Contracts Team Lead - North America (US, Canada, English Caribbean) - Hybrid
About The Position
The North America (US, Canada, English Caribbean) portfolio represents the largest and most complex region within Swiss Re’s L&H reinsurance portfolio. The L&H Contracts Team Lead – North America is a senior leadership role with full regional accountability for the Contracts function across traditional reinsurance agreements. This role leads contract drafting discipline, governance rigor, and in-force contractual risk review within a high-volume, performance-driven underwriting environment. You will serve as a business partner to Swiss Re L&H's North America Market Units and translate underwriting intent and legal advice into disciplined, repeatable contract execution that protects performance and long-term value. The role owns deviation discipline, negotiation consistency, contractual integrity, and contractual analysis across the region, while driving modernization through workflow tools and GenAI-enabled practices. While strong legal and drafting expertise is essential, this role sits within the L&H Pricing & Portfolio Performance (PPP) function and partners closely with legal, underwriting, pricing, claims, portfolio management and risk functions to support Swiss Re's North America business. It is accountable for ensuring contracts reflect disciplined risk-taking and align with underwriting performance objectives. Reporting to the Global Head of L&H Contracts, this role is a member of the global L&H Contracts Leadership Team and plays a visible role in shaping the evolution of the Contracts function. About the Life & Health Contracts Function The L&H Contracts function at Swiss Re drafts, reviews and advises on reinsurance agreements between Swiss Re and its clients. In close partnership with underwriting, pricing, claims, legal, and risk, the team: Structures and documents traditional reinsurance agreements Ensures contractual terms reflect underwriting intent Provides clear advice on wording implications and risk trade-offs Supports disciplined portfolio management through contracts analysis Contracts plays a critical role in safeguarding Swiss Re’s risk position while enabling sustainable long-term profitability.
Requirements
- 12–15+ years’ experience in Life & Health reinsurance or insurance contracting
- Strong legal foundation or substantial experience drafting and negotiating reinsurance agreements (legal qualification not required)
- Demonstrated commercial judgment and ability to articulate risk trade-offs
- Experience operating in a regulated, high-complexity reinsurance environment
- Experience leading multi-location teams
- Experience driving workflow modernization and technology-enabled change
- A high-accountability leader who drives performance and sets clear standards
- Decisive and comfortable owning difficult calls
- Commercially pragmatic while uncompromising on risk discipline
- Confident challenging stakeholders constructively
- Committed to developing talent and strengthening capabilities
Responsibilities
- Strengthen Commercial Discipline
- Ensure contracts reflect underwriting intent and disciplined risk-taking
- Act as a trusted partner to Client Markets and cross-functional stakeholders (Underwriting, Pricing, Claims, Legal), shaping deal structure and contract outcomes on key accounts
- Provide clear, decisive recommendations on wording and structural trade-offs, including hands-on involvement of key client accounts
- Lead interpretation, analysis, and restructuring of existing agreements
- Strengthen Governance & Standardization
- Ensure consistent application of global contracting standards
- Own deviation governance, tracking, and transparency across the region
- Strengthen documentation rigor and decision traceability
- Talent Management & Leadership
- Lead, mentor, and develop team of Contracts Specialists across the US and Canada
- Define clear roles, accountability, and career pathways for Contracts Specialists
- Represent North America within the global L&H Contracts Leadership Team
- Accelerate Digital Workflow & GenAI Adoption
- Lead regional adoption of contracting workflow tools and GenAI-enabled practices, embedding AI into standard drafting and review workflows
- Ensure responsible use of GenAI is operationally embedded and scalable across the region
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
5,001-10,000 employees
