Director, Underwriting Research & Development

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 an Underwriting Director 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, leadership and collaboration with cross‑functional teams comprised of actuaries, operations specialists, data scientists, and developers. The successful candidate will demonstrate proven research and development capabilities, project execution, out‑of‑the‑box thinking, and creative problem‑solving skills.

• Oversee the research, analysis, and development of proposals for 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.
• Provide oversight of relationships with external vendors, partners and technologies that support business capabilities.
• Apply innovative thinking and creative problem‑solving to address complex underwriting challenges.
• Participate in management of mortality and risk monitoring, including post‑implementation and monitoring plans and outcomes.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of underwriting practices and procedures.
• Responsible for leading discussions to communicate recommendations, results and progress to senior leadership.

• Advanced knowledge and experience of underwriting risk assessment – medical, non‑medical, financial.
• Experience with project and tech implementations and owning the translation of business requirements to technology capabilities.
• Highly engaged: able to self‑manage, create solutions, prioritize deliverables 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 and presentation skills, demonstrated through experience working with various technical audiences and across multiple functions such as actuaries, medical, data scientists, operations, legal and compliance teams.
• Mentorship and coaching of developing talent and team members.
• Excellent MS Office Skills, Excel, PowerPoint, 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.

• We’ll…