Director, Portfolio Management

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.

ERGO NEXT is looking for a high-caliber commercial insurance professional that will be dedicated to informing and aligning execution against ERGO NEXT’s loss ratio goals.  This individual will be tasked with developing, maintaining, and aligning company wide execution on a roadmap that will lead NEXT to meeting its loss ratio targets. 

Operating under a joint accountability model, this role is the technical and diagnostic counterweight to Insurance Product Management (IPM). You will serve as a strategic partner to IPM, shining a light on portfolio health and prospective dynamics to ensure growth initiatives are balanced against bottom line considerations. This person will collaborate closely with actuarial, insurance product management, finance, claims, and ERGO global teams in order to achieve execution against the profitability roadmap.This is a high visibility,high impact role that will be a lynchpin in ERGO NEXT achieving its bottom line objectives.

What you’ll do:

• In partnership with the VP and Chief Actuary, develop a strategic profitability roadmap and inform and align execution across Product, Claims, Sales Channels, and Actuarial Pricing.
• Manage the portfolio dynamically with IPM, ensuring growth plans and loss ratio trends are anticipated, modeled, and owned together prospectively rather than audited after the fact
• Develop a holistic organizational perspective on drivers of profitability and use this to proactively identify and break down bottlenecks to achieving profitability goals.
• Leverage actuarial profitability, underwriting quality, and other portfolio management metrics that make the strategic roadmap data driven and grounded in the business.
• Proactively flag concerns and co-lead the escalation path with VP actuarial and VP IPM to resolve core strategic or risk disagreements
• Use high EQ to build relationships with stakeholders and apply indirect influence in ambiguous situations, in order to push forward profitability roadmap objectives.
• Clearly communicate status, risks, and opportunities related to the strategic roadmap to both ERGO NEXT and ERGO corporate executive teams.

What We Need:

• 12+ Years experience working in P&C insurance in underwriting management, state management, product management, or actuarial functions.
• Top to bottom understanding of underwriting strategy across appetite, guidelines, rules, and quality measurement.
• Ability to drive critical initiatives to completion, leveraging a chief of staff mindset to lead through indirect influence.
• Financial literacy as it relates to P&C insurance metrics such as loss ratios and earned premiums.
• Understanding of insurance portfolio dynamics, such as accumulation risk, growth/profitability trade offs, impacts of UW guidelines and how they translate into individual risk decisions.
• Exceptional executive communication skills, and the ability to explain complex topics in a simple and understandable way. 

Unstoppable Qualities:

• Experience with bottom line accountability of an P&C insurance portfolio, such as a territory, line of business, or insurance program.
• Actuarial credentials such as FCAS or ACAS, or underwriting credentials such as CPCU a plus.
• Experience with evaluating the quality of automated underwriting systems and optimizing their quality and accuracy.
• An AI forward mindset. Proactively leverages AI and cutting edge technology to evaluate data and support strategic plan development.
• An enterprise influencer. Builds deep credibility across the organization by gaining trust and buy-in across all levels of the business without relying on direct authority. 

 

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that some underrepresented people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ERGO NEXT, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

One of our core values is 'Play as a Team'; this means making sure everyone has an equal chance to participate and make a difference. We win by playing together. ERGO Next Insurance is an equal opportunity employer and prioritizes building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants of any type and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job-related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state, and local laws. ERGO Next's policy is to comply with all applicable laws related to nondiscrimination and equal opportunity and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.