Underwriting Practices and Quality Assurance Senior Consultant

Underwriting Practices And Quality Assurance Senior Consultant

Founded in 1848, Westfield is a global leader in property and casualty insurance, delivering superior risk insights and innovative solutions to customers through a diverse portfolio of insurance products. Westfield underwrites commercial, personal, surety, and specialty lines of coverage through a network of leading independent agents and brokers in the United States and specialty products through Lloyd's of London Syndicate 1200. As a mutual insurance company with more than 3,000 employees, Westfield has revenues in excess of $4 billion and more than $10 billion in assets.

Job Summary

The Underwriting Practices and Quality Assurance Senior Consultant performs underwriting file reviews on all account sizes including large, complex accounts. The role evaluates adherence to established underwriting policy, file quality, and underwriting decision-making, provides quality assurance support to business units by reviewing and analyzing new and renewal business. The role analyzes aggregate audit findings to support the development of underwriting policy and facilitates underwriting training and development programs. The role also leverages deep understanding of exposures and their relationship to premium as well as expertise with various rating plans, reinsurance, and pricing needs by class to effectively evaluate pricing adequacy of large complex accounts.

Job Responsibilities

• Assists the Underwriting Practices and Quality Assurance Manager by ensuring the quality and integrity of automated and transactional underwriting decisions.
• Provides quality assurance support to the business units by conducting timely file reviews on all account sizes including large complex accounts in alignment with underwriting policy guidelines and procedures.
• Provides insights based on data and analysis gained through the collective file review results and participates in establishing, maintaining, and continuously improving underwriting policy.
• Conducts assessments of underwriting practices to ensure that they align with industry standards, regulations, and best practices.
• Assures adherence to underwriting policy and authority, including documentation standards.
• Leads calibration sessions with peers and other experts across the organization to ensure consistency in the file review process and continuous improvement in underwriting quality across the underwriting system.
• Communicates file review findings with region leaders, and underwriters.
• Reviews comments by underwriters to determine if adjustments to the file review are appropriate.
• Leverages expertise to support the creation and facilitation of underwriting training and development opportunities.
• Coaches experienced underwriters on complex accounts, mentors newly trained or hired underwriters and collaborates on training content.
• Leads specialty audits as assigned and develops narrative reports with findings and recommendations, including Large Loss and Pricing Guide reviews.
• Utilizes quality assurance software to capture file review findings.
• Conducts administrative and maintenance duties on software and works with vendor to ensure appropriate functioning and to ensure updates are made as needed.
• Maintains and refines audit questionnaires in alignment with underwriting guidelines and to enhance the quality assurance process.
• Coordinates with Consulting Underwriters, Product Development Managers and key business unit representatives to implement and communicate changes to the questionnaires.
• Provides underwriting guideline support to Product Development Managers and Consulting Underwriters.
• Leverages understanding of risk exposures and controls relationship to profitability, effectively monitors, modifies, and creates underwriting rules to drive profitability.
• Collaborates with Quality Assurance and Business Managers to understand business performance and trends.
• Partners with IT and other departments to develop and implement underwriting technology solutions that enhance accuracy, efficiency, and consistency in underwriting decisions.

Job Qualifications

• 10+ years of Middle Market Insurance Underwriting experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting or Business or related experience and/or commensurate work experience.

Location: Hybrid- defined as working three or more days per week in the office if the employee's residence is within 50 miles of Westfield Center, OH; OR Remote-if the employee resides more than 50 miles from Westfield Center, OH.

Behavioral Competencies

• Collaborates
• Customer focus
• Communicates effectively
• Decision quality
• Nimble learning

Technical Skills

• Risk Management
• Coaching & Mentoring
• Insurance Regulatory Compliance
• Stakeholder Management
• Property and Casualty Underwriting
• Underwriting Operations
• Underwriting Strategy
• Business Relationship Management
• Quality Assurance
• Knowledge Of Underwriting Systems and Tools