Description:

In this role, will be responsible for working closely with the General Agents, Agency New Business Coordinators, and MassMutual's Life and DI Producing Agents through the Life and DI application acquisition process, underwriting of the applications, and issuance of the contracts. Also, will be responsible for managing Relationship Managers, Underwriters, Underwriting Case Analysts and Case Managers.

Responsibilities:

• Acquires, retains and develops IDI underwriting and case management talent.
• Leads, guides, mentors, and coaches both disability underwriters and case managers on technical and professional skills.
• Cultivates an environment conducive to continuous improvement and root cause problem solving.
• Ensures the team provides efficient, quality service to our career advisors and brokers.
• Comprehends operational and performance metrics as well as having a proven ability to leverage data to make management decisions.
• Works closely with Compliance, Legal and key underwriting partners relative to underwriting policies, regulatory issues and inquiries.
• Commits to professional development; adaptable to change; open to receiving and providing feedback in a constructive manner; makes changes in behavior based on feedback and/or experience.
• Maintains ongoing awareness of medical, financial and occupational underwriting developments across the industry. 
• Performs trending and root cause analysis to identify gaps and provide feedback on training needs and procedural changes
• Innovates; can brainstorm effectively; open to new methods, processes, or ways of performing work; proactively seeks alternative ways to meet objectives; can articulate how potential ideas may play out in the business environment; possesses advanced critical path thinking skills.
• Develops and maintains key relationships with general agents, advisors, brokerage directors and firm staff to resolve escalations, discrepancies, or risk-related concerns. Considers total case, financials, relationship and value of customer.
• Collaborates with peers, management and others regarding strategic vision.
• Leads various initiatives that support the organization's strategic vision

What success looks like:

• Create a culture where the team is inspired, engaged and motivated
• Establish and maintain a clear and shared purpose to drive priorities
• Remove obstacles and optimize team results
• Support our vision, yet empower the team to derive solutions on their own
• Develop staff ensuring we make the most competitive offer first, which is critical to success and must be built into the team's cultural framework
• Focus frequently on self and team members for the development and refinement of existing skills and skill gaps, as well as encourages/promotes learning new skills/competencies
• Has the ability to adapt to a culture of learn, apply and discuss to drive individual development and skill enhancement of the team. 
• Communicate manual workarounds and testing of our agile and evolving platform functionality to maintain quality and consistency of decisions
• Leverage interpersonal and emotional intelligence skills to develop relationships with key business partners across this competitive landscape, which can be relied on to inform decisions and communicate underwriting decisions
• Functions well in a remote work environment with virtual/remote staff located across the country
• Highly collaborative, creative and customer focused. Makes prudent risk decisions while balancing customer expectations and earning business in a competitive environment

Qualifications:

• High school diploma or GED
• +10 years of direct IDI underwriting experience with an underwriting authority limit highly preferred. 
• Experience leading underwriting and new business teams also highly preferred
• Experience and understanding of the IDI industry including the ability to identify and react to industry trends
• Demonstrated leadership abilities to include high performance team building, coaching, and performance management capabilities, as well as strategic planning and executing
• Must build a diverse team that is inclusive and values different experience, backgrounds and knowledge
• Demonstrated understanding of all aspects of risk selection (medical, non-medical, financial)
• Excellent communication skills, including strong presentation skills.
• Analytical, negotiating and interpretative skills
• Proven track record of partnership with sales, product, marketing and compliance
• Strong integrity and experience in dealing with people and their confidential information
• Excellent multitasking, organization and prioritization skills
• Ability to make independent decisions including balancing risk to company with customer requests and needs
• Willing to roll up your sleeves and jump into production if necessary
• Flexible to travel and work outside of standard office hours

Preferred:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience
• Industry exams encouraged

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