Senior Underwriter (PI & D&O) – Direct & Digital Trading

Senior Underwriter (PI & D&O) – Direct & Digital Trading Manchester

Hybrid Working | Permanent – Great Salary Generous Annual Bonus + Excellent Benefits

Ready to shape the future of underwriting? At Markel, we are transforming how SME insurance is bought, traded and underwritten. We are looking for an ambitious and commercially minded Senior Underwriter to play a pivotal role in this journey. This isn’t a traditional underwriting role – it’s an opportunity to sit at the heart of our Direct business, influencing trading strategy, portfolio performance, product development, digital transformation and future underwriting capability across Markel Direct and Caunce O'Hara.

Markel UK is a specialist insurer serving SMEs across a range of sectors through both broker and direct distribution channels. As part of a financially strong global organisation, we invest heavily in our Direct & Digital proposition as we continue to grow and innovate. Our Direct business combines:

• Digital quote-and-buy journeys
• Expert underwriting support
• Advanced trading capability
• Data-driven decision making
• Emerging AI and automation solutions

This newly created role is strategically important within our Direct & Digital business. You will become the senior underwriting authority for our Professional Indemnity and related management liability propositions while driving trading performance and customer outcomes. You will act as the bridge between Underwriting, Trading, Product, Pricing, Digital & Technology Governance, and you will have genuine influence over how underwriting evolves in a fast‑paced, digitally focused environment.

• Apply senior underwriting authority across Professional Indemnity and SME risks.
• Make referral and underwriting decisions outside standard automated rules.
• Support profitable growth through effective risk selection.
• Drive improvements in quote, conversion and retention performance.
• Monitor portfolio performance and trading results.
• Analyse conversion, acceptance rates, loss ratios and profitability.
• Identify trends, opportunities and emerging risks.
• Provide recommendations to improve trading outcomes.
• Help shape the future of our Direct insurance products and influence underwriting rules, referral pathways and digital journeys.
• Support automation and straight‑through processing initiatives.
• Contribute to AI, technology and digital transformation projects.
• Act as a subject‑matter expert for PI and D&O products.
• Support governance, controls and underwriting standards.
• Provide guidance and technical expertise across the business.

We seek someone with strong technical underwriting expertise who also wants to influence wider business strategy.

• Significant commercial underwriting experience.
• Strong Professional Indemnity (PI) expertise.
• Experience underwriting Directors' & Officers' (D&O) risks.
• Experience operating with underwriting authority.
• Exposure to referral underwriting and technical decision‑making.
• Strong understanding of underwriting governance and controls.
• Portfolio management and performance monitoring experience.
• Excellent customer management and communication skills.

• Direct insurance experience.
• SME commercial insurance knowledge.
• MGA, insurer or commercial broker background.
• Product development exposure.
• Pricing or rating experience.
• Experience working with digital insurance propositions.
• Interest in technology, automation and AI.

You will thrive if you are commercially minded, comfortable balancing risk and opportunity, curious about how technology will shape the future of insurance, interested in influencing strategy beyond underwriting risk, comfortable working in a fast‑moving environment, and keen to make your mark in a newly created role with broader exposure across product, trading, portfolio management and digital innovation.

This role offers something different from a traditional underwriting career. You will have the chance to shape a new role and define its future, work closely with senior leaders, influence trading strategy and portfolio performance, get involved in digital…