Sr Managing Director, Group Head of Finance (Markel Group)

Markel • Richmond, VA

5d • $300,000 - $375,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Markel Group, a Fortune 500 company, is a growing family of 24 operating companies with over 22,000 associates and more than $15 billion in annual revenue. The small holding company team supports these businesses, ensuring they focus on serving their customers over the long term. The mission is to be “the best home for our businesses,” while living the values of the Markel Style. The company aspires to build one of the world’s great companies by creating win-win-win outcomes for customers, associates, and shareholders. This role is for a business-friendly, team-first finance leader to serve as Group Head of Finance. Markel Group is a holding company comprised of twenty-four operating companies. The cornerstone business, Markel Insurance, provides specialized insurance products. Earnings from insurance operations have been reinvested in a diversified portfolio of majority owned non-insurance affiliates, collectively referred to as Markel Ventures. The goal is to continuously compound capital over a long period of time by empowering leaders to manage their businesses with a long-term mindset. The holding company team supports these businesses to best serve their customers through enabling culture, allocating capital efficiently, selecting leaders, and performing essential functions of a publicly traded company.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive finance experience with significant leadership responsibility within accounting/controllership, external reporting, tax and/or FP&A in a complex, multi-entity environment.
• Understanding of U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements; experience leading or overseeing periodic financial statement filings and related disclosure processes.
• Ability to build and sustain an effective controls environment, including experience with SOX/ICFR and partnering with internal/external audit.
• Proven track record of leading and developing high-performing teams, including hiring, coaching, succession planning, and performance management.
• Strong executive presence with excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• US Work Authorization required. Markel does not provide visa sponsorship for this position, now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

• CPA designation preferred; experience in insurance and/or regulated financial services industries or within a multi-entity holding company structure is a plus.
• Team-first leader who builds trust and alignment across functions and operating companies, with the humility to listen before acting.
• Business partner mindset—connects finance to strategy and execution, focused on helping our businesses “win”.
• High integrity and sound judgment; committed to strong controls, transparency, and always doing the right thing.
• Comfortable with complexity and ambiguity; able to prioritize, simplify, and communicate with clarity in a variety of settings.
• Exceptional communicator who can translate technical accounting and performance insights into clear business implications for senior leaders and boards.
• Developer of talent—coaches, delegates effectively, and builds a bench for the future.
• Willingness to learn new skills and competencies in areas above where the individual has less experience coming in.

Responsibilities

• Lead Markel Group accounting, consolidation, reporting and technical accounting efforts while understanding the nuances of our holding company structure and desire for balancing quality and consistency in financial reporting with maintaining autonomy within our businesses.
• Oversee our global tax function partnering with tax leadership on minimizing our tax obligations while ensuring our tax department is connected in with key transactions and initiatives.
• Participate in our external reporting efforts, including SEC reporting process and drafting, disclosure controls, and coordination with internal stakeholders, external auditors, and advisors to ensure accurate, timely filings.
• Devise the strategy and reporting for Markel Group FP&A – planning, forecasting, performance reporting and management insights; translating results into clear reports and narratives for senior leadership.
• Direct reports of this role will include the Chief Accounting officer, Global head of tax, holding company FP&A manager, and head of SOX controls at Markel Ventures.
• Continuously improve finance controls, including SOX/ICFR partnership with control owners at our affiliates, including remediation governance and creating a scalable control design as the portfolio of companies evolves.
• Partner with senior leadership on enhancing our long-term engagement model for financial reporting matters with non-insurance affiliates balancing our needs as a public company with our desire to have affiliates operate with a high degree of independence.
• Communicate with business leaders across Insurance and non-insurance affiliates to align financial reporting, planning assumptions, and value-creation priorities.
• Collaborate with the insurance capital and treasury teams to apply regulated insurance capital rules to our strategies. Build a working knowledge of regulator and rating agency capital regimes under which we operate.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team; recruit and retain talent aligned with Markel’s values and the needs of a multi-entity, evolving organization.
• Drive simplification and modernization of finance processes, systems, and reporting—improving speed, accuracy, quality, and insight while reducing manual effort.
• Work on ad-hoc projects as assigned by the CFO or other members of Markel Group senior leadership.

Benefits

• Competitive benefit programs that help meet our diverse and changing environment as well as support our employees’ needs at all stages of life.
• Option to select from multiple health, dental and vision insurance plan options.
• Optional life, disability, and AD&D insurance.
• 401(k) with employer match contributions.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
• PTO.
• Corporate holidays and floating holidays.
• Parental leave.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed