Manager, Commercial Underwriting

**Manager, Commercial Underwriting**:
Job ID : 6183
Category : Commercial Insurance
Brand : Definity
Regular/Temporary : Regular
Fulltime/Parttime : Full Time
Location : Ottawa, Canada

Definity includes some of Canada’s most long-standing and innovative insurance brands, including Economical Insurance, Sonnet Insurance, Family Insurance Solutions, and Petline Insurance. With strong roots that date back to 1871, we’ve grown to become a digital leader in the insurance industry. We’re proud to help our clients and communities adapt and thrive in a world of constant change.

Our promise to you: It’s better here. Why? Because we CARE, and we provide an employee experience that’s collaborative, ambitious, rewarding, and empowering.

Our ambition is to be one of Canada’s leading and most innovative P&C insurers. Come be a part of our journey, and love what you do.

Starting in September, Definity employees move to a hybrid work model so we can collaborate, build mentoring relationships, and solve complex or cross-functional business opportunities together. Our teams work in whichever environment best supports what they're working on and who they're working with. We're actively reinventing our offices as welcoming workspaces that optimize collaboration and empower leaders to use our space to strengthen team dynamics. Our tools and processes seamlessly connect employees from multiple locations, and our culture encourages respectful engagement and flexibility. Leaders work with their teams to determine the right balance of on-site and remote work that best meets the needs of their team, cross-functional engagement, responsibilities and timelines, plus those of our customers, our broker partners, and the company culture.

**What can you expect in this role?**
- Drive the profitable growth of Definity's commercial auto and property insurance business in the region.
- Lead a team of underwriters in selecting mid to large market auto and property risks that generate an underwriting profit.
- Maintain a profitable mid-market commercial insurance portfolio.
- Achieving profitable growth targets within the Ontario Region.
- You’ll support the Regional Commercial Manager in effectively communicating and successfully implementing Commercial Insurance strategy for mid-market and large market underwriting.
- You’ll develop, coach/mentor and manage the performance of Direct Reports, including identification of areas where performance improvement plans are needed to ensure achievement of business, functional and individual productivity levels, profitability targets, service level agreements, and KPIs.
- Ensure adherence to corporate underwriting and quality control initiatives to ensure the achievement of Return-on-Equity targets.
- You’ll help build a culture of high performance and sustained profitable growth by promoting and supporting an environment that encourages productivity, collaboration, teamwork, and a high level of professionalism.
- You’ll ensure that your team is compliant with federal and provincial regulations as related to Auto and Property Insurance.
- You’ll collaborate with the Vice President, and the Business Development team to define and execute a regional broker relationship management strategy to drive profitable and sustainable growth of the commercial insurance portfolio within the Region.
- You’ll support direct reports in building and managing relationships with assigned brokers and the broader broker network within the region.

**What do you bring to the role?**
- University degree in any discipline or two year College diploma in a relevant discipline or CIP designation.
- 5-10 years of Commercial Underwriting experience, including 3-5 years of proven leadership experience in managing teams of Underwriters in the Commercial Insurance Industry (Property, Construction, Fleet & Cargo)
- CIP designation, or a commitment to completing the CIP is required
- Exceptional customer service, verbal and written communication skills
- Strong management and leadership skills with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships with business partners and Brokers
- Leadership experience in guiding a team through sustained organizational change
- Strong ability to influence and effectively negotiate with stakeholders
- Open to conduct business travel to visit key clients within the GTA and Kitchener/Waterloo Region

**Go ahead and expect a lot — you deserve it, and we’ve got it**:

- Hybrid work schedule for most roles
- Company share ownership program
- Pension and savings programs, with company-matched RRSP contributions
- Paid volunteer days and company matching on charitable donations
- Educational resources, tuition assistance, and paid time off to study for exams
- Focus on inclusion with employee groups, support for gender affirmation surgery, access to BIPOC counsellors, access to programs for working parents
- Wellness and recognition programs
- Discounts on products an