Assistant Vice President Underwriting

Role: Underwriting Manager

Job Title: Assistant Vice President

Work Experience: 12 years +

Education: Graduate / Post Graduate (B Pharma / M Pharma)

Department: Underwriting

Work location: Goregaon (East), Mumbai

Job Objective

To underwrite and provide technical support for an effective and efficient underwriting team management for company in Indian market, in line with the Group Co. and to ensure that Life Insurance venture provides professional underwriting service to its clients and maintain healthy levels of profitability, growth and development.

To supervise the underwriting team to maintain the productivity levels as well keep them motivated. Provide quality check and ensure that internal audits and measures are undertaken regularly and reviewed in order to maintain the required process (es), quality and productivity levels

Key Result Areas

Impact on the Business / Function

By technical assistance to team and sales in all complex and High Sum Assured proposals, risk identification and extra premium estimation.

By doing reinstatement underwriting of Lapsed cases forwarded by policy servicing team.

By underwriting and providing assistance in underwriting complex medical cases and HNI (High Net worth Individual cases) cases.

By ensuring quality check on underwriting decisions, documentation and system check.

To recognize training needs and recommend underwriting authority limits.

Working knowledge of Group Business and underwriting of group medical proposals as per group guidelines

Customers / Stakeholders

By ensuring high standard of customer service and sales satisfaction.

By fair risk assessment to maintain profitability.

By providing technical assistance to Claims, Policy Servicing, Group Life Business, Complaints redressal and resolution centre.

By reporting EDD+ cases to Compliance team on regular basis

Leadership & Team Management

By monitoring productivity of the team.

By directing active talented individuals for training.

Continual improvement of processes/systems for quality and efficiency.

By ensuring that Service Level Agreements are met.

By creating an environment where initiatives for improving quality and controlling costs are identified, implemented and met.

Operational Effectiveness & Control.

By addressing any areas of concern in conjunction with line management and/ or the appropriate department.

By providing training on risk identification and assessment.

Major Challenges

The nature of the job requires a professionally and technically skilled individual with experience in insurance industry to understand the technical aspects of the job requiring professional experience to deal with complex financial and medical proposals, to provide timely and accurate response to sales queries as well as an efficient management of the underwriting department. It is essential that the individual has a firm grasp of the insurance concepts as the underwriting department deals with risk acceptance on behalf of the company.

The challenge also constitutes of keeping the sales satisfied as well as maintaining an efficient team which is skillful and talented. Supervision of the team for optimum productivity to meet the deadlines is part of the challenge. Providing the team with appropriate training in Underwriting concepts, risk analysis, quality and compliance is also a recognized need for efficiency and efficacy.

It is also required that the Job Holder is able to motivate staff with widely differing aspirations to work in a high pressure, productivity based environment where deadlines are critical.

Underwriting department uses underwriting related software. Therefore it is essential to have knowledge regarding IT systems to provide the required input for system development.

Role Context

The context of the Job requires a professional experience in medical underwriting as well management skills. Based on experience, the individual will have an underwriting authority limit and is required to underwrite the cases with the authority limits. Cases above the authority limit will be approved by senior underwriter. The job also requires providing technical assistance to the team and related departments. Co-ordination with CMO (Chief Medical Officer) is also part of this job.

Importance is given to efficient communication skills as there may be situations where it is required to talk to customers in case of sensitive issues such as medical findings or cover restriction which the sales may not be equipped with enough knowledge to fully explain and satisfy a customer. The job also requires efficient resolution of sales queries.

Technical expertise is stressed upon as the Job require experience of analysis of complex medical and financial documents, estimation of extra premium to be charged, specific underwriting such as revival and group medical underwriting, understanding of different plans and a basic knowledge of the software used in Underwriting both from technical aspect and user aspect.

Management skills are also required to manage the team in terms of efficiency, quality, supervision, training and staff recruitment. The individual should be practically prepared to work beyond the existing boundaries or rules for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Company.

Desired Candidate Profile

The candidate must be from Life Insurance underwriting only and should be from

Pharmacy/Medicine background :

Minimum Exp-12 years.

Channel handling exp Preferred preferably banks in open architecture , Brokers or web aggregators

Ability to comprehend, analyze and apply vast amounts of medical and financial information quickly to making sound financial underwriting and risk assessments.

Advanced oral and written communication skills demonstrating ability to share and impart knowledge.

Ability to quickly adapt to new methods, work under tight deadlines and stressful conditions.

Advanced investigative, analytical and problem-solving skills.

Must be flexible, creative, self-motivated and ability to work well within a team environment and should be open to travel occasionally

Sound working knowledge of:

1.Insurance principles, underwriting guidelines and product features for dealing with risk analysis.

2.Medicine, law, accounting, and finance as applied to the evaluation of life reinsurance risks and of life insurance risks.