Senior Underwriter - New Business - Manchester

At AXA Commercial, we support our business customers, large and small, by making it easy for them to do business with us in the way that suits them. Whether they insure with us via brokers, directly on the phone or online through comparison sites, we've got them covered.

Building on our success, a key initiative for the future of AXA Commercial is enhancing our current teams with experienced, engaging, and forward-thinking Commercial Underwriters. These roles provide a fantastic opportunity for you to build key foundations and shape the narrative, that will provide AXA the exposure and scope required for growth.

We're currently looking to further grow the Manchester commercial team and bring to market a great opportunity to join us as a New BusinessSenior Underwriter in Property and Casualty.

The New BusinessSenior Underwriter plays a critical role in managing the profitability and income of the branch, owning the financial results for designated accounts and brokers. The role demands a high level of influence on the Underwriting team, increasing the ability to collaborate with a range of stakeholders and developing the technical and trading capability of the branch.

The role encompasses many opportunities to contribute to the development and success of the team, not just from a growth and profitability perspective but driving service excellence to our customers. Ensuring close collaboration is supported internally across the teams will be an important focus area, as this will enable the team to be set up for success, by engaging and building key relationships with the brokers and stakeholders.

What you’ll be doing:

• Act as the face of AXA in presenting propositions for larger Mid-Market and Mid-Corporate risks, based on industry knowledge and technical underwriting expertise, subject to the scale and complexity of the case.
• Work with Trading Underwriters to negotiate coverage, wordings and pricing that differentiate AXA to meet customer needs.
• Proactively develop a robust pipeline of Mid-Market and Mid-Corporate qualified growth opportunities leveraging both client and broker relationships, ensuring pipeline is effectively managed and realised.
• Lead and fully embed the large case management process for New Business.
• Develop and build collaborative broker relationships, sometimes client, across the Region, taking full ownership for the generation and placement of profitable commercial business from self-sourced.
• Underwrite profitable New Business, in line with AXA established underwriting controls and practices and act as a referral point in branch across New Business and, at times, renewals.

Although the role has no Direct reports, the Senior Underwriter plays a key role in developing and supporting the performance of the team Underwriters. 

At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them, their team and our customers. You'll work at least 40% of your week away from home, either at one of our office locations, visiting clients or attending industry events.

What we're looking for:

• Progress towards Dip CII qualification desirable or equivalent experience.
• Technical underwriting expertise in a commercial insurance environment.
• Sound understanding of insurance market and processes across commercial lines insurance operations.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, through written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven experience in decision making on a wide range of technical underwriting scenarios within a Commercial environment.
• Coaching and development skills within in a similar environment and experience of working in teams and successful record of delivering results.
• Strong trading capability – commercial awareness, negotiation skills, ability to build strong broker relationships.
• Pragmatic decision maker with good analytical and numerical reasoning skills.
• Strong analytical skills with proven experience of account monitoring and action planning.
• Excellent risk assessment and risk management skills.

This position has been defined as an Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) role under the IDD regime which means that in addition to pre-employment screening checks, the successful candidate will be subject to background screening every 4 years with an annual declaration in interim years.

With a presence in over 60 countries, and 165,000 employees serving the needs of 107 million customers, AXA is big.

But never too big to care for every single person who works here.  So when you join us, we promise to put our collective might behind you and your career.

You’ll work in an open and supportive environment where you’ll be developed, challenged and encouraged to move around to achieve even bigger and better things – nationally and internationally. You’ll learn directly from senior leaders, from the best in our business. And you’ll enjoy real responsibility, really early on.

Every large company today talks about supporting diversity and inclusion. But at AXA UK, these values form an integral part of everything we do. For us, it’s about bringing together the best talent, helping people to realise their full potential by being 100% themselves at work and delivering outstanding service to everyone – regardless of difference. 

AXA Commercial protects businesses, from multinationals to micro start-ups, giving them the confidence to thrive. We’re currently making our biggest ever investment to develop the expertise and skills we need to be the best. We’re a vibrant community where everyone is supported to learn, develop, and take ownership of their work.

One of the best things about joining AXA is our rewards package. At AXA UK, we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• Competitive annual salary dependent on experience
• Annual company & performance-based bonus
• Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
• Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
• 25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 5 days leave
• AXA employee discounts
• Gym benefits

To apply, click on the ‘apply for this job’ button, you’ll then need to log in or create a profile to submit your CV. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer and don’t discriminate against employees or potential employees based on protected characteristics. If you have a long term health condition or disability and require reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, we’re proud to offer access to the AXA Accessibility Concierge. For our support, please send an email to mel.ainscough@axa-insurance.co.uk. 

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