Location: Location/ Hybrid
Salary: £Competitive
About the role
As a Portfolio Manager at this Underwriting company, you will play a crucial role in driving the company's growth and financial success. The newly created role reports into the Head of Portfolio Management at this business and will involve leading a small team and collaborating with multiple functions to optimize decision making that drives underwriting performance, growth and enhance operational efficiency.
Key Responsibilities
- Shape and Implement Portfolio Management Framework: to ensure underwriting aligns to the business plan and risk appetite and facilitate the feedback loop between underwriting and actuarial to support medium to long term business performance.
- Enhance Monitoring Tools: Own and improve the Portfolio Monitoring tool suite, ensuring functionality, data quality, and business confidence in management information (MI). Oversee best practice account tracker development to maximise insights and efficiency.
- Lead on monitoring and reporting of Performance: Continuously monitor results, report performance against plans, and proactively share insights. Collaborate with underwriting, pricing, and operations to take remedial actions as needed. Act as the technical lead for internal reporting (eg UW QBR’s) and support external reporting for capacity relationships.
- Perform analysis and research to check and challenge realism of planning assumptions.
- Develop the business portfolio optimisation framework, linking it to Realistic Disaster Scenarios.
- Design portfolio tiering, perform stress and scenario testing to provide recommendations to optimize performance and manage risk in the medium and long-term.
- Conduct deep dive analyses at various levels (segment, geography, cover holder, business unit), identify issues and opportunities, and drive actions to address or leverage.
- Utilize insights to provide input into performance review forums, risk referrals and planning.
- Perform horizon scanning & external monitoring to track emerging trends, risks, market conditions, and regulatory changes, providing valuable insights to the business.
- Liaison with Reserving and Exposure management: Ensure portfolio changes and underwriting actions are communicated and reflected in analytical work, maintaining consistency in approach and assumptions. Support socialization and consideration of outcomes in internal work and decision
- making, Monitor, communicate and manage catastrophe risk in line with agreed risk appetite.
- Manage and develop Analysts: Oversee analyst resources and manage workflow, setting objectives, providing review, coaching and technical training to enhance performance and career development.
- Foster Data-Driven Culture: Promote the adoption of tools within underwriting and actuarial teams, lead data governance, and streamline data provision with vendors and the Head of Operations.
This individual is highly analytical and is passionate about supporting the business to make better underwriting decisions. They are curious and enjoy designing and performing analysis to find insights that improve portfolio outcomes and are execution focussed. They will be excited by and demonstrate flexibility in navigating the variety of challenges presented by our diverse portfolio. They are
innovative and explore new analytical techniques, tools including generative and agentic AI and data sources to drive improved outcomes.
Their agility and resilience enable them to thrive in the dynamic environment of a fast-paced underwriting agency, where they will play a key role in influencing real-time decisions and shaping the Portfolio Management agenda, expanding capabilities and growing the team as the business scales and matures. They are experienced at developing efficient solutions that extract value and minimize
risks from complex data and systems.
They are collaborative, embody a commercial mindset and contribute to a culture of integrity, accountability, high-performance and teamwork. They will have the following:
Skills:
- Excellent numerical, analytical and critical thinking abilities to support data-driven decisions.
- Strong data storytelling and communication skills enabling the individual to inform, influence, support, challenge and represent Portfolio Management in a variety of interactions with internal and external stakeholders (capital providers, Underwriting, Pricing).
- Expertise in developing and maintaining a suite of advanced data visualization tools – PowerBI (preferred), Tableau, Qliksense.
- Predictive analytics / data science.
- Proficiency in Python or R for data analysis.
- Excel at defining and critically evaluating problems, generating creative ideas, testing hypothesis and delivering innovative, practical solutions.
- Build strong relationships with stakeholders, showcasing the ability to influence, negotiate and collaborate effectively with a variety of stakeholders.
- Exercise sound technical and commercial judgement in the context of uncertainty.
- Strategic thinking with a forward and outwards looking perspective.
- Proven management experience in negotiating, prioritising, delegating and optimising processes.
- Developing and coaching junior resource for performance and growth.
- Providing technical leadership and thoughtful challenge to a range of stakeholders.
- Minimum 5 years commercial or specialty lines Pricing or Portfolio Management experience essential, with additional experience in underwriting, reserving, capital modelling valuable.
- Knowledge of the London insurance market and understanding of the main drivers of profit essential.
- Process efficiency and automation.
- Bachelor's degree in actuarial science, mathematics, data science, engineering, physics or related field.
- Professional qualifications (e.g. Actuarial, Data science, CFA, CII) are highly desirable.