Team Leader Underwriting

Job Type: Permanent Build a brilliant future with Hiscox The Role You will be responsible for underwriting new business and renewing a portfolio of existing Professional Indemnity and Commercial Risks for the Hiscox Ireland Desk Underwriting Team portfolio. Alongside your underwriting responsibilities, you will lead the day-to-day performance of the Desk Underwriting Team, ensuring effective workload prioritisation, strong service delivery, sound performance management, and the ongoing development of team members. You will also build strong broker relationships, identify cross-sell opportunities, and foster a collaborative, high-performing team culture aligned to business objectives. Key Responsibilities • Lead and manage the Desk Underwriting Team, setting clear objectives and creating a high-performing, accountable and collaborative team culture. • Manage team capacity, prioritise workloads and ensure service, quality and turnaround standards are consistently met. • Coach, develop and performance manage team members through regular feedback, development planning and performance reviews. • Support recruitment, onboarding and capability building to strengthen team performance and maintain a sustainable talent pipeline. • Ensure the team understands the business strategy and translates it into clear day-to day priorities and decisions. • Underwrite, price and negotiate new and existing business in line with underwriting appetite, risk quality and company guidelines. • Retain and grow the portfolio by managing renewals, handling mid-term adjustments, and identifying cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. • Maintain profitability through sound, consistent underwriting decisions and effective commercial negotiation. • Build and maintain strong broker relationships to support service delivery, business growth and market presence. • Work closely with operations, claims, finance and marketing to support product delivery and contribute to business performance. • Take accountability for customer experience and embed a customer-focused culture across the team. • Ensure compliance with underwriting, operational and control standards across all team activity. • Monitor the performance of the team’s book of business, including retention, new business, service levels and profitability, and take action where needed. • Use reporting and management information to identify trends, improve performance and support decision-ma king. Key Requirements: Person Specification • Strong leadership capability, with the ability to lead, motivate and develop a high performing underwriting team. • Strong underwriting judgement, with the ability to assess risk, evaluate complex information and make sound commercial decisions. • Proven people management skills, including coaching, performance management, delegation and development planning. • Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships internally and externally. • Clear and effective communication skills, with the confidence to influence, challenge and support decision-making. • Customer-focused, with the ability to balance customer outcomes with commercial and risk considerations. • Able to work with sound judgement in a fast-paced environment, managing priorities and responding effectively to change. • Degree educated or equivalent. • Fluent written and spoken English. Professional • Preferably proven experience in underwriting, ideally within SME, Professional Indemnity or Commercial Risks. • Demonstrated experience leading and managing teams, including workload planning, performance management and day-to-day team leadership. • Experience of developing people, building team capability and creating a high performing team culture. • Experience of working in a service-driven environment with strong attention to quality, compliance and customer outcomes, preferably also in a regulated environment • Confident using Microsoft Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint. • Flexibility to travel where required. Work with amazing people and be part of a unique culture