Underwriting Director

National Healthcare Solutions Group LLC•Miami, FL

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Underwriting for the Life & Investment Division is responsible for leading the underwriting function across a broad portfolio of life insurance and investment-linked products. This role ensures the application of sound risk assessment principles, supports product innovation, and maintains underwriting standards that align with the company’s risk appetite and profitability goals. The ideal candidate brings deep technical underwriting knowledge, strong leadership skills, and experience working closely with product, actuarial, distribution, and operations teams to ensure consistent, fair, and compliant underwriting decisions and processes. This position is responsible for defining, maintaining, and ensuring consistent application of the company’s underwriting philosophy and guidelines across all lines of business, as well as building, managing, and developing a high-performing underwriting team.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Insurance, Health Sciences, or a related field
8–10 years of progressive underwriting experience
at least 3–5 years in a leadership or managerial role
Deep knowledge of life and investment-linked insurance products, including medical, financial, and risk-based underwriting.
Experience managing underwriting teams and enforcing underwriting guidelines.
Proven ability to implement technology-driven underwriting solutions and digital workflows.
Strong analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving capabilities.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to explain complex underwriting rationales to non-technical stakeholders.
Experience implementing and monitoring adherence to underwriting manuals, rules, and governance frameworks is strongly preferred.

Nice To Haves

professional underwriting designations (FALU, FLMI) strongly preferred
Familiarity with international life insurance and reinsurance markets (e.g., Latin America, Caribbean, Europe) preferred.
Experience with treaty negotiation, facultative case handling, and cross-border regulatory environments desirable.

Responsibilities

Lead the underwriting strategy, policies, and procedures for life and investment-linked insurance products across individual and/or group lines of business.
Define, maintain, and enforce underwriting guidelines and standards to ensure consistent application across all underwriters and product lines.
Oversee the daily operations of the underwriting team, ensuring timely and accurate case assessments in accordance with company guidelines and regulatory standards.
Build, lead, and develop the underwriting team, including recruitment, performance management, coaching, and succession planning.
Collaborate with product development and actuarial teams to evaluate underwriting implications of new products and riders, pricing assumptions, and target markets.
Continuously assess and update underwriting guidelines, risk tolerance levels, and reinsurance arrangements to align with emerging trends and business goals.
Act as a key decision-maker or escalation point for large, complex, or high-risk cases, balancing risk exposure with customer experience and business needs.
Partner with distribution and sales teams to support case placement, clarify underwriting decisions, and improve advisor experience.
Lead the evaluation and implementation of underwriting technology solutions, including automated and accelerated underwriting tools.
Develop and maintain relationships with reinsurers, ensuring effective use of facultative support and treaty structures.
Provide training, mentorship, and development opportunities to underwriters, fostering a high-performance and learning-focused culture.
Monitor underwriting performance metrics and quality assurance results; identify and address areas for improvement.
Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies, and support internal/external audits as needed.
Stay current on industry trends, regulatory changes, and medical advances that impact underwriting philosophy or guidelines.
Contribute to strategic planning, forecasting, and risk management within the Life & Investment Division.
Participate in cross-functional projects, including digital transformation initiatives, product launches, and operational process improvements.
Represent the underwriting function in internal committees, leadership meetings, and cross-departmental collaborations.