Vice President, Commercial Product and Underwriting

Job Title

Vice President, Commercial Product and Underwriting - Remote

Location

Arizona - Home Teleworkers

Additional Locations

Job Information

We're Mobilitas, a commercial insurance company created by CSAA Insurance Group. Our mission is to reinvent commercial insurance in the mobility space by providing technologically advanced solutions for today’s way of doing business. At Mobilitas, we believe in what's possible and we use our inventive skills to meet the demands of modern mobility with tailored solutions. We’re looking for motivated, innovative individuals who think big, move fast and are dedicated to creating a company from the ground up, without the constraints of a traditional insurance company. We’re excited to push the boundaries of commercial insurance and are looking for enthusiastic team members to help us reimagine insurance. We are actively hiring for a Vice President, Commercial Product and Underwriting.  

Your Role:

The Vice President of Commercial Product and Underwriting for Mobilitas, a CSAA company, is a critical position that ensures our products, pricing and underwriting are designed to be profitable and to attract and retain clients who align with our strategy and meet our risk appetite. This role is accountable for the strategy, development, structuring and deployment and underwriting of current and future commercial lines products. The ideal candidate is responsible for ensuring consistent target profitability and pricing in partnership with Actuarial. Success is not defined solely by financial metrics but also includes the operational performance of the product, the effectiveness of the team, and their engagement with internal and external partners. This individual must demonstrate the ability to lead and serve in a matrixed model, with critical collaboration across functional disciplines and departments. Effective communication up to the Board level is also essential. Key interactions include those with Underwriting Committee, Executive Leadership Team, Strategy and Innovation, Actuarial, State Management, Customer Experience, Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, Claims, Legal, Business Architecture, Project Management, and IT.

The ideal candidate for this role also needs to have a growth mindset, as it is essential for respecting all aspects of the position, the function, the commercial team, and the wider enterprise. Additionally, a growth mindset is crucial for effectively soliciting and winning new, expanded, and renewal business. The selected individual will optimize growth opportunities while responsibly managing expected profitability, volatility, and tail risk.

Your work:

• Accountable for leading the strategy, development, and deployment of current and future commercial lines products. Products should address the customer’s needs and preferences, utilize sophisticated pricing and underwriting methods.

• Responsible for consideration of underwriting risk, pricing levels, credit risk, etc.  Products/accounts should be priced to achieve expected profitability and to manage downside risk and protect the firm from outsized, preventable losses.  

• Accountable to tailor coverage to both meet client needs and to protect the enterprise from risks that it doesn’t want to insure or that represent outsize risks.  

• Responsible for leading the development of the commercial product strategy which includes close partnership with other executives, within the commercial division and across the enterprise.  

• Elevate the team to continuously design, develop, and deploy enhanced versions of existing commercial products, as well as new products. Enhancements should focus not only on traditional product performance measures but also Underwriting, Service, Technology, Claims, and other operational areas impacted by the product’s design.

• Closely collaborate with Customer Experience, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships in continually seeking to understand customer preferences and competitive marketplace dynamics to develop product features and delivery methods relevant to the customers of the future.

• Develops, communicates, and executes overall product and underwriting strategy through two-way leadership with all enterprise stakeholders (corporate strategy and innovation, marketing, risk management, distribution, legal, etc.)

• Lead the team responsible for evaluating both start-up and existing accounts

• Monitor the evolution of the mobility sector in the sharing economy, investing in broker relationships in partnership with the business development and strategic partnership executives, and collaborating with them in developing innovative insurance solutions that meet the needs of new and emerging exposures.

• Develop, communicate and execute commercial product and underwriting strategy through two-way leadership and influence with all enterprise stakeholders. 

• Lead a team to successfully work with Claims, Actuarial, IT, forms, filings, compliance and project management to implement product changes via changes to rates, rating algorithms, creative pricing approaches, product rules, pricing contracts, risk-sharing models, and underwriting guidelines to effectively achieve our financial performance targets. 

• Accountable for underwriting profitability of existing businesses, including the performance of rating algorithms, analysis of claims trends, driver risk profiles, mobile and sharing economy trends, and other attributes related to achieving target profitability. 

• Review and analyze business financials, risk controls, employee training, procedures, market dynamics, and other pertinent underwriting information.

• Accountable for delivering appropriate account pricing based on risk attributes, while attracting and retaining desired business, product, and state mix, and helping achieve overall program profitability targets.

• Charged with the ongoing development of underwriting guidelines; monitoring their effectiveness, and constantly ensuring the book of business consists only of eligible risks.

• Accountable for designing, implementing, and continuously improving underwriting tools, processes and procedures to ensure both excellent efficiency and high-quality outcomes. 

• Partner with Actuarial on appropriate account pricing based on risk attributes and product design, in order to attract and retain desired business and product mix, and help achieve overall program profitability targets.

• Monitor competitor activities and contributing to continuous evaluation and enhancement of product and service offerings.

• Hire and develop a high-performing, highly engaged team. Ensure product expertise among direct reports and be responsible for product training throughout the company.

• Key stakeholders include the ELT, Strategy, and Innovation, Customer Experience, Business Development and Distribution, Strategic Partnerships, Claims, Legal, Business Architecture, Project Management, and IT. Though pricing responsibility is with the actuarial group, this executive is expected to play a leadership role in influencing the pricing decisions and appropriately managing the product to achieve profitability and growth targets.

Required Experience, Education and Skills

• Successful tenure of 5 or more years in a similar executive-level role with verifiable results highly preferred.

• 7 years progressively more responsible assignments within the insurance industry.

• Proven ability to lead others directly or indirectly, as demonstrated through 5+ years of leading teams, enterprise-wide programs, or large cross-functional programs with at least 2 of those years directly managing others. 

• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or of Science (B.S.)

• Expert at product strategy and development for large commercial lines products, include pricing approaches, risk structures, use of third-party data, and predictive analytics

• Thorough mastery of large commercial casualty (especially auto) products, including product structures, underwriting approaches, rating algorithms, and pricing models.

• Demonstrates large commercial insurance expertise necessary to be successful in meeting client needs, including knowledge of primary insurance, excess insurance, ceded and assumed reinsurance, ceding commissions, large deductibles, matching deductibles, third-party claims administrators, MGAs/MGUs, fronting programs, credit risk, policy language, manuscript endorsements to tailor, grant, restrict, or eliminate coverage, etc.  

• Thorough mastery of commercial lines forms, coverage, product rules, rating algorithms, risk-sharing models, and pricing models  

• Outstanding leadership skills; ability to inspire others with a clear vision of the future state and roadmap to achieve it

• Business development and growth mindset

• Deep knowledge of the P&C industry, competitors, insurance product pricing, and financial drivers of profitability; comprehensive understanding of legislative and Department of Insurance regulations

• Strong relationship, negotiation, influencing and persuasive skills

• Collaboration and teamwork with other functions at the executive and management level

• Well-developed oral and written communication skills; comfortable speaking in front of large and small groups

• Proven ability to run enterprise projects related to new products or product refreshes

What would make us excited about you? 

• Master’s degree or actuarial designation

• Ability to create a collaborative, inclusive and psychologically safe environment, demonstrating authenticity and fostering trust to inspire and empower team members and colleagues

• Actively shapes our company culture through words and actions (e.g., sponsoring an employee resource group, mentoring employees, volunteering, joining cross-functional committee / team, encouraging team member involvement in these activities)

• Models our Core Beliefs and champions our cultural norms (e.g., willing to have cameras when it matters: interviewing candidates, building relationships with team members, etc.)

• Delivers our strategy through an enterprise lens, staying informed of key enterprise initiatives, industry trends, and business results

• Demonstrates a company ownership mindset, thinking beyond boundaries of their own area

• Travels as needed for role, including enterprise meetings, divisional / team meetings, representing the company at industry events, and other in-person meetings

• Fulfills business needs, which may include investing extra time, helping other teams, etc

 CSAA IG Careers   

At CSAA IG, we’re proudly devoted to protecting our customers, our employees, our communities, and the world at large. We are on a climate journey to continue to do better for our people, our business, and our planet. Taking bold action and leading by example. We are citizens for a changing world, and we continually change to meet it.  

Join us if you… 

• BELIEVE in a mission focused on building a community of service, rooted in inclusion and belonging. 

• COMMIT to being there for our customers and employees. 

• CREATE a sense of purpose that serves the greater good through innovation.   

Recognition: We offer a total compensation package, performance bonus, 401(k) with a company match, and so much more!  Read more about what we offer and what it is like to be a part of our dynamic team at https://careers.csaa-insurance.aaa.com/us/en/benefits 

In most cases, you will have the opportunity to choose your preferred working location from the following options when you join CSAA IG: remote, hybrid, or in-person. Submit your application to be considered. We communicate via email, so check your inbox and/or your spam folder to ensure you don’t miss important updates from us.

If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact TalentAcquisition@csaa.com.  

As part of our values, we are committed to supporting inclusion and diversity at CSAA IG. We actively celebrate colleagues’ different abilities, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and gender. Everyone is welcome and supported in their development at all stages in their journey with us. 

We are always recruiting, retaining, and promoting a diverse mix of colleagues who are representative of the U.S. workforce. The diversity of our team fosters a broad range of ideas and enables us to design and deliver a wide array of products to meet customers’ evolving needs. 

CSAA Insurance Group is an equal opportunity employer.   

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