimble, creative, and relentlessly focused on delivering specialized solutions better, faster, and smarter than anyone else. We are a team of builders, challengers, and collaborators. We take pride in doing meaningful work, supporting our partners, and constantly finding better ways to serve our brokers and insureds.

The Opportunity

Tangram Insurance Services is seeking an experienced underwriting leader to help shape the future of a growing specialty MGA. This leader will drive underwriting excellence, profitable growth, and portfolio performance across multiple specialty insurance programs while developing underwriting talent and strengthening execution across the organization.

Working closely with executive leadership, Distribution, carrier partners, and Operations, this individual will influence underwriting strategy, guide complex risk decisions, improve portfolio performance, and help scale Tangram's underwriting capabilities. The successful candidate may join at the Assistant Vice President, Vice President, or equivalent level based on experience, demonstrated leadership, and organizational fit.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Underwriting Leadership

• Help shape Tangram's underwriting strategy and long-term portfolio vision.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on appetite, pricing, portfolio performance, and market opportunities.
• Translate business strategy into practical underwriting standards, priorities, and measurable actions.
• Champion sound underwriting judgment, consistency, innovation, and continuous improvement across the organization.

Technical Underwriting Excellence

• Serve as a senior technical underwriting resource across Tangram's specialty programs.
• Lead complex account strategy, referrals, and approval decisions within delegated authority.
• Provide guidance across Workers' Compensation, General Liability, Commercial Auto, Property, Excess, and package business.
• Establish and maintain underwriting best practices, technical standards, file quality expectations, and referral protocols.
• Conduct file reviews and use findings to strengthen underwriting quality, consistency, and professional development.

Portfolio Performance & Profitability

• Own or materially influence the profitable performance of assigned insurance programs.
• Analyze loss ratios, pricing adequacy, submission quality, quote and bind results, retention, premium growth, and underwriter performance.
• Recommend actions related to appetite, pricing, rate achievement, underwriting authority, risk selection, and portfolio remediation.
• Balance premium growth, broker responsiveness, and customer service with disciplined underwriting execution.
• Partner with leadership and carrier partners to improve profitability, maximize capacity, and support sustainable growth.

Distribution Partnership & Growth

• Partner closely with Distribution to drive profitable new business and retention across target programs.
• Support large and complex opportunities through account strategy, broker meetings, and market-facing presentations.
• Develop strong broker relationships and serve as a credible, solutions-oriented underwriting resource.
• Promote a sales-minded underwriting culture grounded in responsiveness, accountability, technical credibility, and broker service.

People Leadership & Development

• Directly lead Tangram's Workers' Compensation underwriting team and provide broader coaching across the underwriting organization.
• Recruit, coach, mentor, and develop high-performing underwriting talent at multiple career levels.
• Build future underwriting leaders through technical training, feedback, delegation, and stretch opportunities.
• Create accountability through clear expectations, measurable goals, performance management, and regular coaching.
• Foster a collaborative environment in which underwriters can exercise judgment, escalate appropriately, and grow professionally.

Program & Carrier Stewardship

• Support underwriting guidelines, rate management, delegated authority, audits, compliance, and portfolio monitoring.
• Participate in carrier stewardship meetings, audits, performance reviews, and new program discussions.
• Help prepare clear portfolio narratives, action plans, and performance updates for carrier and executive audiences.
• Strengthen carrier confidence through disciplined execution, transparent communication, and timely follow-through.

Organizational Leadership & Strategic Initiatives

• Support new program launches, product enhancements, appetite expansion, and carrier capacity initiatives.
• Advance underwriting technology, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and workflow improvements that improve scale and decision quality.
• Partner with Operations to simplify processes, improve speed to market, and strengthen execution across the underwriting lifecycle.
• Participate in strategic planning and cross-functional initiatives that position Tangram for its next phase of growth.

Who You’ll Work With

At Tangram, you’ll join a team that values collaboration, accountability, and creativity in equal measures. We operate with the entrepreneurial spirit of a start-up and the foundation of a 25+ year success story.

You’ll be supported by leadership that invests in your growth, colleagues who push and inspire you, and a company culture that celebrates both success and the lessons learned along the way.

Here, you’ll have the chance to build something meaningful - for yourself, for our partners, and for the industries we serve.

Ready to build something exceptional with us? Apply today and help power the next phase of Tangram’s growth.

Reports To: Executive Vice President

Requirements:

What You Bring  

• 10+ years of commercial property and casualty underwriting experience.
• Demonstrated success leading underwriting teams, portfolios, or significant technical underwriting initiatives.
• Strong Workers' Compensation expertise preferred, with meaningful multi-line commercial experience.
• Experience within an MGA, carrier, wholesaler, or program administrator environment preferred.
• Proven ability to balance profitable growth, underwriting discipline, broker needs, and carrier expectations.
• Strong analytical, communication, relationship-management, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in a growing, entrepreneurial, and highly collaborative organization.