Head of Business Insurance Product Development

Job Summary

Responsible for development and execution of strategies and initiatives to achieve profit and growth objectives for the Commercial lines of business including multi peril, property, commercial auto, workers compensaton and umbrella lines of business. This includes product road map, coverage depth, industry knowledge, regulatory and compliance, innovation, rate structure, and competitor analysis.

This role is responsible for catastrophe exposure management and represents Business Insurance in the enterprise Exposure Management Committee.

Responsible for the development of new sophisticated product features and capabilities driving property and commercial multi-peril and casualty product growth and profitability for Business Insurance. CMP and casualty are inclusive of packaged property, liability, professional lines of business and commercial auto, workers compensation and umbrella.

Essential Job Functions

• Accountable for strategic product development of casualty, CMP and property; aligning appetite and eligibility with product coverages, product structure, innovation, and execution through the platform.
• Monitors product performance by market and develops action plans to enable profitable growth.
• Accountable for development of product enhancements and new product offerings.
• Accountable for managing the agile process from the business perspective to build minimum viable products for agents and underwriters to sell.
• Accountable to monitor book and industry trends and make corrective changes as required to maintain growth and profit positions.
• Analyses product mix and design to gain a competitive advantage and drive product growth.  
• Line of business expert on commercial auto, workers compensation, umbrella, CMP and Property product related inquiries.
• Defines sub-limits, early warning tests, and observation points for products major peril regions. Monitors the results and makes proposals to mitigate potential risk of breaching the limit to the Exposure Management Committee
• Maintains the framework to manage risk exposure on gross of reinsurance basis.
• Coordinates exposure activities among the business units and functions
• Resolves capacity disputes within Personal Lines and Business Insurance.  Submits capacity disputes to the Exposure Management Committee for resolution if agreement cannot be reached
• Develops and delivers change management efforts for the introduction of new or enhanced products.  This includes training, communication, and field interaction.
• Accountable to ensure that products meet needs of customers (insured) and agents.
• Accountable to manage budget through expense control.
• Collaborates with sales, marketing, underwriting, service ops and Agile teams to develop, implement and introduce new or enhanced products.  This includes training, communication and field interaction.
• Acts as project sponsor for innovation efforts related to business insurance CMP or Property product lines which include process and technology.
• Develop future leaders for Business Insurance and the organization.  Accountable for staff development and training.
• Establish an environment that promotes teamwork, camaraderie and employee retention.

Education Requirements

• Bachelors degree or equivalent experience required.
• Insurance education such as CPCU or related courses preferred.

Experience Requirements

• 5 years leadership experience with large operations.
• 10 years Business Insurance industry experience preferably with underwriting and/or field management experience.
• Experience managing/developing a senior group of managers, underwriters and operations / service center personnel.

Special Skill Requirement

• Role requires a thorough comprehension of business insurance and its key disciplines and processes including insurance products, coverages, underwriting guidelines, servicing needs, etc.
• Must be skilled and knowledgeable in relationship management and communication with key business executives.
• Ability to effectively interact with all levels of Farmers internal and external business partners.
• Ability to deal with ambiguous situations and issues.
• Creativity in resolving unique and challenging business problems.
• Ability to achieve results by taking a proactive long-term view of business goals and objectives.

Additional Qualification

• Critical thinking skills are required
• Ability to understand actuarial disciplines
• Understanding of contracts
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to negotiate with field sales force and departments of insurance
• Public speaking is required 
• Ability to develop strategic long terms plans and implement tactical moves to execute them.