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're transforming how SME insurance is bought, traded and underwritten. As we continue to evolve our Direct & Digital business, we're looking for an ambitious and commercially minded Senior Underwriter to play a pivotal role in that 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. You'll work directly with senior leaders across Trading, Product, Underwriting and Digital teams to help shape a modern, data-led and technology-enabled underwriting model.

About Us:

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're investing 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

We're building the next generation of direct insurance, and this role will be central to making that happen.

The Opportunity:

This is a newly created and strategically important role within our Direct & Digital business. You'll become the senior underwriting authority supporting our Professional Indemnity and related management liability propositions whilst helping drive trading performance and customer outcomes.

You'll act as the bridge between:

Underwriting Trading Product Pricing Digital  & Technology Governance You 'll have genuine influence over how underwriting evolves within a fast-paced, digitally focused environment. Unlike many underwriting roles, you'll have the opportunity to shape processes, introduce new ideas and contribute to future AI and automation initiatives.

What You'll Be Doing:

Underwriting & Trading 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.

Portfolio Management 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.

Product & Digital Development Help shape the future of our Direct insurance products.

Provide underwriting expertise on new product launches.

Influence underwriting rules, referral pathways and digital journeys.

Support automation and straight-through processing initiatives.

Strategic Projects Contribute to AI, technology and digital transformation projects.

Improve customer journeys and trading effectiveness.

Collaborate with senior partners to evolve the Direct trading model.

Technical Leadership 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.

What We're Looking For:

We're looking for someone who brings strong technical underwriting expertise but also wants to influence wider business strategy.

Essential

Experience:

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.

We'd Love To See:

Direct insurance experience.

SME commercial insurance knowledge.

MGA, insurer or commercial broker background.

Product development exposure.

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