Director of Strategic Partnerships

Director Of Strategic Partnerships

Looking for more than just a job? You've found it. At Pekin Insurance, you're not a number—you're part of something bigger. For over 100 years, we've built a community where people are valued, supported, and empowered to grow. Here, you'll find a workplace where collaboration is real, ideas are welcome, and the work you do truly matters. We're proud to help people through life's toughest moments—and it's our people who make that possible. From day one, you'll be encouraged to bring your whole self to work, take on meaningful challenges, and grow in ways that matter to you.

Position Overview: The Director of Strategic Partnerships is a sales leader over National/Super Regional Acquirers and Aggregators in the Property & Casualty and Life insurance industry. This position drives enterprise growth by managing strategic partnerships with agency networks, consolidators, and acquirers.

Essential Job Functions:

• Builds and executes a comprehensive roadmap to target, secure, and expand relationships with large to mid-sized insurance aggregators, agency networks, and corporate consolidators/acquirers
• Creates and negotiates enterprise-level contracts, overriding commission structures, placement agreements, and performance incentives with executive leadership for targeted groups
• Partners with Underwriting, Product, Sales, and Operations to educate teams on these evolving organizations and overall A&A landscape to stay informed and aligned
• Enables field sales by connecting them with regional A&A leadership and local distribution partners to optimize our shared value proposition and drive growth within their respective markets
• Builds and continuously updates detailed profiles to include an outline of our relationship structure with each identified distribution organization
• Monitors competitive dynamics, consolidation trends, and carrier appetite shifts within the A&A landscape and evolve our strategy, solutions, and execution to stay relevant and deepen relationships

Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance or related field. Typically requires 7+ years of progressive P&C commercial sales or distribution experience. At least 3+ years managing enterprise partnerships or large-scale agency networks.

Certifications & Licenses - Preferred: Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designations, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• In-depth skill in: high-level negotiation operational proficiency with CRM and Agency Management platforms analyzing complex performance data, identifying trends and root causes, translating insights into strategies that improve business results setting performance expectations, monitoring results, addressing gaps, and driving accountability for growth, profitability, retention, and distribution objectives
• In-depth knowledge of: independent agency systems, network economics, aggregator business models, and M&A trends key business drivers and performance measures, including written premium, new business, loss ratio, retention, submission volume, quote-to-bind ratio, and active agent participation
• Demonstrated ability to: develop high-performing teams, align resources, navigate organizational complexity, and build capabilities to achieve business objectives build strategic relationships and influence agency leaders, senior leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders to achieve shared objectives highly effective verbal and written communication skills.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship now or in the future.

Pay Range: $126,000.00 - $172,000.00 annually. This range is based on the expected level of experience and skills for this position. Final compensation will depend on individual.

Benefits: Health, Dental and Vision Insurance Generous 401(k) with company match Paid Time Off (PTO) with Paid Holidays Flexible/Hybrid Work Schedule Paid Volunteer Program