Berkley Accident and Health is a member company of W. R. Berkley Corporation, a Fortune 500® company. Berkley Accident and Health provides an innovative portfolio of accident and health insurance products. It offers four categories of products: Employer Stop Loss, Group Captives, Managed Care (including HMO Reinsurance and Provider Excess), and Specialty Accident.

Berkley Accident and Health’s two primary office locations are Marlborough, MA and Hamilton Square, NJ, and the company underwrites Stop Loss coverage through Berkley Life and Health Insurance Company, rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best. For more information, please visit www.BerkleyAH.com.

The Assistant Vice President of Underwriting will seek profitable growth of the company’s portfolio of stop loss business by analyzing and selecting risks based on qualified underwriting criteria that adhere to the company’s established underwriting guidelines. This position will work cross-functionally with senior leadership in the areas of underwriting, clinical, actuarial, claims and distribution to formulate new and renewal business strategies and to negotiate complex cases in a professional and thoughtful manner. This position will also strive to innovate in the areas of underwriting operational efficiency, in accordance with the company’s ongoing commitment to innovation and its core behaviors.   This role is both an individual contributor role, where the AVP of Underwriting will maintain a production workload of the more complex cases and business relationships, while also managing a staff of underwriters and providing appropriate guidance, management and mentorship.  Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Write and retain profitable stop loss cases that require a higher degree of underwriting judgement and discretion.
• In addition to transactional underwriting review, proactively manage assigned blocks of business within overall targets set by segment leaders, actuarial and finance, with a strong understanding and appreciation for the varying financial components particular to each segment.
• Develop and maintain successful relationships with target production sources within assigned programs. Foster trust and effective collaboration in order to more successfully manage the negotiation of complex cases and programs.
• Collaborate with company’s senior leadership team to produce annual financial targets including rate, retention and overall premium growth. Monitor department KPIs, and participate in overall product strategic development.
• Oversee the activity assignments and workload balance of assigned underwriting staff.
• Support staff on challenging risk evaluations, service situations, and during periods of high case volume. Use these opportunities to promote underwriter training, with an eye towards operational efficiency and consistency in underwriting approach.
• Ensure staff is properly composing, preparing, and generating correspondence, proposals, and other reports as needed or required.
• Oversee the review of Applications, Policies, Plan Documents/Amendments, and Proposal Contingencies ensuring that they are complete, accurate and in accordance with the sold case terms.

• Bachelor’s Degree and 10+ years of Stop Loss Underwriting experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• A demonstrated track record of strategic oversight of a stop loss block of business, including a thorough understanding of market dynamics, risk management strategies, and a strong desire to stay ahead of emerging risks in the market.
• Confidence and a highly developed skillset in the areas of math, communication, negotiation, management, and multi-tasking.
• Proficiency in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Experience with David Young System (highly preferred)
• Must exhibit professional behavior at all times while representing or being identified as an employee of the company
• Establish and maintain positive working relationships with all operational areas, management and staff to further the company’s mission
• Strong consulting and interpersonal skills with an ability to interact with brokers, clients and service vendors.
• Ability to travel to staff offices regularly, and for external business needs 20%.