Vice President, Excess Casualty, Select, Division Manager

Vice President, Excess Casualty, Preferred Select, Division Manager

This role is a hybrid working position ideally based in the greater New York/New Jersey area. We will consider a remote US location for appropriately qualified candidates.

Reporting to the Chief Underwriting Officer, the initial responsibility for this hands-on leader is to build out Hamilton's expansion strategy for Excess Casualty beyond our current hard-to-place SME focus. This role creates a unique opportunity for a self-driven, motivated leader to stand up an adjacent product offering within an established, well-resourced organization.

Why this role / why now:
Hamilton Select is investing in the next phase of our Excess Casualty platform. This newly created leadership role offers the opportunity to shape the product, strategy, appetite, and go-to-market while leveraging Hamilton's strong balance sheet, technology capabilities, and established wholesale distribution. The successful candidate will have high visibility with senior leadership and a meaningful runway to build a differentiated, profitable book and team.

This role will focus on Excess & Surplus (E&S) placements for lead umbrella and excess over General Liability, Products Liability, Liquor Liability, Auto Liability, Employer's Liability, Employee Benefits Liability, Hired & Non-Owned Auto, and other coverages for small to medium-sized entities and lower middle market risks.

The successful candidate will build out Hamilton Select's Excess Casualty offering and, in collaboration with internal colleagues, establish the underwriting strategy, appetite, and execution aligned to Hamilton's expansion aspirations. This includes developing and maintaining underwriting guidelines, rating and coverage approach, and coverage forms, as well as building and leading a high-performing team. This role will include occasional business travel.

What you will do

• Lead the launch of Hamilton Excess Casualty Preferred Select expansion, including development and ongoing maintenance of underwriting guidelines, rating, coverage forms and endorsements, and submission/application requirements
• Responsible for the overall portfolio management, performance and underwriting profitability of the portfolio.
• Demonstrate strong cycle management in shaping and directing of the portfolio
• Attract, develop, coach, mentor, retain world class underwriting talent
• Represent Hamilton Select in the marketplace and actively support broker engagement and distribution strategy for Excess Casualty
• Partner with the Technology team to enhance quote/bind workflows, data capture, and analytics to improve ease of doing business and support profitable growth
• Drive the general use of technology to produce superior profit and establish an ease-of-doing business reputation with our appointed trading partners
• Establish and monitor key performance metrics to ensure strong underwriting and operating effectiveness
• Collaborate with internal partners to implement scalable processes and controls that maximize efficiency and underwriting quality
• Maintain underwriting standards and discipline to deliver profitable results
• Support placement of targeted reinsurance in support of the Excess Casualty division
• Develop and maintain senior-level broker relationships to drive sustainable growth
• Ensure team compliance with underwriting authorities and applicable state rules and regulations
• Negotiate coverage terms, pricing, and conditions using sound judgment and critical thinking

What you require for the role

Key Attributes

• An established underwriter or manager with eight or more years underwriting experience handling Excess Casualty lines
• Strong technical knowledge of Excess Casualty exposures and coverage, with the ability to develop talent and mentor the team as the book grows
• Understands and is comfortable developing and leading a strategy focused on smaller, niche risks while scaling into lower middle market opportunities
• Proven track record of generating new leads, applying sound judgment across a broad range of opportunities, and building a substantial portfolio from a small base
• Ability to leverage existing relationships and develop new broker partnerships
• Appreciation of both the subjective and objective aspects to underwriting risk and a willingness to justify decision-making processes at the highest levels in the organization
• A broad understanding of market trends and nuances
• Proven ability to generate an underwriting profit
• Integrity in all internal and external relationships
• A shared focus on expense management and managing the overall business operations to maximize shareholder returns
• Uses data and facts to inform decisions

Other Personal Attributes:

• Motivated, self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with strong decision-making capability
• Professional, insightful, and confident when managing varying stakeholders
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to plan ahead
• Keen attention to detail, highly analytical and…