Head of Underwriting

# Head of Underwriting ## Company Overview *Details about the company, including its industry and culture, were not provided.* ## Job Summary The Head of Underwriting is responsible for overseeing end-to-end underwriting delivery across individual and group life business. This role ensures quality, turnaround time (TAT), and risk selection align with board-approved guidelines while managing reinsurer relationships and leading the underwriting team towards achieving profitable growth. ## Responsibilities - **Reinsurance Management**: Manage reinsurer relationships, especially for high-net-worth and non-standard business; negotiate rates and terms on a case-by-case basis, coordinating with Actuarial and Risk on treaty updates, retention limits, and pricing decisions. - **Underwriting Operations & Auto-Underwriting**: Ensure applications are underwritten according to board-approved guidelines within defined TATs for medical and non-medical cases; build and refine auto-underwriting rules to enhance speed and straight-through processing. - **Quality & Audit**: Maintain underwriting quality through regular audits, training, and corrective actions on error trends. - **TPA Management**: Manage Third Party Administrator (TPA) relationships for medical tests and reports, resolve escalations, and ensure adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLA) for turnaround and quality. - **MIS & Regulatory Reporting**: Ensure timely and accurate Management Information System (MIS) reports for internal stakeholders and regulators based on defined frequency. - **Channel & Customer Service**: Resolve sales channel escalations promptly; hold regular reviews to enhance service levels and customer experience. - **Projects & Process Improvement**: Lead automation and digitization projects, review policies/guidelines based on Change Management, and support User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for system enhancements. - **Team Management**: Lead underwriting managers and underwriters, approve recommendations, conduct quality checks, and develop capabilities through training. - **Regulatory & Risk Compliance**: Ensure 100% compliance with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and internal guidelines; timely closure of audit points and embedding new regulations into practice. - **Claims Support**: Provide underwriting and medical inputs to Claims for investigating contestable and high-value claims. - **Product Development**: Contribute underwriting, claims, and reinsurer experience inputs to the Product team for new product design and pricing. ## Qualifications - **Education**: MBBS or a postgraduate degree in a Medical/Pharma field. - **Experience**: 15-20 years of experience in life, health, and general insurance underwriting, including team management. - **Preferred Qualifications**: Additional qualifications such as Fellow of the Academy of Life Underwriting (FALU), LOMA (Life Office Management Association), or III (Insurance Institute of India) are preferred. ## Preferred Skills - Strong leadership and coaching abilities. - Effective communication skills. - Business and customer focus. - Planning and organizational skills. - Teamwork and collaboration. - Orientation towards change and innovation. - Strong ownership of results and problem-solving capabilities. - Creativity in developing solutions. ## Experience 15-20 years of relevant experience in underwriting within life, health, and general insurance, with a strong emphasis on team management. ## Environment *Details about the typical work setting, location, and physical or environmental conditions were not provided.* ## Salary *Salary information was not specified.* ## Growth Opportunities *Potential career progression within the company was not mentioned.* ## Benefits *Details about offered benefits were not provided.*