Manager: Commercial Property Underwriting at Santam Insurance

What you will do

Commercial Underwriting has a position available for a Manager: Commercial Property Underwriting and will based at our Alice Lane Office in Johannesburg. This role will report to the Head: Commercial Underwriting.
The individual will be required to manage Santam’s Commercial Property business to ensure achievement of the profit, people and growth targets.

What will make you successful in this role

• Overall responsibility for Santam’s Commercial property portfolio, with regards to product, rate and rule.
• Ensure ongoing profitability and growth of Santam’s Commercial property portfolio.
• Create appropriate underwriting rules to balance customers’ needs with Santam’s risk appetite. Sets the risk appetite in line with that provided by Santam’s Board.
• Research and development of new Commercial insurance covers and products.
• Maintain and create policy wordings for all Santam’s Commercial offerings, including Agri, Wine, Schools, Tourism & Guesthouse etc.
• Determine business specifications for the design and development of the Commercial Property offerings in Policy Centre.
• Maintain existing Commercial products to ensure market competitiveness & retain relevance.
• Come up with new solutions and innovations (including the use of Artificial Intelligence to automate underwriting decisions) that allow Santam to remain the market leader in Commercial Property insurance.
• Work with Actuaries to determine appropriate rating structures for Commercial Property Sections for all Commercial offerings (incl. Agri).
• Develop rating tools/solutions for these classes of business for use by external business partners.
• Create a National Survey Policy which determines which risks need to be surveyed at what stage of the policy lifecycle (e.gprior to quote, prior to issuance, post issuance etc.) and at what intervals (e.g. annually or every 3 or 5 years).
• Manage Santam’s surveying function, as a key component of our Property portfolio.
• Manage Santam’s property underwriting team.
• Custodian of all decisions relating to the overturning of Come-off risk requirements recommended by Santam surveyors.
• Analyse and sign-off broker bespoke products, meet with brokers to discuss reasons for decisions taken and negotiate differentiated terms.
• Handle all referrals of a complex nature and make underwriting decisions which requires logical balancing of profit and growth considerations (incl. pricing decisions).
• C&P specifically includes segment solutions and Namibia.
• Responsible for mandate setting, including associated curriculum setting for Motor.
• Responsible for policy wordings, policy guidelines and implementation of any regulatory underwriting requirements, e.g. PPR.
• Create and build an effective Commercial Property & Agri Underwriting team which provides consistent service delivery.
• Develop and build specialist technical underwriting skills within the Property Underwriting team to ensure a continuous supply of specialists to handle the growth in the large Commercial business segments including Commercial Privé.
• Manage talent and ensure succession for critical roles to sustain Santam’s technical expertise and market leadership in Commercial Property, as well as Agri Insurance.
• Motivate and inspire staff to manage employee turnover and compete effectively in the war for talent.

Qualifications And Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or relevant insurance related diploma: AIISA or FIISA or similar.
• Management or Leadership qualification preferable.
• Must be able to demonstrate property underwriting ability and expertise.
• Proven track record of ideally at least 15 years’ experience within a Commercial Underwriting environment of which ideally at least 10 years’ management of a Specialist Underwriting team.
• Knowledge of (and understanding of the impact of) the relevant legislation on the business e.g. Building regulations etc.
• Advance Computer literacy (MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint)

Knowledge And Skills

• Commercial Property Underwriting skill.
• Management experience in Commercial Underwriting
• Excellent English communication & report-writing skills
• Presentation skills
• Establish interpersonal relationship, negotiating and networking skills
• Ability to influence and learn new systems quickly
• Ability to work under pressure with appropriate prioritisation skills
• Results-orientated and deadline driven
• Good analytical skills and problem-solving abilities
• Skilled in leading and coaching staff
• Creativity and ability to innovate and find new solutions to new challenges
• Able to organise own and others workloads to achieve priorities and objectives
• Demonstrate capability to think of the organisation holistically
• Build and lead a team and ensure Santam remains market leader in Commercial Property & Casualty risks

Personal Attributes

• Collaborates
• Client focus
• Drives results
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Cultivates Innovation
• Organisational Savvy
• Builds Networks
• Manages Complexity
• Persuades
• Managing, adapting and responding to change
• Negotiating and Influencing others
• Analytical
• Attention to detail and meticulous