Senior Director - Portfolio Risk & Underwriting Strategy

Key Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio risk management and performance oversight across products, programs, distribution channels, and geographies, with accountability for profitable growth and disciplined risk selection.

• Analyze loss, exposure, pricing, frequency, severity, mix-of-business, and market trends to identify emerging risks and recommend timely portfolio actions.

• Direct underwriting strategy and governance, including pricing, eligibility, authority, referral, and exception frameworks; ensure decisions align with business objectives and risk appetite.

• Partner with Actuarial, Product, Finance, Sales, and Operations to evaluate product changes, pricing actions, reserving implications, and opportunities to improve portfolio returns.

• Guide the development and use of forecasts, predictive models, simulations, dashboards, and scenario analyses, translating technical results into practical business decisions.

• Establish portfolio monitoring routines, performance thresholds, and executive reporting that make profitability drivers and risk concentrations visible and actionable.

• Influence product design and program strategy by assessing financial, actuarial, underwriting, operational, and customer impacts.

• Lead complex decisions in ambiguous, high-impact situations and communicate recommendations, trade-offs, and financial implications to senior leadership.

• Improve underwriting processes, data, tools, controls, and governance to increase consistency, scalability, speed, and decision quality.

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team while strengthening collaboration and analytical capability across the organization.

Core Competencies (skills, knowledge and abilities):

• Deep knowledge of underwriting, portfolio management, risk selection, and insurance profitability drivers.

• Strong actuarial and quantitative orientation, including pricing, forecasting, trend analysis, scenario modeling, and performance measurement.

• Ability to connect technical findings to underwriting actions, product strategy, financial outcomes, and risk appetite.

• Understanding of loss cost, frequency, severity, exposure, mix, concentration, and rate adequacy concepts relevant to P&C or specialty insurance portfolios.

• Executive-level communication skills, including the ability to explain complex analyses to technical and nontechnical audiences.

• Strategic judgment and the ability to balance growth, customer, profitability, compliance, and risk considerations.

• Cross-functional leadership and influence across Actuarial, Product, Finance, Sales, Operations, and Technology.

• People leadership, coaching, talent development, and organizational change capability.

• Comfort navigating incomplete information, challenging assumptions, and making sound decisions in rapidly evolving markets.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance, Risk Management, Business, or a related field.

• 7+ years of progressive experience in underwriting, actuarial, portfolio management, product management, risk management, or a related insurance discipline.

• 4+ years of relevant leadership experience, including direct people management.

• Experience managing portfolio performance and profitability across multiple products, programs, markets, or distribution channels.

• Experience using analytics, performance metrics, and financial insights to support strategic decisions and portfolio actions.

• Demonstrated success partnering across functions to shape business strategy and execute complex initiatives.

• Ability to present recommendations and influence decisions at the senior-leadership level.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in actuarial, underwriting, portfolio