Underwriting & Actuarial Lead

Volkswagen Financial Services, a wholly‑owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, is the trusted partner in mobility for its brand partners. We support the Audi, Ducati, and Volkswagen brands and their dealers, specializing in providing accessible mobility solutions for customers through retail leasing, retail financing, commercial financing for new and used vehicles, and end‑of‑term vehicle disposition.

Career Level & Role Classification

Career Level 20P+, located in Reston, VA, with a Hybrid role classification.

Role Summary

The Underwriting & Actuarial Manager plays a pivotal role in shaping the insurance portfolio through expert risk assessment, pricing strategy, and financial modeling. This position blends deep actuarial knowledge with hands‑on underwriting leadership to ensure sound decision‑making and profitability across insurance products. The role requires a strategic thinker with strong analytical skills, deep insurance knowledge, and the ability to lead cross‑functional teams in a dynamic environment.

Underwriting

Responsibilities (40%)

• Evaluate complex insurance applications to determine risk levels and coverage eligibility.
• Develop and implement underwriting guidelines and procedures to ensure consistency and compliance.
• Review and approve high‑value or non‑standard policies, often requiring nuanced judgment and negotiation.
• Collaborate with brokers, agents, and clients to clarify application details and negotiate terms.
• Ensure regulatory compliance with insurance laws and internal standards.

Actuarial & Analytical Duties (40%)

• Support the implementation of IFRS 17 for the insurance products.
• Understand and provide effective challenge on pricing and reserve calculation for auto insurance products.
• Collaborate with the Risk Management Planning and Reporting Group, accounting, and senior management to establish adequate loss provisions.
• Engage with CFO, VP of Finance, Chief Risk Officer, accounting, risk management, brand executives, and external auditors to gain acceptance of loss and reserve forecasts and provide technical support to auditors for successful audit close.
• Extract data from the data warehouse for insurance products and perform analysis on upcoming issues and trends.
• Provide all actuarial inputs for income recognition for actual and forecast models.
• Deliver regular updates on loss curves vs. priced; perform comparison of actual to priced loss ratios.

Leadership & Strategic Oversight (20%)

• Lead and mentor a team of underwriters and analysts, providing training and performance feedback.
• Set strategic direction for underwriting and risk management aligned with company goals.
• Implement process improvements to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and turnaround times.

Qualification Requirements

• 10+ years minimum, strong background in insurance underwriting and actuarial science preferred.
• At least 5 years working as an actuary in the insurance industry and holding an ACAS designation.
• Desired: 3 years working in auto insurance industry with knowledge of auto insurance products.
• Minimal travel – 5%.
• Flexibility to work remotely on an as‑needed basis.

Required Education

Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative discipline: statistics, mathematics, economics, operations research.

Desired Education

• Master’s degree in a related field.
• Professional certifications such as CPCU, FCAS, or ASA.

Required Skills

• Support a robust pricing and/or reserving review process for insurance business, including standard actuarial techniques and advanced modeling.
• Proficiency in data analysis tools, underwriting software, and statistical packages.
• Develop insights and communicate them to actuarial management and senior leadership.
• Work collaboratively as part of the broader pricing and/or reserving process.
• Develop and communicate business analytics to senior leadership.
• Foster innovation within the team and across the broader organization.

Desired Skills

• Ability to build models using open‑source software (e.g., R, Python); distributed statistical computing experience preferred.
• Personal or commercial auto insurance experience.
• Excellent Excel skills and strong with SQL.
• Experience mentoring and/or directing junior team members.

Additional Skills

• Lead…