Director, Underwriting Operations

Location: Waltham, MA (hybrid)

ERGO NEXT's mission is to help entrepreneurs thrive. We’re doing that by building the only technology-led, full-stack provider of small business insurance in the industry, taking on the entire value chain and transforming the customer experience. 

Simply put, wherever you find small businesses, you’ll find ERGO NEXT.

Since 2016, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of small business customers across the United States get fast, customized and affordable coverage. We’re backed by industry leaders in insurance and tech, and we still have room to grow — that’s where you come in.

The Director, Underwriting Excellence owns capability build, tooling, and process management for underwriting execution across NEXT's commercial P&C and WC lines. 

This role is the standard-bearer for how underwriting gets done well: it builds and runs the audit and risk review disciplines that verify process quality, sets renewal underwriting standards, manages the underwriting vendor ecosystem, and leads quality assurance and testing for enablement- and line-level initiatives. 

The role absorbs and formalizes capabilities previously distributed across underwriting leadership, and gives NEXT a dedicated, accountable owner for underwriting process integrity, compliance, and continuous improvement.

What You'll Do:

• Own the underwriting audit process, including the execution and continuous improvement of audits that assess adherence to underwriting standards, authority, and documentation quality
• Own the risk review process, including the execution and continuous improvement of the risk review discipline that surfaces individual account and referral-level underwriting quality issues
• Establish and maintain renewal underwriting standards, including exposure model design and upkeep, standards for capturing the data needed to price and underwrite effectively, capping methodology and application, and writing company strategy at the renewal underwriting level
• Support insurance product analytics, including competitive intelligence, rating factor analysis, product amendment project management, ad hoc analysis, and performance dashboard builds
• Lead Quality Assurance (QA) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for line-level and enablement tools, rating updates, and bug remediation plans in coordination with Tech
• Own the relationship with third party vendors including: performance, and contract-level accountability for third-party underwriting data, tooling, and service vendors
• Own the underwriting-side compliance standards that keep the book audit-ready and aligned to regulatory and enterprise governance requirements
• Manage a team of Insurance Product Ops staff, the Data Vendor Manager, and Independent Contractor underwriting staff across all lines of business
• Maintain a service/support relationship with the line of business leaders, providing underwriting process expertise, audit findings, and QA support
• Resolve internal stakeholder inquiries and product quality issues, including manual policy tasks and binding moratoriums
• Serve as the key Insurance Product contact for the ERGO NA Hub and regional affiliates while supporting product analytics, competitive intelligence, and compliance

What We Need:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in commercial P&C underwriting, underwriting operations, or underwriting quality/compliance, with exposure to multiple lines (GL, PL, Property, WC preferred).
• Demonstrated experience building or running underwriting audit, risk review, or QA programs — including designing standards, executing reviews, and driving remediation.
• Experience with renewal underwriting mechanics: exposure modeling, data capture standards, capping, and account-level pricing/underwriting strategy.
• Vendor management experience, ideally with underwriting data, rating, or workflow tooling vendors.
• People leadership experience, including managing distributed or contractor-based teams.
• Working knowledge of underwriting compliance frameworks and comfort operating within a regulated, audited environment (Munich Re / reinsurance-affiliated governance experience a plus).
• Strong process design and documentation discipline; comfortable being the standards owner that other functions rely on and are audited against.
• Clear, direct communicator who can hold a service/support relationship with peer-level Line Leads without formal authority over them.
• Bachelor's degree required; industry credentials (CPCU, AU, or equivalent) preferred.