Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Underwriting Support Officer

🎯 Role Definition

The Underwriting Support Officer provides critical operational, analytical and administrative assistance to underwriting teams to ensure efficient policy placement, accurate risk assessment and timely policy servicing. This role coordinates submission intake, validates documentation, prepares underwriting files, maintains policy systems and liaises with brokers, agents and internal stakeholders. The ideal candidate combines insurance product knowledge, strong attention to detail, excellent communication and hands-on experience with policy administration systems and data reporting.

Key keywords: Underwriting Support Officer, Underwriting Assistant, Underwriting Administrator, insurance underwriting, risk assessment, policy processing, renewals, compliance, policy administration systems, broker liaison.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Underwriting Assistant / Trainee Underwriter
Insurance Broker / Broker Support
Claims Handler or Policy Administration Officer

Advancement To:

Underwriter / Underwriting Officer
Senior Underwriting Analyst
Team Lead – Underwriting Support
Risk Analyst / Product Underwriter

Lateral Moves:

Policy Administration / Policy Servicing
Renewals Coordinator
Broker Relationship or Customer Service roles

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Receive, triage and record incoming submissions from brokers, agents and internal sales teams; verify completeness of application forms, supporting documentation and attachment lists to prepare submission packages for underwriting review.
Prepare comprehensive underwriting files by collecting client financials, loss runs, claims history, inspection reports, quotations, and other underwriting attachments; ensure all materials follow internal file standards and are indexed in the policy administration system.
Conduct initial risk screening and basic risk assessment by reviewing policy schedules, limits, exclusions, financial statements and credit checks to highlight obvious exposures and clarify submission gaps for underwriting consideration.
Calculate premiums, commissions and basic rating adjustments using company rate guides, rating tools and spreadsheet models; prepare premium comparison schedules for underwriter approval.
Create and update policy documentation, endorsements, certificates of insurance and policy wordings in the policy administration system; ensure accurate policy inception, expiry and endorsement data entry.
Liaise with underwriters to obtain clarifications, pricing authority and referral decisions; document underwriter instructions and ensure timely execution of required actions.
Manage renewals workflow: prepare renewal invitations, assemble renewal packages, compare prior terms to renewal terms, and pro-actively follow up with brokers for updated information and signed renewals.
Process policy endorsements, mid-term adjustments and cancellations promptly while assessing premium differences and applying appropriate pro-rata calculations.
Maintain portfolio and submission trackers (MIS) and produce weekly/monthly underwriting support reports showing submission volumes, turnaround times, outstanding items and renewal pipelines.
Undertake quality assurance checks on completed files to ensure underwriting documentation, approvals and compliance notes are present prior to policy issue or binding.
Support underwriting referrals to reinsurance or facultative teams by compiling required submission data, preparing ceded premium calculations and tracking reinsurance responses.
Facilitate third-party inspections, surveys and loss control referrals by coordinating schedules, distributing instructions and uploading resulting reports to submission files.
Validate broker and client KYC/AML documentation and assist with compliance checks, sanctions screening and regulatory recordkeeping to support underwriting risk acceptance.
Administer binder, delegated authority and MGA documentation: monitor limits of authority, produce quota-share summaries and ensure accurate application of delegated quotes and binding notes.
Support complex case preparation by producing written summaries, risk matrices and comparison briefs that highlight key exposures, pricing rationales and recommended terms for the underwriting decision.
Communicate policy terms, coverage details and documentation requirements to brokers and clients in a clear and professional manner while tracking outstanding items and follow-ups.
Maintain and update underwriting templates, standard letters, checklists and workflow documentation to improve team efficiency and reduce turnaround times.
Work with IT and data teams to maintain and update underwriting system master data (product configurations, rating tables, user access) and test system enhancements related to policy processing.
Support audits, internal reviews and regulatory examinations by compiling required records, producing process narratives and addressing auditor queries related to underwriting files and controls.
Train and mentor junior support staff and temporary resources on submission handling, system processes and quality standards to ensure consistent team performance.
Monitor premium collections, outstanding invoices and payment allocations; escalate late payments, issue reminders and work with finance to resolve billing discrepancies affecting coverage.
Assist claims teams on new claims notification that may impact underwriting decisions, providing policy documentation and coverage history to expedite claims handling and subrogation inquiries.
Continuously review and implement process improvements and efficiency initiatives (automation, templates, straight-through processing) to reduce manual work and speed up underwriting cycles.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to help underwriters and managers understand portfolio trends and opportunities.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by providing user feedback on underwriting data quality and reporting gaps.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements and assist in user acceptance testing for underwriting systems.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering and IT teams for system enhancements impacting underwriting operations.
Provide occasional out-of-hours support for urgent bind requests, renewal deadlines or regulatory reporting cycles.
Assist marketing and product teams with the administrative setup for pilot programs or new product launches, including system configuration checklists and sales enablement documentation.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Working knowledge of insurance underwriting principles across commercial and/or personal lines, including exposures, exclusions and common policy wordings.
Experience with policy administration systems and broker portals (examples: Guidewire, Applied Epic, Insurity, Oracle Insbridge or comparable systems).
Strong MS Excel skills: pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, conditional formatting and basic macros for reconciliation and reporting.
Familiarity with premium calculation methodologies, pro-rata adjustments, commission calculations and basic rating engines.
Ability to produce and maintain Management Information Systems (MIS) and KPI dashboards using Excel, Power BI or similar reporting tools.
Document management and electronic filing experience, ensuring version control and compliance with filing standards.
Basic data literacy: ability to query, clean and interpret data from CSV/Excel exports and work with stakeholders to resolve data quality issues.
Knowledge of KYC/AML, sanctions screening and regulatory recordkeeping requirements relevant to insurance distribution.
Experience coordinating reinsurance referrals and preparing ceded premium schedules (beneficial in commercial insurance environments).
Understanding of endorsements, cancellations, mid-term adjustments, and binders/delegated authority processes.
Familiarity with broker/binding authority relationships, commission handling and broker remuneration documentation.
Basic exposure to underwriting analytics, loss ratio interpretation and portfolio monitoring techniques.

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy, with a strong focus on error-free documentation and data entry.
Clear written and verbal communication skills for professional interaction with brokers, underwriters and internal teams.
Strong organizational and time-management skills with the ability to prioritize multiple submissions and tight deadlines.
Problem-solving mindset and ability to escalate issues with appropriate recommendations for resolution.
Client-service orientation and ability to maintain positive broker and client relationships under pressure.
Collaborative team player who can work with cross-functional stakeholders including underwriting, claims, finance and IT.
Adaptability and willingness to learn new systems, products and regulatory changes.
High level of integrity and confidentiality when handling sensitive client and financial information.
Initiative and continuous improvement mindset to streamline workflows and reduce turnaround times.
Resilience and ability to perform in a fast-paced, volume-driven environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Risk Management, Insurance or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Preferred Education:

Professional insurance qualifications (ACII, CPCU, CIP, Chartered Insurance Institute modules, or equivalent).
Certifications in data tools (Excel advanced, Power BI) or underwriting/insurance short courses.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Insurance, Risk Management
Finance, Accounting, Economics
Business Administration, Management Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–4 years in underwriting support, policy administration, broker support or related insurance operational role.

Preferred:

2–5 years’ experience supporting commercial underwriting teams, or demonstrated experience in personal lines underwriting operations.
Proven experience with policy administration systems, renewals processing, endorsements and broker liaison.
Prior exposure to compliance processes (KYC/AML), reinsurance referral coordination or basic underwriting analytics is highly desirable.