Reporting to: Finance & Performance Manager (Group & 1856) / Head of FP&A
Location: London
About us
IQUW is a speciality (re)insurer at Lloyd’s (Syndicate 1856) underwriting a diverse range of Property, Commercial and Speciality (re)insurance products from Cargo and Marine to Political Violence, Terror and War. We combine data, intelligent automation, and human expertise to make smart decisions, fast.
ERS is the UK's largest specialist motor insurer with an A+ rating. We recognise that for some, motor insurance is more than just a must-have; it's a way of taking care of what stands at the heart of their passion or livelihood. For those people, standard insurance isn't enough. That's why we work exclusively with motor insurance brokers to help get under the skin of the most difficult insurance risks, helping build products to meet their customer’s needs.
The role
The Underwriting Business Partner reports to the Finance & Performance Manager (Group & 1856) / Head of FP&A and plays a key role in the FP&A function. Role involves ownership of the bridge between Underwriting and Finance teams with key focuses on value adding analytics, forecasting and financial modelling. Day-to-day working with the Active Underwriter and Divisional UW Teams to deliver analysis and challenge of actual performance against expected across various technical KPIs and supporting decisions to drive the business forward. Key involvement in Business Planning and quarterly reforecast cycles for UW related inputs. Communicate results and analysis to key decision makers and stakeholders across the business and contribute to direction and shaping of business functions.
Key responsibilities
- Ownership of Board, Executive and Committee papers with supporting narrative and analysis
- Building and ongoing management of cross-business relationships with key stakeholders
- High quality MI to understand drivers, trends, and areas of opportunity or remedial action
- Ownership of UW inputs to quarterly reforecasts, SBF and business plans – both YoA and CY
- Manage cross business liaison to capture data points – UW, Pricing, Reserving, ORI
- Own and continually develop financial capabilities based on business requirements
- Identification and drive forward process simplification and improvement opportunities
- Act as the key Finance point of contact for all Underwriting Team related activities
- Provide leadership, direction and support to others within the team
- Performance of ad-hoc project and support work as required across the FP&A function
The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list and you may be required to undertake any other reasonable duties compatible with your experience and competencies. This description may be varied from time to time to reflect changing business requirements.
Essential qualifications, skills, and experience
- A qualified / final stage commercially minded financial accountant – CA/ACA/CIMA/ACCA
- Good knowledge of Insurance accounting, UK GAAP and business systems – essential
- Relevant and recent technical experience in a multi-line insurance finance role – essential
- Experience of Lloyd’s regulatory/syndicate accounting requirements
- Intermediate/Advanced Microsoft Excel skills – TM1 experience highly advantageous
- Extremely proficient in use of Microsoft Office product suite and general PC skills
- Ability to manage own workload and work to strict deadlines
- Effective organisational and time management skills with the ability to work under pressure
- Strong analytical skills and an inquisitive mindset
- Highly organized and methodical thinker
Desirable behavioural attributes
- Effective Communication skills: to express themselves clearly with a diverse set of stakeholders
- Initiative & Change: Self-starter, takes action without being prompted. Able to react to change and use initiative to identify areas where change is necessary
- Driving & Delivering Results: See success for self and team as being aligned to business goals.
- Planning & Organising: Establishes effective priorities and timelines
- Problem Solving: Defines problems clearly and logically, communicates the problem and solution appropriately.
- Decision Making Effectiveness: Able to make decisions to achieve goals, and drive these to successful completion.
- Teamwork: Works collaboratively with others
- Commercial Awareness (Including Financial Awareness) Has an awareness of internal and external commercial and financial markets and the financial and commercial impact their decisions may have on the success of their department and the wider business.
- Personal Growth & Self-Management. Effective management of own and others time, establishing effective personal goals and standards for future growth and development
- Building Relationships: Develops good relationships, gets along with all levels of staff and executive, putting them at ease.
- Strategic Thinking: Able to contribute valuable suggestions to future direction and plans.
