Principal Underwriter, Carrier

Independence Pet Group•New York, NY

13d•Hybrid

About The Position

Independence Pet Holdings, established in 2021, is a corporate holding company managing a diverse portfolio of pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, and lost recovery services across North America. Doubtless, a global leader in pet insurance and pet health, unifies former Independence Pet Holdings and Pinnacle Pet Group. With over 4,000 employees, Doubtless protects over 6 million pets in North America, Europe, and the UK. Independence American Insurance Company (IAIC) is the insurance carrier within Doubtless, providing underwriting expertise, governance, and regulatory oversight for the pet insurance portfolio and strategic partnerships. IAIC works closely with Product Management, Actuarial, Claims, Compliance, and MGA partners to achieve sustainable, profitable growth through disciplined risk management and governance. This position, Director of Underwriting, will provide strategic underwriting leadership for Doubtless’s North American insurance carriers, establishing and operationalizing the carrier's underwriting philosophy, risk appetite, guidelines, and governance framework while ensuring regulatory compliance and profitable portfolio performance. The role involves partnering with executive leadership and cross-functional teams to shape underwriting strategy, oversee delegated authority, strengthen carrier governance, and drive growth.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Mathematics, Science, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
10+ years of progressive Property & Casualty insurance experience, ideally including Personal Lines.
Minimum of 5 years in a senior underwriting leadership, underwriting operations, governance, or compliance role.
Demonstrated experience establishing underwriting philosophy, risk appetite, governance frameworks, underwriting guidelines, and operational controls.
Experience working with carriers, MGAs, delegated authority models, reinsurers, and fronting carrier relationships.
Strong understanding of insurance regulatory requirements across the United States; Canadian regulatory experience is highly desirable.
Experience leading underwriting audits, compliance initiatives, governance programs, and regulatory examinations.
Previous leadership experience, including coaching, mentoring, and developing underwriting professionals.

Nice To Haves

CPCU or other advanced insurance industry designation.
Experience supporting insurance product development, product filings, or underwriting strategy for new insurance products.
Familiarity with underwriting technology platforms, workflow automation, and operational process improvement initiatives.

Responsibilities

Establish, maintain, and continuously evolve carrier underwriting philosophy, risk appetite, underwriting guidelines, governance framework, and administrative policies to support sustainable, profitable growth.
Serve as underwriting authority for guideline exceptions, product approvals, underwriting philosophy, risk tolerance decisions, approval of new insurance products, product enhancements, and underwriting programs for Doubtless North America insurance carriers.
Develop a deep understanding of underwriting performance, portfolio results, emerging risks, and market trends to continuously improve underwriting guidelines, and risk selection.
Ensure underwriting operations remain compliant with applicable insurance regulations across the United States and Canada while maintaining appropriate governance, documentation, and operational controls.
Provide carrier oversight of MGA underwriting operations, delegated authority, underwriting guideline adherence, operational enhancements, and claims process initiatives while ensuring compliance with contractual and regulatory requirements.
Develop, implement, and monitor underwriting controls, governance processes, audit programs, corrective action plans, and operational procedures that strengthen underwriting consistency and regulatory compliance.
Partner closely with executive leadership and collaborate across Product Management, Actuarial, Claims, Compliance, Legal, Finance, and MGA leadership to align underwriting strategy with business objectives and regulatory expectations.
Build trusted relationships across the organization and effectively influence executive leaders, carrier partners, regulators, and external stakeholders through sound judgment, credibility, and technical expertise.