SVP, Market Segment Leader

Selective Insurance Company of America•Short Hills, NJ

1d•Onsite

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. As a senior underwriting authority, the position ensures disciplined risk selection, consistent decision-making, and alignment with enterprise underwriting standards while enabling speed and agility in front-line execution. Provides strategic leadership of the teams that support transactional underwriting through expert oversight of referrals and consultations. The role serves as a critical bridge from corporate underwriting strategy and corporate underwriting practices to the transactional execution by underwriters in the field to elevate underwriting excellence by ensuring the delivery of high-impact guidance on complex risks and driving underwriting expectations across the organization. A core component of this leadership position is building organizational capability—coaching, training, knowledge transfer and mentoring underwriters while fostering a culture of continuous learning and accountability.

Requirements

Strong problem-solving ability; Capable of strong decision making under ambiguity or less than perfect information; Ability to explain rationale and coach 'the why'
Managing projects; Excellent customer service; Strong sales and negotiation skills; Strong problem-solving ability; Proven leadership capability
Strong written, verbal and presentation skills; Networking and relationship building skills
College-degree preferred
10+ years standard Commercial Lines underwriting experience
Technical underwriting acumen including deep and broad segment expertise

Responsibilities

Provide senior underwriting leadership over our teams of subject matter experts that are responsible for managing transactional engagement (referrals and consultations) to coach business written to be in alignment with our broad, generalist underwriting appetite and our underwriting practices and underwriting strategies across Small, Middle Market and Large Account business segments. Able to influence proper balance between risk and market realities, as well as between internal and external pressures on profit and production
Ensure proper daily coaching, training, mentoring and knowledge transfer by the teams as well as active visibility in the field. Delegate authority to the team and imprint on regional authority delegations
Lead the Strategic Business Unit Leaders to monitor external factors that can impact each market segment’s customers including economic, technological, social, political and environmental. Encourage their development of tactics that capitalize on opportunities or mitigate risk in support of our customers while driving our desired outcomes.
Influence and drive adoption of underwriting strategies and practices that balance growth with disciplined risk selection in support of long-term portfolio performance by collaborating with underwriting leadership to establish, reinforce, and communicate underwriting practices, guidelines, strategies and decision frameworks across regions and market segments.
Support your team in conducting direct external engagement with customers to fully understand their operations, exposures, risk profiles, business plans and evolving needs
Collaborate cross-functionally with actuarial, advanced analytics, claims leadership, competitive intelligence, insurance product, legal, marketing, product leadership, region leadership and teams, regulatory compliance, risk management & premium audit to inform underwriting strategy and ensure alignment with broader business objectives.
Participate in the generation of emerging risks and actionable insights at the portfolio, line, segment, class of business, market size and regional level to drive growth and profitability across the market segments in support of diversification and breadth of appetite.
Enhance bench strength and succession readiness through intentional talent development, structured coaching, and real-time feedback.
Maintain a strong in-person field presence to gather input first-hand from our regional teams, agents and insureds to successfully balance underwriting expectations with competitive intelligence, sales and marketing