Senior Manager, Underwriting & Marketing

Pula Reinsurance Ltd (Pula Re) is looking for a  Senior Manager, Underwriting & Marketing.

Key Responsibilities 

• Develop relationships with insurers, RI Brokers and other reinsurers to maximize opportunities and achieve profitable growth. 

• Initiate market visits and calls to market players to identify sales opportunities and collect intelligence.

• Achieving new business premium, renewal premium retention and monitoring rate, exposure and retention.

• Collaborate with HoDs & senior members of broader Pula Group to develop synergies and local tactics to attract and retain business while executing Pula Re’s underwriting strategies and initiatives.

• Within Pula Re’s guidelines and granted underwriting authority, evaluate new and renewal account information to determine risk acceptability, terms / conditions to be quoted, and pricing.

• Make sound risk and pricing decisions that achieve profitable loss ratios. 

• Maintain underwriting quality as per Pula Re underwriting framework. 

• Document underwriting file to support acceptability and pricing in accordance with Pula Re guidelines. 

• Achieve customer service standards, including established objectives for: 

  • New business quote turnaround. 

  • Renewal quotes 

  • Endorsement, cancellation, audits and other transactions.

  • Policy issuance 

• Provide detailed issuance instructions to ensure policy is delivered consistent with quoted terms and conditions and in accordance with established guidelines relative to policy construction.

• Review mid-term endorsement requests for acceptability and provide instructions for processing.

• Evaluate premium/risk referrals to determine class acceptability and/or appropriateness of current exposure base. Adjust current terms with acceptable changes to ensure the company gets timely payment of adequate premium. 

• Order and review inspections to confirm accounts written are consistent with preliminary underwriting information and act when the inspection reveals unacceptable risk characteristics. 

• Determine if retro-facultative reinsurance is needed and if so, factor retro cost in gross pricing, complete cession procedures; documentation file and follow established workflow procedure to ensure proper reporting / accounting. 

• Managing claims management encompassing recovery from retro partners, payouts cedants and evaluating all claim slips and related documentation.

• Support other team members as assigned when the other underwriter is traveling or out on vacation / sick time. 

• Building underwriting acumen of internal and external stakeholders through training and development opportunities.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA, Master’s in Business, or degree in Engineering/Technology) preferred.

• Professional insurance certification (e.g., CII, Insurance Institute of Kenya) advantageous but not mandatory.

• Proven success in commercial lines property, casualty, or specialty insurance, ideally within a reinsurer or reinsurance broker of repute.

• Experience in surplus lines underwriting and retrocession treaty design highly preferred.

• Underwriting experience in the parametric insurance sector will be beneficial.

• Strong network and relationships across insurance and reinsurance markets in and beyond Africa.

• Skilled in process mapping, operational efficiency, and cost management.