At AXA Commercial, we support our business customers, large and small, by making it easy for them to do business with us in the way that suits them. Whether they insure with us via brokers, directly on the phone or online through comparison sites, we've got them covered.
Reporting into the Head of SME Underwriting, you’ll lead and manage the operational underwriting function in the SME Property and Casualty business as a part of a duo underwriting management team. You’ll apply underwriting, pricing strategy, and policies, to build technical excellence and strong portfolio management to deliver profit and growth and have a strong focus on customer, broker, portfolio analysis and governance with experience in Property and Casualty underwriting.
What you’ll be doing:
* Deliver planned underwriting result through underwriting account management (revenue & product), financial planning, and portfolio analysis of underwriting trends.
* Take responsibility for profitability, underwriting governance and control of all Property and Casualty business traded in the SME Business Unit.
* Demonstrate loss ratio control by effectively implementing and monitoring underwriting controls.
* Implement and influence underwriting philosophy and strategy to achieve financial objectives.
* Build a reputation as an underwriting expert and continue to build confidence in SME Business Unit’s capability and delivery.
* Support the technical decision making for new and current deals that include Property and Casualty, to ensure delivery of combined operating ratio requirements.
* Act as a referral point and decision maker on all technical and trading issues to deliver technical excellence.
* Embrace and deliver the change programme, and adopt changes, particularly system and process led.
What’s in it for you:
* We’ll equip you with the technical skills for tomorrow: It’s our job to support you in becoming an expert who has ownership over their work. We want you to be confident that you can make an impact by helping our customers. We ask ourselves what we can do today that will help us in the future. That’s why we offer continuous development to help our colleagues become experts in tomorrow.
* Build a career that’s as dynamic as the market you work in: We’re on a journey of transformation, so we’re investing in new technology that enables us to help our people and businesses thrive.
* Shape your career one decision at a time: We’ll support you to progress through the business and are committed to developing talent. We do this with training and tailored development plans.
At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them, their team, and our customers. You'll work at least 40% of your week away from home, moving to the majority of your working week from September 2025. Away from home means either attendance at one of our office locations, visiting clients or attending industry events.
Due to the number of applications we expect to receive for this role, we reserve the right to close this advert earlier than the listed closing date to ensure we’re able to effectively manage interest. Therefore, if you’re interested in joining us at AXA, please don’t hesitate to apply.
What you’ll bring:
* Keep an open mind: Keen to learn and challenge the status quo, able to approach tasks from different perspectives while focusing on helping colleagues and customers.
* Stay curious: You’ll be perceptive of what our customers and the market want, and bring that knowledge into your work, whilst making the most of AXA’s development opportunities.
* Be a team player: Able to use your unique skills and knowledge to collaborate with your colleagues, take accountability and discover new ways of doing things.
* ACII qualification or progress towards.
* Proven experience and ability to lead and motivate underwriting teams.
* Previous experience of working at a senior level within a commercial insurance environment.
* Excellent relationship management skills and experience of building successful long-term relationships both internal and external.
* Pragmatic decision making with good analytical and numerical reasoning skills.
Strong long and short-term planning and analytical skills with proven experience of both operational and strategic planning in previous roles.
* Proven experience in decision making on a wide range of technical underwriting scenarios, including large case and portfolio management, within a commercial environment.
* Strong level of technical underwriting expertise in a commercial property and casualty environment.
* Demonstrable understanding profitability of business within the intermediary channel.
As a precondition of employment for this role, you must be eligible and authorised to work in the United Kingdom.
This position has been defined as an Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) role under the IDD regime which means that in addition to pre-employment screening checks, the successful candidate will be subject to background screening every 4 years with an annual declaration in interim years.
What we offer:
At AXA UK, we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:
* Competitive annual salary
* Annual company & performance-based bonus
* Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
* Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
* 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
* Private Heath Cover
* Car allowance
* Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 3 days leave
* AXA employee discounts
* Gym benefits
To apply, click on the ‘apply for this job’ button, you’ll then need to log in or create a profile to submit your CV. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer and don’t discriminate against employees or potential employees based on protected characteristics. If you have a long term condition or disability and require adjustments during the application or interview process, we’re proud to offer access to the AXA Accessibility Concierge. For our support, please send an email to mel.ainscough@axa-insurance.co.uk.
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Who we are:
AXA Commercial protects businesses, from multinationals to micro start-ups, giving them the confidence to thrive. We’re currently making our biggest ever investment to develop the expertise and skills we need to be the best. We’re a vibrant community where everyone is supported to learn, develop, and take ownership of their work.
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