Underwriting Manager

Simply Business; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A forward-thinking insurance provider in Greater London seeks an experienced Underwriting Manager to lead a significant portfolio of customers. You will refine the portfolio strategy, manage performance metrics, and develop high-quality relationships with stakeholders. The ideal candidate will hold a chartered ACII qualification and have solid portfolio management experience, driving innovation and efficiency within the underwriting process. This role offers a flexible hybrid work environment and competitive compensation aligned with market standards.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Flexible parental leave with full pay

Private medical insurance

Competitive salary

Annual performance-based bonus

Qualifications

• Qualified as a chartered ACII (or holds an equivalent professional qualification).
• Experienced in portfolio management with a deep understanding of underwriting principles.
• Natural innovator who brings ideas to drive growth and improve efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the portfolio strategy, ensuring performance accountability.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders for high underwriting quality.
• Lead, train, and develop the team to drive a culture of high performance.

Skills

Portfolio management

Underwriting principles

Problem-solving

Strong communication

Analytical skills

Innovation

Education

Chartered ACII or equivalent professional qualification

Job description

You will take the lead on managing a significant portfolio of 380,000 customers with £120m GWP across our landlord and SME segments. This is a strategic role where you won’t just maintain performance; you will define and own the portfolio strategy, ensuring we remain accountable for our processes and future success.

We are looking for a leader to drive forward large projects that support our MGA growth strategy. Working with us means championing the small business cause and ensuring we are seen as an honest, inclusive, and reliable insurance provider in everything we do.

As our Underwriting Manager, you’ll:

• Define and own the portfolio strategy, taking accountability for current and future performance.
• Build strong, credible relationships with internal stakeholders and external capacity providers to ensure high underwriting quality.
• Monitor claims performance, own the large loss process, and manage the referral process from our Contact Centre Technical Team.
• Lead, train, and develop the team to drive a culture of high performance and support individual growth.
• Develop and maintain underwriting guidelines, ensuring strict adherence to regulatory, compliance, and market practices.
• Lead our audit and peer review processes to ensure our high standards are consistently maintained.

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Qualified as a chartered ACII (or holds an equivalent professional qualification).
• Experienced in portfolio management with a deep understanding of underwriting principles, ideally in commercial lines.
• A natural innovator who brings ideas to drive growth, improve efficiency, and launch products on new distribution channels.
• Excellent at problem-solving and analytics, comfortable making decisions with full underwriting authority.
• A strong communicator capable of delivering complex messages to a variety of people and cultivating strong relationships.
• Adept at staying up-to-date on industry trends, regulatory changes, and has exposure to the full insurance business.

(We know it’s tough, but please try to avoid the confidence gap. You don’t have to match all the bullet points above to be considered for this role.)

We encourage people of all different backgrounds and identities to apply. We are committed to maintaining an inclusive, supportive place for you to be you and do your very best work.

Ready to join a team that challenges the status quo? Apply today.

About Simply Business

We insure small businesses and enable big dreams – not just for our customers, but for our people and communities too. With over 1,000,000 active insurance policies, we protect builders, bakers, landlords and more than 1,200 other trades.

We’re a technology company as well as one that sells insurance. That means we build, we fail, we learn and we improve. We’re a B Corp too, which recognises our strong track record of having a positive impact on people, society and the environment.

What are the benefits of working at Simply Business?

We offer a great work-life balance where every team member has a manageable workload and the flexibility to work hybrid.

On top of the 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), we offer leave that suits your needs. Plus the option to buy five more days of holiday with your flexible benefits.

Our flexible parental leave allows you to approach an important time how you want – with six months full pay to the primary caregiver and four weeks full pay if you’re the secondary caregiver.

Our life event leave is an extra days leave every two years for those big moments in your life like moving house or your birthday. And as a thank you to our long-serving employees we offer a two week paid sabbatical after five years of service, then four weeks off after ten years of service.

And our core benefits can put your mind at ease with private medical insurance through BUPA, that covers any pre-existing condition. And a health cash plan that covers your everyday medical expenses.

We also make sure you’re compensated fairly with a competitive salary based on your experience and the market we’re in. Plus the potential to earn an annual bonus based on performance.

There’s access to the tools to support your personal development with programmes on our dedicated learning platform. As well as support for your mental health with access to counselling.

We’ll match what you put into your pension up to five per cent. And pass on a tax-free sum that’s four times your basic salary with our life assurance policy, with the option to increase it to ten times through our flexible benefit scheme

Our salary sacrifice car scheme gives you the option to buy a brand new, fully insured, and maintained car for a convenient fixed monthly amount taken from your gross salary (after 6 months service).

And our flexible benefits scheme gives you an allocated amount to use each year on benefits like critical illness cover, dental insurance, travel insurance, or a gym membership.

Ready to join us and drive our success as a high-performing team? Apply today.

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