Director, Portfolio Management

Location:

Waltham, MA (hybrid) ERGO NEXT's mission is to help entrepreneurs thrive. We’re doing that by building the only technology‑led, full‑stack provider of small business insurance in the industry, taking on the entire value chain and transforming the customer experience. Simply put, wherever you find small businesses, you’ll find ERGO NEXT. Since 2016, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of small business customers across the United States get fast, customized and affordable coverage.

We’re backed by industry leaders in insurance and tech, and we still have room to grow — that’s where you come in. ERGO NEXT is looking for a high‑caliber commercial insurance professional that will be dedicated to informing and aligning execution against ERGO NEXT’s loss ratio goals. This individual will be tasked with developing, maintaining, and aligning company wide execution on a roadmap that will lead NEXT to meeting its loss ratio targets.

Operating under a joint accountability model, this role is the technical and diagnostic counterweight to Insurance Product Management (IPM). You will serve as a strategic partner to IPM, shining a light on portfolio health and prospective dynamics to ensure growth initiatives are balanced against bottom line considerations. This person will collaborate closely with actuarial, insurance product management, finance, claims, and ERGO global teams in order to achieve execution against the profitability roadmap.

This is a high visibility,high impact role that will be a lynchpin in ERGO NEXT achieving its bottom line objectives.

In partnership with the VP and Chief Actuary, develop a strategic profitability roadmap and inform and align execution across Product, Claims, Sales Channels, and Actuarial Pricing. Manage the portfolio dynamically with IPM, ensuring growth plans and loss ratio trends are anticipated, modeled, and owned together prospectively rather than audited after the fact Develop a holistic organizational perspective on drivers of profitability and use this to proactively identify and break down bottlenecks to achieving profitability goals.

Leverage actuarial profitability, underwriting quality, and other portfolio management metrics that make the strategic roadmap data driven and grounded in the business. Proactively flag concerns and co‑lead the escalation path with VP actuarial and VP IPM to resolve core strategic or risk disagreements Use high EQ to build relationships with stakeholders and apply indirect influence in ambiguous situations, in order to push forward profitability roadmap objectives.

Clearly communicate status, risks, and opportunities related to the strategic roadmap to both ERGO NEXT and ERGO corporate executive teams.

12+ Years experience working in P&C insurance in underwriting management, state management, product management, or actuarial functions. Top to bottom understanding of underwriting strategy across appetite, guidelines, rules, and quality measurement. Ability to drive critical initiatives to completion, leveraging a chief of staff mindset to lead through indirect influence. Financial literacy as it relates to P&C insurance metrics such as loss ratios and earned premiums.

Understanding of insurance portfolio dynamics, such as accumulation risk, growth/profitability trade offs, impacts of UW guidelines and how they translate into individual risk decisions. Exceptional executive communication skills, and the ability to explain complex topics in a simple and understandable way.

Experience with bottom line accountability of an P&C insurance portfolio, such as a territory, line of business, or insurance program. Actuarial credentials such as FCAS or ACAS, or underwriting credentials such as CPCU a plus. Experience with evaluating the quality of automated underwriting systems and optimizing their quality and accuracy. An AI forward mindset. Proactively leverages AI and cutting edge technology to evaluate data and support strategic plan development.

An enterprise influencer. Builds deep credibility across the organization by gaining trust and buy‑in across all levels of the business…