Associate (VP) Chief Underwriter, Underwriting Strategy and Governance

📋 Description

• • Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company is seeking a highly experienced and strategic Associate Chief Underwriter (CUW) to lead Underwriting Strategy and Governance. This senior leadership role is pivotal in shaping and executing the company's underwriting philosophy, ensuring robust governance frameworks, and driving consistent, high-quality underwriting outcomes across the enterprise.
• • Reporting directly to the Chief Underwriter, you will act as a key execution partner, translating high-level strategic direction into scalable standards, effective controls, and efficient operational processes. Your primary focus will be on maintaining the integrity of underwriting decisions, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, and achieving sustainable mortality results.
• • A core responsibility of this role is to establish and manage comprehensive governance mechanisms. This includes developing and implementing policy frameworks, defining authority structures, overseeing audit and quality assurance programs, managing vendor relationships, and enabling underwriting modernization efforts. You will be instrumental in identifying and escalating material risks and emerging trends, proactively addressing them to safeguard the company's financial health and reputation.
• • You will play a critical role in translating the Chief Underwriter's vision and strategic priorities into actionable plans, clear standards, and detailed implementation roadmaps that span the entire underwriting function. This involves creating and maintaining an enterprise underwriting governance operating model, complete with defined cadences, forums, documentation protocols, control measures, and clear escalation pathways to ensure decision-making is both consistent and accountable.
• • Managing mortality performance execution will be a key performance indicator. This involves closely monitoring mortality trends, analyzing selection levers, generating performance reports, and proactively escalating any deviations or risks to senior leadership. You will also establish and track enterprise-wide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to underwriting quality, mortality outcomes, vendor performance, training effectiveness, and overall operational health, interpreting these metrics to drive necessary corrective actions.
• • Collaboration is essential in this role. You will partner closely with the Claims department to review contestable claims and analyze claims experience, integrating root-cause insights directly into underwriting governance, standards, and training programs. This feedback loop ensures that underwriting practices evolve based on real-world outcomes.
• • Leading the execution of underwriting quality audit programs is another significant responsibility. This includes conducting thorough case reviews, analyzing outcomes to identify trends, pinpointing gaps in knowledge or process, and identifying opportunities for training and operational improvements. You will then recommend specific actions for endorsement and approval by the Chief Underwriter.
• • You will be responsible for drafting, maintaining, and governing all underwriting procedures and governance documentation. This ensures that underwriting practices are consistent and adhere to established standards, with necessary approvals obtained where required by authority or policy.
• • A crucial aspect of the role involves identifying and resolving systemic impediments that hinder underwriting excellence. Your efforts will focus on enhancing consistency, improving operational efficiency, and ultimately elevating customer outcomes.
• • Vendor management is a significant component of this position. You will oversee and enhance relationships with third-party vendors that support underwriting operations, such as those providing prescription records (Rx), electronic health records (EHR), rules engines, and other evidence/data sources. This includes monitoring Service Level Agreements (SLAs), managing operational performance, assessing return on investment (ROI) and value realization, ensuring compliance, rationalizing usage, and resolving issues, providing recommendations to the Chief Underwriter for strategic adjustments.
• • You will also develop analyses and recommendations concerning reinsurance positioning and governance. This involves considerations for treaty agreements, facultative workflows, and case outcomes, working in partnership with internal stakeholders to inform the Chief Underwriter's decisions.
• • Collaboration with reinsurance partners will be key to ensuring effective treaty application, resolving complex facultative or treaty-related inquiries, and driving process improvements.
• • Operationalizing underwriting modernization initiatives sponsored by the Chief Underwriter will be a primary focus. This entails managing execution planning, coordinating cross-functional dependencies, mitigating risks and issues, driving change adoption, and ensuring successful delivery of outcomes.
• • You will champion the adoption of modern underwriting tools and processes, ensuring their seamless integration into existing workflows and demonstrating measurable improvements in quality, mortality, and operational effectiveness.
• • A forward-thinking approach is required as you will provide executive leadership for the responsible and effective use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics within the underwriting function.
• • This role includes direct people leadership, managing and developing a team of people leaders (3 direct reports). Your responsibilities will encompass coaching, mentoring, performance management, capability building, and succession planning to cultivate a high-performing and engaged team.
• • You will be instrumental in strengthening the overall underwriting capability and consistency across the organization by setting clear expectations, reinforcing governance discipline, and fostering a culture of accountability for achieving desired outcomes.
• • Cross-functional collaboration is paramount. You will work closely with various departments, including Underwriting, New Business, Medical, Actuarial, Product, Inforce Operations, and Compliance, to ensure that underwriting execution aligns perfectly with pricing assumptions, product intent, operational feasibility, service delivery standards, and regulatory expectations.