Commercial Surety Underwriter and Training Lead

Say Yes to the Best Career Opportunities

Merchants Bonding Company™ is hiring professionals who value clarity, collaboration, and opportunities to make an impact. Our team is growing, and we’re looking for people who thrive in a fast-moving environment built on common sense underwriting and first‑class experiences. If you're ready for the next step in your career with a team that says yes to the best, this is your opportunity.

The Commercial UW and Training Lead trains and coaches new underwriters on how to evaluate and underwrite commercial surety bonds submitted to the company within company parameters and guidelines. This role includes guidance in day‑to‑day workflow, marketing and agent meetings. It will involve coordinating training for newer underwriters including teaching classes, creating training plans, and assigning personnel to training sessions to ensure the trainees are fully prepared.

The position will lead and or coordinate a variety of training sessions involving Merchants Webinar programs, Underwriting Meetings, and Merchants University associate and new hire plans. The UW will be responsible for communicating and coordinating new processes and features in workflow, software, or other underwriting changes. This position is also assigned as the underwriter of a limited number of agencies, which includes the responsibilities of making agency visits and meeting personally with assigned agents to maintain and grow relationships.

This role analyzes bond applications, financial statements, legal documents, indemnity agreements, statutes, bond forms and other pertinent data to determine risk and approve commercial surety bonds.

Underwriting Corporate Team Support: (20%)

• Provides any underwriting team with underwriting assistance as requested and as time allows between other training duties.
• Consults with and advises less experienced underwriters in order to increase their judgment and analysis capabilities.
• Maintains or adds to the Underwriting guideline.

Training & Development: (40%)

• Designs and manages internal training programs.
• Assists with new trainee and intern training schedule, which may include any of the following: setting up training schedules, coordinating mock sales sessions and graduation of training program evaluations.
• Coordinates or leads selected training topics, agenda and facilitation for Annual Underwriting meetings, monthly underwriter meetings, or special events.
• Manages web‑based internal training program involving development of topics, assessing effectiveness and progress of trainee.
• Coaches and develops other underwriters to grow their quality of underwriting.
• Assesses training gaps in the commercial department and identifies solutions including, but not limited to, new product training, compliance training or training on new policies or procedures within the company.

Underwriting Analysis & Documentation: (25%)

• Maintains agency account relationships in designated territory.
• Determines the acceptability of surety risks, based on the Merchant’s guidelines and marketing strategy. Operates within the authority established by the Senior Vice President of Commercial.
• Reviews new submissions and analyzes financial statements, applications, court documents, bond forms, statutes, and indemnity agreements to determine the commercial surety risk and then approves or denies the bond based on the risk analysis up to the authority granted.

Production Development and Agency Management: (10%)

• Solicits commercial bond business by creating and maintaining relationships with agencies within assigned territory.
• Develops and maintains agency relationships through the use of an effective combination of personal visits, phone calls, emails and marketing materials and promotional tools.

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, underwriting, insurance or related field or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of progressive commercial bond underwriting experience including territory management.

At Merchants, we value balancing the needs of our associates and their families. We offer a wide range of benefits designed to help…