Job Posting End Date: October 04

When you join the team at Unum, you become part of an organization committed to helping you thrive.

Here, we work to provide the employee benefits and service solutions that enable employees at our client companies to thrive throughout life’s moments. And this starts with ensuring that every one of our team members enjoys opportunities to succeed both professionally and personally. To enable this, we provide: 

Award-winning culture 

Inclusion and diversity as a priority 

Performance Based Incentive Plans

Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability 

Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!) 

Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution 

Mental health support 

Career advancement opportunities 

Student loan repayment options 

Tuition reimbursement

Flexible work environments 

*All the benefits listed above are subject to the terms of their individual Plans.

And that’s just the beginning…  

With 10,000 employees helping more than 39 million people worldwide, every role at Unum is meaningful and impacts the lives of our customers. Whether you’re directly supporting a growing family, or developing online tools to help navigate a difficult loss, customers are counting on the combined talents of our entire team. Help us help others, and join Team Unum today! 

General Summary:The Chief Underwriter will demonstrate expert risk evaluation, selection, and retention of profitable business within assigned authority limits. Strong ability to partner with Company sales teams, brokers and all internal partners is a requirement. Additionally, the incumbent will lead and influence others in the organization to support change and drive profitable results. This role may also assist with the training, technical development and mentoring of other underwriters.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Consult with sales and service partners to provide the products and plan options that best meet the needs of our customers. Evaluate and select risk on the most complex and largest cases to ensure the profitable acquisition of new cases and the continued profitable retention of inforce casesConduct high quality risk assessments on all cases to assure business guidelines, target profit and metrics are met. Identify and analyze risk trends, making recommendations for addressing theseContribute to the development of policies and procedures, product development efforts, and lead departmental effectiveness initiativesDemonstrate a mastery of the Company’s products, the sales process, and market place influencesDemonstrate an understanding of how decisions on our largest, most complex cases can impact the Company’s financial statementsDeliver dependable, accurate, and timely service while demonstrating deeper expertise in relationships with internal and external partnersAct as a mentor and coach, providing input to management regarding mentee performanceLead analysis and actions regarding improved work unit performance and workflow efficienciesInitiate and negotiate with internal partners on complex pricing situations that may need deviation from normal pricing assumptionIdentify areas of improvement/opportunity to improve current underwriting processes/efficiency, customer service and control expensesProvide development feedback at the case level on decisions made by members of the Underwriting departmentSupport product development initiatives in collaboration with Product Marketing and ActuarialAct as the liaison for Underwriting and New Business with Legal and Compliance, on group product compliance matters. Implementation and monitoring of all compliance itemsPartner with management on all State DOI inquiries and external audits related to group productsAbility to analyze, develop and implement underwriting guidelines for product linesDevelop, track and analyze individual and work unit performance against established goals and measurementsAct as a mentor and technical coach to underwriting professionals on risk issues

Job Specifications

4 year college degree preferred or equivalent work experience, with 6+ years in underwriting risk experience preferred.Consistently meet quality and quantity standards as outlined by department expectations

Industry and Product Knowledge

Effectively position Colonial Life’s portfolioHigh level of understanding of competitor’s product benefits and effectively position against competition;Proactively seeks competitor product information and can effectively impact top line growth;Participate and represent unit in new product development projects

Technology

Full comprehension of underwriting decisions on other Colonial Life departments;Full understanding of sales and financial results impacts of all enrollment methods;Collaborate with field and internal partners to drive future enrollment strategy

Communication

Effective written and verbal communication;Negotiates well with and influences conversations with field representatives, managers, broker and internal partnersNetwork of internal and external advocates;Fosters inclusive dialogue

Financial Acumen and Risk Analysis

Holistic and comprehensive analysis of how underwriting decisions impacts Colonial Life bottom line and internal and external partners;Expert at using underwriting tools and subjective analysis;Consistently makes sound decisions and makes thoughtful recommendations in situations beyond their limit;Contribute to the development of policies and procedures;Proactively partner with necessary individuals to help achieve sales goalsPartners with finance to develop case specific assumptions

Strategic Thinking

Understands various levers to provide counsel, guidance and options for the most complex cases;Considers impact beyond single account decisions;Identifies and implement opportunities for innovation

Entrepreneurship

Operates independently taking total responsibility;Respected by the unit/dept as a professional who understands the goals of the department and who balances the needs of customer with those goals;Guidance and opinion regularly sought by external partners

Mentoring

Informally and formally teaches underwriters and all in the sales organization (W2 and 1099);Highlighting department trends to the team, management etc.;Builds followership in and beyond the underwriting department;Seeks out mentorship and self-development

Unum and Colonial Life are part of Unum Group, a Fortune 500 company and leading provider of employee benefits to companies worldwide. Headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, with international offices in Ireland, Poland and the UK, Unum also has significant operations in Portland, ME, and Baton Rouge, LA - plus over 35 US field offices. Colonial Life is headquartered in Columbia, SC, with over 40 field offices nationwide.

The base salary range for applicants for this position is listed below. Unless actual salary is indicated above in the job description, actual pay will be based on skill, geographical location and experience.

Additionally, Unum offers a portfolio of benefits and rewards that are competitive and comprehensive including healthcare benefits (health, vision, dental), insurance benefits (short & long-term disability), performance-based incentive plans, paid time off, and a 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match up to 5% and an additional 4.5% contribution whether you contribute to the plan or not.  All benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of individual Plans.

Company:

Colonial Life