AVP, Chief Underwriter

Company: Co-operators Life Insurance Company
Department: Underwriting
Employment Type: Regular Full-Time
Work Model: Remote
Language: This role operates in English.

The Opportunity:

We are a leading Canadian financial services co-operative committed to being a catalyst for a sustainable and resilient society and our team is essential to deliver on this strategy. That's why we prioritize our people, to ensure we provide a strong culture and development opportunities which enables our team to thrive and to live our purpose. The best part is that you will work with people that care passionately about you, our clients, and our communities.

Our Individual Insurance, Individual Wealth Management, and Group Retirement & Savings teams deliver products and services that provide financial security to Canadians. Along with our distribution partners, we help our clients with some of their most important needs: protecting their families' lifestyle in the event of a death, disability or illness; reaching their saving goals; and building a secure and comfortable retirement. We operate with a high level of trust, integrity, and inclusivity to produce positive impacts for all our stakeholders.

The Associate Vice President (AVP), Chief Underwriter plays an integral role in leading the underwriting function for Co-operators Life. They are responsible for providing strategic risk management leadership to establish effective medical underwriting guidelines, processes, and a philosophy on decision-making approaches across our various lines of business, including Individual Insurance, Group Benefits, and Creditor Insurance. They will utilize their enthusiasm and dedication to ensure excellence in medical underwriting, balancing risk management with growth objectives. The AVP, Chief Underwriter will provide visionary leadership and coaching to guide the teams and will be accountable for the operational aspects of Individual Life & Health Insurance underwriting and Group Benefits medical underwriting, including risk management, audits, quality controls, and training/education.

How you will create impact:

• Providing strategic vision, contributing to plans, and holding accountabilities for medical underwriting risk management, including Life Insurance and Living Benefits underwriting guidelines and policies, underwriting analytics, compliance (i.e., OSFI, FINTRAC, Privacy), claims analysis, procedures and processes for operations.
• Developing, updating, and maintaining underwriting guidelines in accordance with the underwriting policy and company risk appetite. Negotiating with reinsurers on guideline changes.
• Overseeing the building and maintaining of predictive models for underwriting risk.
• Managing the process that develops underwriting policies, procedures and guidelines.
• Interpreting claims analysis on the effectiveness of underwriting and partnering with Claims leadership team on final actions for claims misrepresentation and fraud.
• Providing senior leadership guidance for the underwriting management team. Ensuring underwriting rules are developed, updated and maintained properly, and processes support sales enablement and the nuances of litigation, legislative, and change management to achieve business targeted outcomes.
• Collaborating with sales leaders to understand needs and opportunities across all distribution channels, analyzing underwriting and business practices at competitor companies, and updating rules and guidelines balanced to risk appetite and competitiveness.
• Actively supporting teams to achieve desired outcomes. Contributing to escalated issue resolutions, assessing workflows, monitoring vendor SLAs and quality standards, and guiding and coaching to support the achievement of desired results.
• Leading and engagingyour team to deliver strategic objectives through effective coaching and mentoring, identifying and developing emerging talent, and fostering an innovative, collaborative, and agile culture.

How you will succeed:

• You initiate new strategies to capitalize on opportunities and lead the implementation of organizational change.
• You integrate complex information to identify solutions or solve problems and apply a strategic mindset to adjust business plans.
• You foster innovation and continuous improvement with a focus on client experience.
• You create a high-performance culture through alignment of your team's work with organizational goals and successfully convey messages with a sense of positive advocacy.
• You develop others to ensure the evolving needs of the organization will be met and build effective relationships to achieve key business objectives.

To join our team:

• You have 10+ years of progressive related experience, including multiple years of experience specific to medical underwriting, as well as management experience.
• You hold a post-secondary degree in Business or a related field of study.
• You hold a FALU certification. Holding any of the following is an asset: LOMA, FLMI, CLU.
• You have an in-depth understanding of medical underwriting, basic knowledge of actuarial pricing concepts, and extensive insurance industry knowledge.
• You have the financial and business acumen to understand reinsurance treaties, market conditions, analytics, and underwriting decision impacts on distribution partners, including MGA and Multi-Line Exclusive Agency channels.
• You have complex stakeholder collaboration skills and are experienced in successfully developing and maintaining relationships across teams and with reinsurers and/or regulators.
• You are an experienced leader of teams, skilled in leading teams to deliver and operate innovatively in an engaged environment.

What you need to know:

• You will travel occasionally.
• This role involves direct contact with clients and/or service providers in their environment.
• As a leader, strict confidentiality is required with respect to sensitive matters and employees' personal information.
• You will be subject to a Criminal Record and Consumer History background check as a condition of employment, in the event you are the successful candidate.
• Proficiency in English is essential to the main duties in this role, including servicing and communicating primarily with majority non-francophone stakeholders, drafting complex English documents and preparing daily reports for anglophone leaders. The essential non-French duties are not assignable to adjacent or other team members.

What's in it for you?

• Training and development opportunities to grow your career.
• Flexible work options and paid time off to support your personal and family needs.
• A holistic approach to your well-being, with physical and mental health programs and a supportive workplace culture.
• Paid volunteer days to give back to your community.
• In addition to our competitive salary and incentive programs, eligible employees also benefit from a comprehensive total rewards package including group retirement savings plans, pension and benefits (e.g., health and wellness, dental, disability and life coverage), mental health support and an employee assistance program.

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