Commercial Lines Underwriting Manager

Who are we?

Western National Insurance Group is a private mutual insurance company with over 120 years of experience serving customers' property-and-casualty insurance needs in the Midwestern, Northwestern, and Southwestern United States. Known as “The Relationship Company®,” we define success as a measure of the relationships we’ve built over time. In everything that we do, we know that delivering a friendly and helpful interaction makes for a better experience for everyone involved. That’s the power of “nice”. At Western National, nice is something we work to bring to every person and organization with whom we partner and serve.

Does this opportunity interest you?

Western National is seeking a Manager, Commercial Lines Underwriting to join our team!

The individual in this role will have the opportunity to lead the commercial lines underwriting function by driving profitable growth, developing underwriting talent, and maintaining strong agency relationships. This role oversees underwriting strategies and operations to ensure a balanced, profitable, and high-quality book of commercial lines business while supporting company objectives and agency management initiatives.

What are the responsibilities and opportunities of this role?

• Develops and implements underwriting strategies to achieve a balanced, profitable, and high-quality book of commercial lines business.
• Leads, coaches, develops, and retains underwriting staff to achieve company, departmental, and individual performance goals.
• Serves as a referral underwriter for underwriting staff, providing technical guidance, feedback, and support on complex underwriting decisions.
• Identifies opportunities to promote Western National's products and services and support profitable business growth.
• Develops and executes strategies to capitalize on market opportunities and effectively manage existing agency relationships.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with agents, internal business partners, and external customers to support business objectives.
• Monitors marketplace trends, competitive developments, and emerging industry issues through active participation in the insurance community.
• Develops, reviews, and analyzes periodic reports on assigned regional underwriting operations and takes appropriate underwriting and rate actions.
• Participates in initiatives to develop and improve underwriting processes, policies, and operational efficiencies.
• Interprets and executes underwriting policies and guidelines while ensuring decisions align with company objectives.
• Assigns and approves underwriting authority levels and exercises decision-making authority within established guidelines.
• Analyzes complex underwriting challenges, identifies patterns and trends, and implements effective solutions.
• Communicates and negotiates effectively with agents, business partners, and stakeholders to support positive business outcomes.
• Performs special projects and other duties as assigned.