Underwriter (Accident & Health)

Collinson is the global, privately-owned company dedicated to helping the world to travel with ease and confidence. The group offers a unique blend of industry and sector specialists who together provide market-leading airport experiences, loyalty and customer engagement, and insurance solutions for over 400 million consumers.

Collinson is the operator of Priority Pass, the world’s original and leading airport experiences programme. Travellers can access a network of 1,500+ lounges and travel experiences, including dining, retail, sleep and spa, in over 650 airports in 148 countries, helping to elevate the journey into something special. We work with the world’s leading payment networks, over 1,400 banks, 90 airlines and 20 hotel groups worldwide.

We have been bringing innovation to the market since inception – from launching the first independent global VIP lounge access Programme, Priority Pass to being the first to sell direct travel insurance in the UK through Columbus Direct and creating the first loyalty agency of its kind in the travel sector with ICLP. Today we still invest heavily in innovation to ensure that we continue to deliver superior customer experiences.

Key clients include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, LATAM, Flying Blue, Accor, EasyJet, HSBC, Chase, HDFC.

Our mission is focused on doing good beyond profit, which for us means we seek out opportunities for our people to share in our success and that we give back to the communities and people within which we work.

Never short of ambition, the success of our business is delivered through the diverse and talented team of over 1,800 global colleagues.

Purpose of the Job

Reporting to the Head of Pricing & Underwriting (Accident & Health), the Underwriter is responsible for the co-ordination of underwriting activity for key clients of the International Health and Dental insurance portfolios, in line with the corporate strategy. Underwriting is conducted at brand level, white labelling for our key partners.

As an Underwriter, you will be responsible for contributing to the profitability of our schemes and products, including management of scheme net loss ratio performance against targets. You will be responsible for the management and tracking of losses and the co-ordination of any mitigating actions that may be required. Knowledge of health insurance products, earning patterns, projection of experience to full maturity and P&L would be required.

Strong interest in data analysis is at the core of this role, with focus on interpreting and maximising data effectively and quickly drilling down to meaningful KPIs which can be released into monthly reporting cycles and utilised in key pricing decisions.

This is a varied role demanding a good balance between data analysis/MI, product, commercial delivery and excellent communication skills. It is a real opportunity to contribute to the shape and execution of the next steps in Collinson’s broader Health line of business strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• Carry out product/rate reviews, including changes to benefits and pricing.
• Compiling, in conjunction with the Compliance department, policy wordings, endorsements, addendums as may be required to reflect the cover provided by the policy in line with the pricing interpretation & expectation.
• Work with the reserving team to ensure accurate IBNR and reserve calculations.
• Demonstrating consistent adherence to local governance principles, primarily focusing on fair treatment of the end customer.
• Supporting Account and Business Development and Marketing teams when creating/enhancing products, with a strong focus on customer need.
• Monitor and analyze sales and underwriting performance, utilizing market research to identify and champion best practice.
• For existing schemes, co-ordination of annual renewal pricing and product reviews, utilising scheme performance data to propose and implement enhancements to support/develop scheme performance.
• Champion the use of new methods and techniques to manipulate and present data more efficiently.
• Contribution towards the design and continued update of Medical Underwriting guidelines and processes which are set with strong guidance from our Chief Medical Officer and in collaboration with our operations team.
• Day-to-day Medical Underwriting of Health products, working with the operational policy administration, claims and assistance teams, acting fairly and properly, and where appropriate communicating the result of underwriting decisions to partners/customers.

Knowledge, skills and experience required

Subject Matter Expertise

• Strong technical insurance underwriting background with an intimate understanding of the IPMI and Health market.
• Ability to analyse data to make underwriting decisions.
• Knowledge of earning patterns, experience development methods and P&L.
• Ability to articulate statistical trends into actionable insights and translate these into easy-to-understand recommendations for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience of underwriting both new and renewing portfolios to grow and manage performance in multiple geographic regions.
• Excellent attention to detail/analytically focused and a strong understanding of data manipulation.

Personal Attributes

• Strong focus on delivery, influencing across different job levels and departments.
• An aptitude to thinking beyond the numbers when developing new business products.
• Good business acumen, the ability to balance creativity with strong commercial delivery.
• A genuine interest in the Health & Dental markets and an awareness of the customer journey.
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders internally and externally, an effective relationship builder.
• Strong communication skills, particularly in disseminating complex technical concepts to a non-actuarial audience.
• Demonstrates highly effective planning. Strong coordination skills to support self-directed execution on key underwriting initiatives.

Qualifications and Skills

• Extensive experience within Consumer lines (Health products preferred) Insurance experience in a similar role.
• Strong command of MS Excel, PowerPoint and Word (intermediate/advanced). Previous experience of SQL/SAS/Tableau/Power BI & manipulating insurance data is advantageous.
• Broader awareness of insurance regulation would be advantageous.
• Educated to degree level in a numerate subject (Mathematics, Statistics, Actuarial Science, Science preferred) or equivalent professional qualification.

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work. Our company values are: Act smarter, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.