Head of Direct Underwriting

About the role

Ecclesiastical Insurance, who are proudly part of Benefact Group are looking for a Head of Direct Underwriting to join our Gloucester office.

Reporting directly to the Director of Church, this senior leadership position is responsible for defining and delivering the underwriting strategy across four key portfolios within the Direct business, the cornerstone account of Ecclesiastical Insurance. You will drive underwriting quality, profitable growth and financial performance while ensuring strong customer outcomes.

As a key figurehead both internally and externally, you will build relationships with major customers and stakeholders, while representing the Direct business across strategic underwriting initiatives, transformation programmes and projects at a UK-wide level.

With accountability for portfolio performance, including GWP, new business, retention, rate and profitability, you will shape pricing and underwriting strategies at both portfolio and key account level, translating strategic direction into effective day-to-day delivery.

This is an influential leadership opportunity for an experienced technical underwriting professional with strong commercial acumen. You will lead a team of Technical Underwriters and provide oversight of broader underwriting capability, champion technical excellence, develop high-performing teams, strengthen succession pipelines and build the capability needed to deliver sustainable, profitable growth.

Why join us?

Join a collaborative and inclusive culture that’s committed to making a difference and building a more sustainable future. Ranked amongst the UK's 15 Best Big Companies to Work For in 2025, we offer fantastic career and development opportunities within a rapidly growing, innovative Group - where all profits go to charity and good causes.

What you'll be doing

• Customer & Financial

• Act as the senior underwriting figure head within the market and Key customers, obtaining key insight across the market to respond to both customer needs and competitor threats.

• Successfully manage portfolio to achieve financial objectives and other Key Performance Indicators, including GWP, New Business, Retention, Rate Movement and Profitability

• Develop and manage pricing strategies at portfolio and key account level, balancing retention, profitability and customer (conduct)

• A lead contributor to business planning process with appropriate and effective challenge

Underwriting

• Set, lead and manage the UW standards within the Business Unit & proactively engage with the UK Underwriting Risk Appetite

• Utilise individual authority framework to the benefit of the business unit and UKGI, ensuring effective cascade of authority with appropriate oversight and governance.

• Influence P&C Underwriting to ensure specific challenges of the Direct account are understood and that UW strategy is aligned to both key customer and business outcomes, with effective challenge on the strategy where this supports customer needs and the business plan

• Drive the quality framework, ensure all quality and audit metrics are fulfilled and adhered to (or challenged if not appropriate), with evidence of implementable action

• Design and lead the competency framework, to increase competency and ensure UW succession, including the design and delivery of technical training material where relevant

• Act as the highest level referral point for the team and cascade technical expertise

• Actively enhance technical expertise, considering key customer challenges in relation to new and emerging risks – thinking proactively about challenges that our customers face like Climate Change and adherence to 2030 Net Zero target.

• Drive continuous improvement & challenge to risk management framework, working closely with the risk management area to maximise value of the impact of their engagement across both key underwriting and risk management outcomes.

• Actively engage with the Claims area, seeking learning from claims data and individual incidents to improve performance in the future.

People

• Development, mentoring and coaching of staff

• Instilling high performance of team members across all levels

• Collaborate across functions and build teams building positive working relationships

• Act as a market representative for UW matters within the Business Unit

• Understand and operate within regulatory framework and identify and escalate any risks to the business

• Resolve complaints and breaches in line with company policy and deliver learnings

What you'll need to have

• Proven track record in a senior underwriting role.

• Strong portfolio management experience.

• Proven confident and influential communicator at all levels.

• Experience of coaching for the enhanced performance of others.

• Ability to build and manage co-operative and productive relationships internally and externally within the market.

• Proven ability to apply critical thinking to situations outside of normal UW guidelines and to frame appropriate solutions.

• ACII qualified.

What we offer

• A competitive salary - let's discuss it

• Hybrid working

• Group Personal Pension - up to 12% employer contribution

• Generous annual bonus scheme: on-target bonus between 10% and 40%

• 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays, and a holiday buy and sell scheme

• An array of health and wellbeing benefits, including private healthcare, income protection and life assurance

• £200 annual personal grant to a charity of your choice

• Encouraged to take at least one volunteering day per year

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Full study support to gain professional qualifications

• Access to virtual GP

• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay

About us

Ecclesiastical Insurance offer insurance with award-winning service across a broad range of specialisms, including faith, charity, heritage, education, art and private client, real estate and schemes, across Ireland, Canada and the UK.

As a business, we’ve been trusted to protect some of the UK’s best-loved and most iconic buildings for over a century, and we’re not standing still. We’re a forward thinking, energetic organisation entering new markets, with an ambition to double our size, because when we grow, we give back more.

Benefact Group is a unique international financial services Group made up of over 30 businesses. We are owned by a charity and have been the 3rd largest UK corporate donor over a decade, having given away £250 million since 2014. We have ambitious plans to become the UK’s number one corporate donor, with strategic objectives in place to double the Group’s size.

We believe it’s essential to attract, empower, grow and reward talented people, offering fantastic opportunities for career and personal development. Our giving ethos, 135-year history and the diversity of what we do, has enabled us to build a culture of kindness, great ambition, and of passionate people driven to do better and be better.

At Benefact Group, we are committed to creating an inclusive culture and building an environment where we