Chief Underwriting Officer

Prudential’s purpose is to be partners for every life and protectors for every future. Our purpose encourages everything we do by creating a culture in which diversity is celebrated and inclusion assured, for our people, customers, and partners. We provide a platform for our people to do their best work and make an impact to the business, and we support our people’s career ambitions. We pledge to make Prudential a place where you can Connect, Grow, and Succeed.

This role is accountable for delivering best-in-class underwriting outcomes for high net worth life insurance cases originating through Bermuda-based operations. The role leads end-to-end underwriting assessment for complex, high-sum-assured, multi-jurisdictional, and bespoke client needs, ensuring risk selection excellence, commercial responsiveness, and strong governance.
Working closely with the COO, this role strengthens the underwriting operating model through process discipline, turnaround performance, quality controls, reinsurer engagement, and continuous improvement—while maintaining adherence to local regulatory expectations and internal risk appetite.

This role will be based in Bermuda.

Job Responsibilities

HNW Underwriting & Case Leadership (Core)

• Underwrite high-value, medically and financially complex HNW applications, including multi-life structures, business insurance, estate planning scenarios, and large retention cases.
• Produce clear, defensible underwriting decisions aligned to risk appetite, product pricing intent, and underwriting philosophy.
• Drive case strategy: requirements planning, medical/risk evidence approach, financial underwriting, and negotiation of terms with distribution/relationship teams.
• Deliver high-quality client outcomes via structured offers (ratings, exclusions, alternative product design, or risk mitigation requirements).

Financial Underwriting (HNW / UHNW)

• Assess source of wealth, source of funds, insurable interest, affordability, and justification for large sums assured.
• Evaluate complex financials: audited statements, trust/holding structures, offshore entities, income streams, and liquidity events.
• Partner with Legal/Compliance on enhanced due diligence and documentation standards where required.

Medical / Technical Risk Assessment

• Interpret medical evidence (APS, labs, imaging, specialist reports) and apply consistent decisioning for substandard risks.
• Liaise with medical networks, tele-interview providers, and medical officers to optimize evidence quality and reduce leakage in requirements ordering.

Reinsurance & Large Case Management

• Manage facultative submissions and negotiations with reinsurers for jumbo/HNW cases.
• Prepare high-quality case presentations that reflect underwriting rationale, financial substantiation, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Optimize retention usage and reinsurance structures in partnership with Finance/Reinsurance teams.

Underwriting Governance, Controls & Auditability

• Ensure all decisions are fully documented, auditable, and compliant with internal policies and regulatory obligations.
• Participate in (or chair) Large Case / UW Committee as applicable: escalations, exceptions, and complex approvals.
• Monitor and manage underwriting risks: anti-selection, fraud indicators, distribution conduct risks, and operational risk events.

COO-Aligned Operating Excellence (TAT, Quality, Efficiency)

• Drive underwriting service performance: turnaround time (TAT), requirement cycle times, case ageing, and pipeline health.
• Identify and implement process improvements across underwriting operations: requirement ordering, evidence management, case triage, and escalation protocols.
• Support COO initiatives on digitisation/automation, workflow simplification, and controls-by-design.

Stakeholder & Distribution Partnership (HNW Service Model)

• Partner with HNW distribution/brokers and relationship managers to provide proactive case consulting, pre-assessment, and pathway-to-issue guidance.
• Communicate decisions professionally and commercially, with an ability to explain technical outcomes clearly.

Team management

• Manage a team of highly experienced HNW underwriters and case managers
• Mentor junior underwriters/case managers on complex case handling, decision quality, and documentation standards.
• Contribute to UW guidelines updates, learning sessions, and knowledge management for HNW playbooks.

Job Requirements

• Degree in business, finance, actuarial, biomedical sciences, or related discipline preferred
• Relevant underwriting certification/designation preferred (e.g., LOMA/ALU/AU or equivalent), or demonstrable equivalent expertise.
• 12+ years underwriting experience, including significant exposure to HNW / large sum assured / complex financial underwriting.
• Prior experience in managing regulators in Bermuda, HongKong and Singapore
• Proven track record managing facultative reinsurance and large-case negotiations.
• Experience operating in (or supporting) international/offshore structures and multi-jurisdictional client scenarios is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated partnership with COO/Operations leadership on service model, controls, and efficiency.
• Advanced knowledge of life underwriting: medical risk, financial underwriting, fraud/disclosure considerations.
• Strong understanding of evidence interpretation and requirement strategies.
• Familiarity with underwriting philosophies, substandard frameworks, and reinsurer practices for jumbo cases.

 

Prudential is an equal opportunity employer. We provide equality of opportunity of benefits for all who apply and who perform work for our organisation irrespective of sex, race, age, ethnic origin, educational, social and cultural background, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, disability or part-time / fixed-term work, or any other status protected by applicable law. We encourage the same standards from our recruitment and third-party suppliers taking into account the context of grade, job and location. We also allow for reasonable adjustments to support people with individual physical or mental health requirements.