Senior Personal Lines Underwriter

As a Senior Personal Lines Underwriter at Burns & Wilcox, your key responsibilities include building and managing a book of business, cultivating agency relationships, leading marketing efforts for new and renewal business, and assessing risks through quoting and binding processes. You'll also be tasked with developing underwriting referrals, monitoring business performance metrics, and guiding junior team members. This role not only emphasizes analytical skills but also nurtures leadership and relationship management abilities.

To qualify for the Senior Personal Lines Underwriter position at Burns & Wilcox, candidates should possess a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience. A minimum of 3 years of commercial lines underwriting or brokerage experience is required, with a strong preference for individuals with excess and surplus experience. Additionally, proficiency in sales and marketing, excellent organizational skills, and a keen attention to detail are essential. Professional designations such as CPCU or CIC are also preferred.

The compensation for a Senior Personal Lines Underwriter at Burns & Wilcox ranges from $115,000 to $150,000 annually, depending on experience and qualifications. Besides a competitive salary, the company offers flexible work options, health benefits, a 401K plan with employer match, and employer-sponsored continuing education opportunities to help you grow in your career.

As a Senior Personal Lines Underwriter at Burns & Wilcox, you can expect numerous opportunities for career advancement. The company supports continuous professional development through employer-paid continuing education courses and designations. Additionally, by leading and mentoring junior underwriters, you’ll refine your leadership skills and increase your visibility within the organization, paving the way for further career opportunities.

Burns & Wilcox is recognized for its unparalleled commitment to service and depth of market relationships, providing a supportive work environment for Senior Personal Lines Underwriters. The private ownership structure allows for greater agility and independence, enabling employees to focus on client needs and innovative solutions. The company’s dedication to career advancement and continuing education, coupled with a competitive compensation package, makes it an excellent choice for professionals in the specialty insurance sector.

When answering this question, reflect on specific projects or cases where you applied your underwriting skills to assess risks and determine pricing. Share outcomes that benefited your previous employer, emphasizing your role and the skills that helped achieve those results.

Discuss your strategies for building strong relationships with agency partners. Mention communication methods, regular check-ins, and how you ensure their needs are met while promoting the company’s services. Highlight a particular instance where your approach led to a successful collaboration.

Talk about essential metrics such as premium growth, loss ratios, new business hit rates, and renewal retention. Explain how you track these metrics and the steps you take when performance deviates from expected norms, showcasing your analytical skills and problem-solving abilities.

Outline your systematic approach, including gathering necessary information, evaluating risks, and determining appropriate coverage levels. Emphasize your attention to detail and any specific tools or software you use to facilitate the quoting and binding process effectively.

Share the resources you utilize, such as industry publications, webinars, or professional organizations. Discuss your commitment to lifelong learning and any courses or certifications you're pursuing or have completed, linking back to your capacity to grow in a position like Senior Personal Lines Underwriter.

Focus on a specific example, detailing the scenario, your thought process, the challenges you faced, and the ultimate outcome. Highlight how you balanced risk and opportunity and what you learned from the experience.

Talk about the techniques you use to teach and develop junior underwriters, such as one-on-one training sessions or guiding them through case studies. Illustrate your mentoring style by sharing positive feedback or success stories from your experience.

Discuss your approach to creating marketing plans, such as assessing market data, identifying target clients, and setting clear objectives and metrics for success. Provide an example of how you implemented such a plan in a previous role and the results it produced.

Provide a specific example of a process improvement you initiated, detailing the problem, the solution you proposed, and the results. Highlight how this improvement benefitted both efficiency and company performance, showcasing your proactive mindset.

Personalize your answer by connecting Burns & Wilcox’s values, reputation, and opportunities to your career aspirations. Mention their dedication to innovation or support for employees as factors that resonate with you, and discuss your enthusiasm for contributing to their success.