Vice President, Underwriting - Life, Absence, Disability (LAD)

The next part of your journey is right around the corner — with The Standard. A genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of others is the foundation for everything we do. With a customer-first mindset and an intentional focus on building strong teams, we’ve been able to uphold our legacy of financial stability while investing in new, innovative technologies that support the needs of our customers. Our high-performance culture focused on operational excellence thrives thanks to remarkable people united by compassion and a customer-first commitment. Are you ready to make a difference? Job Summary In Life Absence and Disability Underwriting (LAD), our mission is to is to help build the financial foundation for The Standard to deliver on our promise. We sell a promise every day. Responsible risk selection and management, pricing and growth helps ensure we can back that promise. The VP of LAD Underwriting is a highly influential level role that reports to the head of Life, Absence and Disability (LAD). You are part of the LAD executive team and closely collaborating with the senior leadership in LAD Actuarial and Sales to drive profitability and premium growth through solid risk selection decisions. You are responsible for leading nearly 200 employees in both the LAD risk and LAD medical underwriting department in the Employee Benefits division, creating vision and strategy, and driving profitable growth objectives. In this leadership role, you will build on an already strong foundation with deep expertise and experience, while helping shape the future through innovation, technology and people development. Key Responsibilities: Lead the Employee Benefits Underwriting Organization: Own the LAD underwriting strategy, risk management and operations ensuring appropriate pricing, plan design and overall risk selection to drive profitable growth, strong persistency and sustainable financial outcomes. Manage the entire lifecycle of the customer. Design and implement consistent underwriting strategies and practice. Department Leadership: Invest in and develop the LAD Underwriting department to continue creating a culture of high performance, accountability, and innovation across teams. Build a high-performing leadership bench, develop future underwriting talent, strengthen succession plans, and foster a culture of accountability, innovation and collaboration. Continue to grow Partnerships: Collaborate with sales in an unrivaled way to produce industry leading underwriting results that create a competitive advantage for The Standard. Partner with cross-functional teams in actuarial, compliance, legal client management, IT, Strategy, AI Applications, Claims and Customer Service. Growth and Sustainability: Innovate and implement tools and processes that improve efficiency and compliance with metrics. Ensuring a sustainable future through laser focus on compliance and ethical standards and solutions. Market Knowledge and Trends: Monitor industry trends and integrate new technologies to improve underwriting accuracy and efficiency, with a mind toward marketplace competitive advantages. Expertise: Requires advanced planning, facilitation and leadership skills as well as advanced knowledge of underwriting policies and strategies, contract provisions, negotiations and sales strategies and alternate funding techniques. Executive Leadership: Serve as a senior member of the LAD executive team, helping shape enterprise strategy and represent underwriting in key business decisions. Influence across Sales, Actuarial, Claims, Finance, Technology, and other enterprise partners to align underwriting priorities with profitable growth, customer experience, and long-term strategic objectives. Skills and Background You’ll Need: Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Math or related field. Preferred advanced degree. Experience: Minimum of twelve to fifteen years progressive experience in Group Insurance or financial services industries with a preference of at least ten years of progressively responsible group underwriting experience, including 5 years in complex national accounts business, with a minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in management positions, demonstrated experience in successfully partnering cross organization to achieve business results, strong background in workplace benefits life, absence and disability products. Professional certification required: N/A Key Behaviors of a Successful Candidate: Driving Success - Leads with a sense of purpose and direction; tackles challenges directly and adapts plans in response to setbacks or constraints Adaptability- Acts as an ambassador of change for the organization by supporting and advocating for change initiatives across the organization Winning Together – Fosters an environment that encourages strong debate on critical organizational issues; challenges established ideas, assumptions and views to encourage new thinking that propels the organization forward Engaging Hearts and Minds- Demonstrates authenticity and holds management teams accountable for establishing a culture of mutual respect and appreciation across the organization. #LI-Remote Why Join The Standard? We have built an enduring legacy of stability, financial strength and exceptional customer service through the contributions of the service-oriented people who choose to work at The Standard. To ensure we can attract and retain the best talent, when you join The Standard you can expect: A rich benefits package including medical, dental, vision and a 401(k) plan with matching company contributions An annual incentive bonus plan Generous paid time off including 11 holidays, 2 wellness days, and 8 volunteer hours annually — PTO increases with tenure A supportive, responsive management approach and opportunities for career growth and advancement Paid parental leave and adoption/surrogacy assistance An employee giving program that double matches your donations to eligible nonprofits and schools In addition to the competitive salary range below, our employee-focused benefits support work-life balance. Learn more about working at The Standard. Eligibility to participate in an incentive program is subject to the rules governing the program and plan. Any award depends on a variety of factors including individual and organizational performance. The actual compensation for this role will be based on a combination of education and experience, knowledge and skills, position budget, internal equity, and market data. Salary Range: $211,250.00 - $357,500.00 Positions will be posted for at least 5 days from original posting date. Standard Insurance Company, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services, Inc., StanCorp Mortgage Investors, LLC, StanCorp Investment Advisers, Inc., and American Heritage Life Insurance Company and American Heritage Service Company, marketed as The Standard, are Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status or any other condition protected by federal, state or local law. Except where precluded by state or federal law, The Standard will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. The Standard offers a drug- and alcohol-free work environment where possession, manufacture, transfer, offer, use of or being impaired by an illegal substance while on The Standard's property, or in other cases which the company believes might affect operations, safety or reputation of the company is prohibited. The Standard requires a criminal background investigation and employment, education and licensing verification as a condition of employment. After any conditional offer of employment is made, the background check will include an individualized assessment based on the applicant’s specific record and the duties and requirements of the specific job. Applicants will be provided an opportunity to explain and correct background information. All employees of The Standard must be bondable. The Standard is a family of companies dedicated to helping its customers achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. In business since 1906, we’re a leading provider of group and individual disability insurance, group life, dental and vision insurance, voluntary (employee-paid) benefits, absence management services, and retirement plans and annuities for employers and individuals. For more information about The Standard, visit or follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.