Personal Lines Underwriting Director Strategy Execution

For more than 170 years, The Hanover has been committed to delivering on our promises and being there when it matters the most. We live our values every day, demonstrating we CARE through our values, Sustainability initiatives and inclusive corporate culture.

This is a full time, exempt role.

The Director, PL Underwriting Strategy – Guidelines & Models is a strategic leader responsible for the design, governance, and strategic evolution of underwriting guidelines, rules, decision logic, and rating/underwriting models across Personal Lines. This role translates the company’s risk appetite and growth objectives into clear, executable underwriting strategies that are embedded in systems, tools, and frontline decision-making.

This leader partners closely with Analytics, Product, IT, and Underwriting Operations to ensure underwriting intent is precisely articulated, analytically supported, and consistently deployed  role manages a team of strategy professionals and plays a critical role in modernizing underwriting through data, automation, and advanced analytics.

• Own the end-to-end underwriting guidelines strategy for Personal Lines, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with enterprise risk appetite and portfolio objectives
• Lead the development, governance, and evolution of underwriting rules, decision trees, and eligibility frameworks across channels and products
• Define the strategic roadmap for underwriting models, including risk segmentation, pricing support, and decision automation in partnership with Analytics and Actuarial
• Translate complex analytic outputs into actionable underwriting guidance suitable for both automated and human decisioning
• Establish and maintain strong governance frameworks to ensure guideline changes, model updates, and rule deployments are controlled, documented, and auditable
• Drive underwriting modernization initiatives, including increased automation, straight-through processing, and model-driven decisioning
• Partner with IT and Delivery teams to ensure underwriting strategies are accurately implemented in systems and monitored post-deployment
• Develop robust monitoring and feedback loops to assess guideline and model performance, identify issues, and recommend enhancements
• Produce executive-ready materials explaining underwriting logic, tradeoffs, and impacts in a clear and compelling manner
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of strategy professionals; set expectations, provide coaching, and manage performance
• Represent underwriting strategy in senior leadership forums and cross‑functional design decisions

• Underwriting & Decision Science Expertise – Deep understanding of underwriting guidelines, decision frameworks, and the practical application of predictive models
• Strategic Translation – Ability to convert abstract risk appetite and analytic insight into executable underwriting rules and guidance
• Analytical Fluency – Comfort partnering with data science, actuarial, and analytics teams; able to challenge and interpret model outputs
• Operational Mindset – Understands system constraints, frontline usability, and the realities of deploying strategy at scale
• Change Leadership – Proven ability to lead teams through significant change in tools, processes, and ways of working
• People Leadership – Demonstrated success as a people manager, including talent development and performance management
• Executive Communication – Ability to explain complex underwriting and modeling concepts succinctly to senior leaders

• 7+ years of relevant work experience and 3+ years of proven experience leading cross functional teams