Director, Commercial Lines Underwriting

Are you looking to make an impactful difference in your work, yourself, and your community? Why settle for just a job when you can land a career? At ICW Group, we are hiring team members who are ready to use their skills, curiosity, and drive to be part of our  journey as we strive to transform the insurance  carrier space. We're proud to be in business for over 50 years, and its change agents like yourself that will help us continue to deliver our mission to create the best insurance experience possible.

Headquartered in San Diego with regional offices located throughout the United States, ICW Group has been named for ten consecutive years as a Top 50 performing P&C organization offering the stability of a large, profitable and growing company combined with a focus on all things people. It's our team members who make us an employer of choice and the vibrant company we are today. We strive to make both our  internal and external communities better everyday! Learn more about why you want to be here!

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Director Commercial Lines Underwriting is responsible for leading the underwriting vision, standards, and operating philosophy for ICW Group’s technical home office underwriting function across Commercial Lines. This role provides centralized underwriting governance, technical authority, and risk oversight to promote consistency, quality, and compliance, while operating independently of product development, underwriting system builds, and frontline underwriting execution owned by the Director of Commercial Package. Reporting to the AVP of Commercial Package, the Director leads and develops a high-performing technical underwriting team and partners with cross-functional leaders to ensure underwriting practices align with ICW Group’s risk appetite, regulatory requirements, and strategic growth objectives.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Establishes Vision and Strategy for the Technical Home Office Team

• Develops and communicates a clear enterprise underwriting vision and strategic direction for the technical home office function, focused on underwriting governance, consistency, and risk discipline across Commercial Lines, and aligned with ICW Group’s overall commercial objectives.

• Establishes operating plans, goals, and resource requirements to support underwriting quality, risk selection, and regulatory compliance, while enabling product and frontline underwriting teams to execute within defined underwriting standards and escalation frameworks.

Leads and Develops a High-Performing Team

• Recruits, develops, and leads a team of technical home office underwriting professionals, fostering a culture of underwriting excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement in support of ICW Group’s risk management and governance objectives.

• Establishes clear performance expectations, provides ongoing coaching and development, and ensures the team is equipped to deliver complex risk analysis, technical guidance, and enterprise-level underwriting support in accordance with established standards and escalation protocols.

Directs Technical Referrals & Complex Risk Analysis

• Serves as technical resource for complex or non-standard risks that fall outside established underwriting authority, including large or atypical accounts, emerging risk exposures, and cross-line considerations, providing guidance consistent with ICW Group’s underwriting philosophy and risk appetite.

• Ensures consistent interpretation and application of underwriting standards and guidelines by establishing clear escalation criteria and decision frameworks for challenging or non-routine risks.

• Oversees triage and referral forums with underwriting leadership to review complex risks, promote consistency, and identify systemic underwriting considerations, without assuming ownership of product-specific underwriting execution.

Drives Appetite and Rules Refinement

• Partners with Actuarial, Product, and business leaders to inform and refine enterprise risk appetite parameters and underwriting guidelines, ensuring consistency and alignment across Commercial Lines while respecting product-specific ownership and execution.

• Oversees the governance, maintenance, and enterprise consistency of Business Underwriting Guidelines (BUGs) across Commercial Lines, ensuring guidelines support sound risk selection, regulatory compliance, and underwriting quality.

Promotes Underwriting Excellence & Quality Assurance

• Champions the development and adoption of enterprise underwriting best practices, procedural guidance, and standards to elevate technical proficiency, consistency, and underwriting quality across Commercial Lines.

• Oversees underwriting quality assurance and audit standards to monitor adherence to underwriting guidelines, regulatory requirements, and documentation expectations, partnering with product and underwriting teams on remediation as needed.

• Partners with Compliance and Legal to ensure technical home office underwriting practices align with corporate policies, regulatory requirements, and risk management standards.

Facilitates Interdepartmental Collaboration, Manages Resources and Operational Performance

• Serves as a strategic underwriting governance liaison between Commercial Lines underwriting and key partner functions, including Claims, Actuarial, and Legal/Compliance, to support cross-functional initiatives such as large loss reviews, state expansion readiness, and portfolio performance assessments, while maintaining clear separation from product ownership and execution responsibilities.

• Oversees budgeting, resource planning, and operational performance for the technical home office underwriting team, ensuring appropriate staffing and capabilities to support enterprise underwriting governance, quality, and escalation needs.

• Establishes and monitors key performance indicators to assess underwriting support effectiveness and drives continuous improvement initiatives that enhance consistency, efficiency, and risk discipline across Commercial Lines.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

Directly supervises employees within the technical home office underwriting team and carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with ICW Group policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, onboarding, performance management, coaching, development planning, and supporting the ongoing technical and professional growth of team members.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree required in Business Administration, Risk Management, or a related field. Equivalent education and experience may be considered in lieu of degree. Master’s degree a plus.

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive commercial lines underwriting experience, including multi-line technical expertise and complex risk analysis.

• Demonstrated leadership experience overseeing technical underwriting, home office, or enterprise underwriting functions, with accountability for governance, quality, and team development.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS

• Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) or other insurance-related certification preferred.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute enterprise underwriting strategy for technical or home office underwriting functions.

• Strong leadership, team development, and people management skills, with experience leading technical professionals.

• Advanced technical expertise in commercial lines underwriting, complex risk analysis, and underwriting governance.

• Experience partnering with underwriting technology and analytics teams to support data-informed underwriting decisions and consistent application of standards.

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and presentation skills, with the ability to influence across functions and levels.

• Strong critical thinking, attention to detail, and advanced analytical and problem-solving skills.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Office environment – no specific or unusual physical or environmental demands; employees are regularly required to sit, walk, stand, talk, and hear.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

This position operates in an office environment and requires frequent use of a computer, telephone, copier, and other standard office equipment.

We are currently not offering employment sponsorship for this opportunity.

#LI-Hybrid #LI-JF1

The current range for this position is

This range is exclusive of fringe benefits and potential bonuses.  If hired at ICW Group, your final base salary compensation will be determined by factors unique to each candidate, including experience, education and the location of the role and considers employees performing substantially similar work.

WHY JOIN ICW GROUP? 

• Challenging work and the ability to make a difference 

• You will have a voice and feel a sense of belonging 

• We offer a competitive benefits package, with generous medical, dental, and vision plans as well as 401K retirement plans and company match 

• Bonus potential for all positions 

• Paid Time Off

• Paid holidays throughout the calendar year 

• Want to continue learning? We’ll support you 100% 

ICW Group is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. ICW Group will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex/gender, age, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

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