Senior Underwriting Consultant, Research & Development

Senior Underwriting Consultant

This is a remote role open to any location in continental US

Key to John Hancock's success is maintaining the core competency of underwriting expertise which relies on a strategy of continual enhancements to our proprietary underwriting approaches and keeping current with medical, lifestyle and technological advances that can further advance our underwriting expertise.

We are seeking a Senior Underwriting Consultant, Research & Development, with a history of making sound underwriting decisions, building strong relationships and communicating effectively to join us on our transformation journey to simplify the insurance process for our customers. This role is accountable for providing underwriting subject matter expertise and collaborating with cross-functional teams comprised of actuaries, operations specialists, data scientists, and developers.

The successful candidate will demonstrate proven research and development capabilities, out-of-the-box thinking, and creative problem‑solving skills.

• Research, analyze, and make recommendations on the effectiveness of new data sources and underwriting techniques.
• Collaborate with teams to develop innovative, data‑driven underwriting solutions and capabilities that ensure seamless experience for a broad customer base.
• Support product development work for targeted initiatives.
• Analyze underwriting data through various studies and claims experience if applicable.
• Prioritize project work, focusing on generating the most value for the business.
• Keep abreast of external factors that may affect underwriting (e.g. medical and technical advancements, industry rules, compliance and regulations).
• Keep abreast of competitor actions and industry trends.
• Work with internal stakeholders to recommend and implement underwriting guideline changes.
• Work with external vendors, partners and technologies that support business capabilities.
• Apply innovative thinking and creative problem‑solving to address complex underwriting challenges.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of underwriting practices and procedures.
• Clearly communicate results and progress to senior management.

• Knowledge and experience of underwriting risk assessment — medical, non‑medical, financial.
• Experience with tech implementations, communicating requirements, and testing.
• Highly engaged: able to self‑manage work, problem solve, and execute projects under deadline pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written (technical) communication skills and comfort presenting to senior leaders on technical topics.
• Ability to convey complex underwriting concepts to diverse stakeholders.
• Exceptional collaboration skills, demonstrated through experience working with various technical audiences and across multiple functions such as actuaries, medical, data scientists, operations, legal and compliance teams.
• Excellent MS Office Skills, Excel, Power point, Teams and web tools.
• Undergraduate and/or postgraduate degree in science, medical or related field or minimum of 5–10 years' experience in underwriting and/or research experience.
• FALU / FLMI a plus.
• Ability to work across virtual teams and sites and in open and collaborative work spaces.
• Occasional travel may be required.

• We'll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.
• We'll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well‑being and inclusion are more than just words.
• As part of our global team, we'll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

At Manulife / John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy‑related…