Director, Life Underwriting

Overview

Lead the life underwriting production function, owning output quality, turnaround time and SLA performance while building and developing a high-performing underwriting team.

What you'll do

• Own underwriting production output, ensuring volume and quality targets are met
• Identify and recommend automation opportunities (straight-through processing, AI-assisted case review) to increase throughput without compromising quality
• Partner with Underwriting Auditors to track audit findings and drive corrective action
• Ensure decisions align with guidelines, risk appetite, and regulations
• Lead and grow a team of underwriters and supervisors/managers
• Oversee onboarding/training programs and build career development pathways
• Drive a coaching culture and strong team retention
• Establish clear, measurable performance standards for underwriters and supervisors across productivity, set productivity targets, quality standards, TAT, and compliance
• Drive performance against TAT/SLA targets across case types
• Build reporting to track real-time production and SLA performance
• Resolve issues causing breaches; coordinate with Sales/Ops/Claims on escalations
• Conduct regular performance reviews, using audit findings and production data to identify trends and root causes of underperformance
• Lead structured, constructive conversations on performance gaps, including formal Performance Improvement Plans where warranted
• Ensure consistency in performance evaluation standards across teams, especially in distributed/cross-geography setups
• Recognize and reward high performers to reinforce a strong performance culture alongside accountability
• Build and scale teams as business needs grow
• Manage capacity planning against volume forecasts
• Ensure consistency in UW practices across distributed teams
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, experimentation, and openness to new technology
• Serve as key UW point of contact for Sales, Operations, Compliance, and Engineering
• Represent UW in cross functional meetings; influence stakeholders on process changes using data

What you'll need

• 15+ years in Life Insurance Underwriting
• Strong people management experience
• Proven track record managing production to standards at scale
• Proven experience managing large teams (80/100+ members)
• Experience building/leading UW teams (direct and/or cross-geography)
• Strong technical UW knowledge, data-driven decision-making, and stakeholder influencing and communication skills
• Bachelor's degree required

Nice to have

• UW certifications (LOMA, FALU)

Details

• Location: Bangalore, India
• On-site role