General Manager - Product & Underwriting - National Role
Leading Underwriting Agency | Melbourne | Strategic Leadership Opportunity
About Our Client
Our client is a leading Australian underwriting agency specializing in commercial insurance products with strong relationships with domestic and international capacity providers. Their delegated authority model enables them to provide responsive, expert underwriting decisions while maintaining the technical sophistication required by their insurer partners. They pride themselves on underwriting excellence, innovation, and delivering superior value to their broker partners and their clients.
Role Definition
The General Manager is responsible for the strategic oversight, performance and profitability of the Australian portfolio and associated product suite across General Liability, Financial Lines and Cyber, ensuring sustainable growth aligned with underwriting appetite and business objectives.
The role combines portfolio performance management, underwriting oversight, product leadership, broker engagement and stakeholder management, ensuring delivery of profitable growth and continuous product enhancement.
Key responsibilities & accountabilities
- Portfolio Management & Performance
- Own and manage the end-to-end performance of the Australian national portfolio
- Monitor portfolio profitability, growth, loss ratios, and performance against targets
- Conduct regular portfolio reviews and identify trends, risks, and opportunities
- Implement strategies to optimise portfolio mix and profitability
- Ensure alignment with underwriting appetite and business strategy
Product Leadership & Management
- Take ownership of the performance and evolution of allocated products within the portfolio
- Drive product strategy, positioning and development with product leaders, in line with market opportunities and appetite
- Monitor product performance, identifying areas for refinement, enhancement or withdrawal
- Partner with underwriting, claims, operations, and technology teams to:
- Improve product design and coverage
- Enhance customer and broker experience
- Drive efficiency and scalability
- Provide input into pricing, coverage structure, endorsements and product governance
- Support new product launches and product enhancements, including business case development
- Ensure products remain competitive through ongoing market benchmarking and broker feedback
Underwriting Oversight
- Oversee underwriting activity within the portfolio to ensure consistency and quality
- Provide guidance and support on complex risks and referrals
- Ensure adherence to underwriting authority levels, guidelines and governance
- Support development of underwriting standards and best practice
Business Development & Broker Management
- Build and maintain strong relationships with key brokers and partners
- Identify and drive new business opportunities across the portfolio
- Support conversion and retention strategies
- Represent at industry events and broker engagements
Strategy & Planning
- Develop and deliver portfolio and product-level business plans
- Use data insights to inform strategic decisions and growth initiatives
- Contribute to broader business strategy and innovation initiatives
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders to improve performance and outcomes
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Lead, coach, and support underwriting leaders
- Drive a high-performance culture aligned to their values
- Provide input into performance management, development and capability uplift
- Work collaboratively across teams to deliver aligned outcomes
- Ensure workforce planning and team structures set up the teams for success
Compliance & Governance
- Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies
- Maintain strong governance and risk management controls across portfolio and products
- Support audit, reporting and compliance activities as required
Skills & Ability
- Strong commercial acumen with ability to balance growth, risk and profitability
- Strong strategic thinking and analytical capability
- Ability to translate data insights into actionable outcomes
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
- High level of accountability and ownership
- Strong communication and decision-making capability
Knowledge & Experience
- Relevant insurance qualifications preferred
- Tertiary qualification in Business, Finance or related discipline
- Leadership / Management qualifications (desirable)
- Proven experience in managing underwriting teams
- Proven experience in underwriting, portfolio or product management within insurance
- Strong understanding of portfolio performance drivers
- Experience in developing or enhancing insurance products across multiple lines of business
- Established broker and market relationships
- Proven senior management experience
The information contained within this advertisement is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of the duties and responsibilities of the role. The role holder may be required to perform other related duties as assigned. The client may at its discretion, assign or reassign duties and responsibilities as appropriate.
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