Underwriting & Distribution Technical Lead

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

11/25/2024

General

Job Title: Technical Lead - Underwriting & Distribution

Division: Beazley Shared Services - Information Technology

Reports To: Head of Underwriting Technology Delivery Services - Group Technology

Key Relationships

Group Head of Underwriting, Underwriting Business Leadership Team across Cyber, Property MAPS and Speciality lines, Head of Operations, Head of Strategy Innovation & Architecture, Head of Enterprise Architecture, Head of Infrastructure and Operations, Business Change leaders and Delivery Leads, Technical delivery leaders and teams, software vendors, system integrators, service providers and business leaders across the organization.

Role Overview

As the Technical Leader and Domain Architect for the Pre-Underwriting and Underwriting Division of our Specialty Commercial Lines Insurance Company, you will play a crucial role in driving innovation, efficiency, and technical excellence within the division. You will be responsible for overseeing the technical aspects of underwriting processes, ensuring alignment with business objectives, and leveraging technology to optimize operations and enhance decision-making capabilities

Join us in revolutionizing the underwriting process and driving innovation in the specialty commercial lines insurance industry!

Role Summary

As the Technology Lead for the Underwriting value stream at Beazley, you will be responsible for designing the software architecture of the underwriting domain and managing the quality of technology delivery of our development teams through ensuring the use and implementation of technology best practices, standards, patterns, and reference architectures. You will supervise and assist with the design and development of domain-level roadmaps and evolve the architecture strategy for the Underwriting function across all countries and lines of business. Working closely with the enterprise architecture and strategy teams you will be pivotal in the enablement of future underwriting strategy.

Your technical expertise, strategic vision, and leadership skills will be instrumental in driving innovation, enhancing operational efficiency, and maintaining the highest standards of information security and integrity. You will collaborate with various business, operations, and technology stakeholders to ensure the efficient and effective utilization of technology to enable seamless underwriting processing and optimise underwriter, customer and broker experience. This role requires a deep understanding of the insurance industry, as well as specific expertise in speciality underwriting technology delivery, support and maintenance.

The underwriting value stream encompasses the processes involved in evaluating, assessing, and pricing insurance risks before a policy is issued. This value stream is critical as it determines the terms and conditions of insurance coverage, as well as the premiums charged to policyholders. It includes;   Submission Intake, Risk Assessment and Preliminary Underwriting, Data Gathering and Analysis, Rating, Underwriting Terms and Pricing, Negotiation and Policy Issuance.

Throughout the pre-underwriting and underwriting value stream, collaboration and communication between underwriters, actuaries, claims professionals, and other stakeholders are essential to ensure that risks are accurately assessed, priced appropriately, and effectively managed. Continuous improvement and innovation in processes, technology, and data analytics play a crucial role in enhancing efficiency, decision-making, and the overall competitiveness of the insurance company.

We are looking for an accomplished insurance underwriting technology expert, who will work closely with global technology and enterprise architecture teams as well as SMEs across the business. In this crucial role, you will be responsible for providing technical leadership and architectural expertise in the design and implementation of innovative technology solutions for our specialty insurance underwriting domain. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping the technological landscape, ensuring efficiency, accuracy, and compliance within our pre-underwriting and underwriting processes.

      

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and technical leadership to the underwriting division, guiding the implementation of innovative solutions to improve efficiency and effectiveness to enable growth.
• Define and maintain the technical architecture roadmap for underwriting systems and processes, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security. Collaborate with enterprise architecture and cross-functional teams to define technology roadmaps aligned with business goals and objectives.
• Identify opportunities to streamline underwriting workflows through automation, digitization, and integration of data and analytics.
• Collaborate with risk management teams to ensure underwriting processes comply with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
• Lead the design, development, and implementation of technical solutions to support underwriting workflows, including rating engines, data analytics platforms, and decision support systems.
• Lead and inspire a team of developers and technical professionals, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence.
• Stay up to date on emerging technologies, industry trends and competitor activity, providing thought leadership, insight into a vision of the possible, recommending and driving adoption of relevant advancements.
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of the underwriting domain, including industry trends, regulations, and business challenges
• Design and architect scalable, secure, and robust systems that meet the unique requirements of specialty insurance underwriting processes.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive understanding of the existing technology landscape, identifying opportunities for improvement and optimization.
• Foster strong relationships with internal and external partners, ensuring alignment between technology and business strategies.
• Manage and enhance software/data architecture best practices, standards, patterns, and reference architectures as part of the wider architecture team.
• Supervise and assist with the design and development of domain-level roadmaps.
• Collaborate with business, operations, and technology stakeholders to ensure the efficient and effective utilization of technology.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives and innovation to enhance underwriting processes, optimize efficiency and improve decision quality.
• Engage with 3rd party suppliers including software vendors, ensuring that changes delivered are in line with standards
• Collaborate with the IT infrastructure team to ensure a robust and secure IT infrastructure that supports underwriting processing activities.
• Work with Enterprise Architecture team to adopt governance frameworks, polices and procedures related to underwriting systems, ensuring underwriting outcomes are catered for.
• Ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of underwriting data and systems through the implementation of robust security measures and compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., data protection, Beazley security standards and privacy laws).
• Serve as a subject matter expert on underwriting technology and architecture, representing the division in cross-functional initiatives and industry forums.
  
  

General

It is important that within all your interactions both internally and externally you adhere to Beazley’s core values - Being Bold, Striving for Better, and Doing the Right Thing - as they contribute to an internal environment of teamwork and promote a positive brand image and experience to our external customers. We also expect Beazley employees to:

• Comply with Beazley procedures, policies and regulations including the code of conduct which incorporates FCA and PRA Conduct
• Undertake training on Beazley policies and procedures as delivered by your line manager, the Culture & People or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) either directly, via e-learning or the learning management system
• Display business ethics that uphold the interests of all our customers
• Ensure all interactions with customers are focused on delivering a fair outcome, including having the right products for their needs
• Comply with any specific responsibilities necessary for your role as outlined by your line manager, the Culture & People or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) and ensure you keep up to date with developments in these areas. This may include, amongst others, Beazley’s underwriting control standards, Beazley’s claims control standards, other Beazley standards and customer relationship management
• Carry out additional responsibilities as individually notified, either through your objectives or through the learning management system. These may include membership of any Beazley committees or working groups
  
  

Personal Specification

The successful candidate will be a natural relationship builder and team player, with high energy and a personal drive and passion that shines through. You will have the ability to influence, inform, and successfully manage senior stakeholders, and possess excellent written and verbal communication skills. You will be able to distil complex information into simple and understandable language and contribute to creating product/program/project vision, roadmap, and content presentations.

Skills And Abilities

• Ability to find competitive advantage through the innovative use of new technologies to resolve business challenges, improve operational efficiency and enable business strategy
• Ability to work at pace and meet challenging timelines
• Ability to think systemically and to connect strategically complex pieces of work both current and into the future
• Excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams, articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyze complex data sets, identify patterns, and make data-driven decisions.
• Ability to stay up-to-date with industry trends and developments, and incorporate new technologies and approaches as appropriate.
• Ability to lead and manage an outsourced development team, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate business requirements into effective technology solutions.
  
  

Knowledge and Experience

• Proven experience in designing and implementing complex technical solutions within the insurance or financial services industry, with a strong understanding of underwriting processes and systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in defining and maintaining enterprise-level technical architectures, including experience with cloud computing, microservices, and API integration.
• In-depth knowledge of specialty insurance pre-underwriting and underwriting processes and technologies.
• Expertise in system architecture, design patterns, and software development methodologies.
• Leadership and management skills, with the ability to guide and mentor a team of internal and partner technology professionals
• A deep understanding of the insurance underwriting process and related systems, in particular AI Automation systems in submission handling, data enrichment and data science, APIs and integration, rating, pricing, policy administration, low-code (e.g. Appian), Lloyds integrations (e.g. PPL, Blueprint II, Delegated), Billing and Payments
• Knowledge of Underwriting processing systems, methodologies, and best practices.
• Experience of Broker integration and distribution processes and systems
• Knowdege of digital customer and broker engagement and experience platforms
• Thorough knowledge of regulatory requirements and compliance standards relevant to the insurance industry, with experience implementing controls and processes to ensure compliance.
• Understanding of data security, privacy, and compliance requirements.
• Awareness and experience with various methodologies and frameworks (e.g. Aglie@Scale, DSDM, SDLC).
• Experience managing 3rd party supplier and vendor contracts to measurable outcomes.
  
  

Education

• Ideally holds Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field.
• Industry experience and qualifications on systems and development languages
• Relevant industry certifications (e.g., TOGAF, CISSP, PMP) preferred.
  
  

The Rewards

• The opportunity to connect and build long-lasting professional relationships while advancing your career with a growing, dynamic organization
• Attractive base compensation and discretionary performance related bonus
• Competitively priced medical, dental and vision insurance
• Company paid life, and short- and long-term disability insurance
• 401(k) plan with 5% company match and immediate vesting
• 22 days PTO (prorated for 1st calendar year of employment), 11 paid holidays per year, with the ability to flex the religious bank holidays to suit your religious beliefs
• Up to $700 reimbursement for home office setup
• Free in-office lunch, travel reimbursement for travel to office, and monthly lifestyle allowance
• Up to 26 weeks of fully paid parental leave
• Up to 2.5 days paid annually for volunteering at a charity of your choice
• Flexible working policy, trusting our employees to do what works best for them and their teams
  
  

Salary for this role will be tailored to the successful individual’s location and experience. The expected compensation range for this position is $110,000 - $140,000 per year plus discretionary annual bonus.

Don’t meet all the requirements? At Beazley we're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every requirement and qualification in the job specification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right candidate for this, or one of our other roles.