Director, Competitive Intelligence (Hybrid)

Selective Insurance Company of America•Short Hills, NJ

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely, we employ uniqueness. Selective is a midsized U.S. domestic property and casualty insurance company with a history of strong, consistent financial performance for nearly 100 years. Selective's unique position as both a leading insurance group and an employer of choice is recognized in a wide variety of awards and honors, including listing in Forbes Best Midsize Employers in 2025 and certification as a Great Place to Work® in 2025 for the sixth consecutive year. Employees are empowered and encouraged to Be Uniquely You by being their true, unique selves and contributing their diverse talents, experiences, and perspectives to our shared success. Together, we are a high-performing team working to serve our customers responsibly by helping to mitigate loss, keep them safe, and restore their lives and businesses after an insured loss occurs. The Director, Competitive Intelligence will be responsible for leading internal and external research and competitive intelligence efforts to identify industry trends, market dynamics, and emerging risks as inputs into Selective's underwriting and product strategies and portfolio direction. This role will develop and lead a team that assesses the competitive landscape in support of strategic portfolio decision-making. This includes analyzing macro-level market, industry, agency, portfolio and customer data, deriving insights to provide research-based recommendations, while developing and maintaining the tools and processes needed to communicate actionable findings across the underwriting organization, including regular and ad-hoc intelligence reporting. Collaboration with Underwriting Practices, Product, Market Segments, Actuarial, and regional leadership is a critical input to aligning findings with strategic priorities. Responsibilities also include collaboration with other research functions in the organization, staying up to date with emerging risks, technologies, and innovations in the insurance industry, which may include conference attendance, agency engagement and participation in industry groups.

Requirements

Keeps abreast of industry emerging practice and best-in-class insurance market research initiatives and strategies.
Ability to integrate critical information from many diverse areas, and communicate clearly and concisely.
Inspires confidence in others and viewed as a team player to capture the trust and respect of stakeholders at all levels.
Ability to work with broad latitude for decision-making and priority setting while maximizing the talent of small flexible staff committed to a very high level of responsiveness, quality and service.
Highly proficient written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to build and maintain collaborative relationships.
Ability to make decisions and recommendations using information from numerous data sources
Demonstrated ability to write and interpret business case documents to determine cost/benefit analysis.
Proficient ability to multi-task and manage workflows to meet and exceed production and service expectations.
Proficient ability to solve problems and make sound decisions.
Capable of managing the position’s operational, administrative and supervisory duties.
Must have valid state-issued driver’s license in good standing and be able to drive an automobile.

Nice To Haves

College degree in Market Research, Business/Marketing, Risk Management, Data Science, or related field preferred.
10+ years of experience in market research and/or data analytics with strong analytical skills and ability to analyze data sets, diagnose opportunities, and convert results into business value statements.
Significant proficiency with research methodologies/platforms and data visualization tools to communicate actionable results to wide audience

Responsibilities

Lead and deliver demonstrable value from competitive and market research efforts.
Identify strategic needs to support stakeholders in the CL business including product needs, preferences, and industry trends as inputs into the commercial lines strategies.
Assess competitor landscape by evaluating insurance offerings, distribution strategies, technology offerings, value-added services and marketing strategies.
Analyze external data to derive insights to inform new and existing strategies; provide research-based recommendations for strategic enhancements and or modifications.
Develop and maintain competitive intelligence tools and processes.
Engage, faciliate and lead vendor relationships.
Develop and implement a competitive intelligence framework whereby consistent and defined outputes cna be repeated with an ongoing feedback loop from stakeholders to ensure value is consistently delivered.
Communicate actionable findings to the organization including regular and ad-hoc research analysis reports.
Gather feedback from regional and corporate employees, customers and distribution partners.
Lead efforts to conduct employee and agency interviews.
Assess industry innovations to stay up to date with emerging technologies and innovations in the insurance industry and communicate findings across the organization; this may include participation in industry product groups.
Lead the delivery of presentations to stakeholders, sharing research findings and product insights.
Establish and maintain a strong internal repuation as a credible resource.
Continuously refine research methodologies.
Actively collaborate and share insights with other research teams across the organization.