Assistant Vice President – Chief Life Underwriting

Horace Mann

Assistant Vice President, Chief Life Underwriter responsible for underwriting leadership and strategy at Horace Mann. Driving innovative practices and operational excellence in Life insurance underwriting.

Posted 7/7/2026full-timeRemote • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $124,200 - $175,800 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Serve as the highest underwriting authority for the Life business, providing strategic leadership for underwriting philosophy, risk selection, mortality management, governance, and operational effectiveness.
Establish and maintain underwriting guidelines, authorities, and risk selection practices that balance growth objectives with sound mortality management and regulatory compliance.
Provide strategic direction on complex underwriting cases and emerging underwriting issues.
Champion the evolution of the underwriting function through the evaluation and implementation of innovative underwriting methodologies, technologies, and external data sources.
Lead initiatives involving accelerated underwriting, predictive analytics, and digital capabilities that improve customer and agent experiences.
Drive continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to enhance underwriting efficiency, consistency, and decision quality.
Ensure timely and accurate processing and issuance of Life insurance applications.
Monitor, enhance, and implement underwriting policies, procedures, and operational standards with clearly defined accountability.
Ensure compliance with internal underwriting guidelines, regulatory requirements, and legal directives.
Support organizational initiatives that improve underwriting quality, service levels, and operational performance.
Partner closely with Life & Retirement leadership—particularly Product Strategy and Life New Business Operations—to support product innovation and business growth.
Collaborate with Distribution, Compliance, Finance, Technology, reinsurers, and vendor partners to optimize underwriting capabilities and customer outcomes.
Build and maintain strong relationships with agents, field leaders, and business partners, serving as a trusted underwriting advisor.
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing underwriting organization.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and innovation.
Support succession planning, talent development, and performance management for underwriting staff.
Support enterprise strategic and tactical initiatives through effective planning, implementation, and organizational change management.
Influence business decisions through underwriting expertise, market insight, and risk management leadership.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
10+ years of progressively responsible Life Insurance underwriting experience.
3+ years of leadership experience overseeing underwriting teams, programs, or operations.
Demonstrated expertise developing, implementing, and managing underwriting guidelines, authorities, and risk selection practices.
Significant experience evaluating and implementing accelerated and automated underwriting methodologies.
Proven ability to lead organizational change, influence stakeholders, and drive adoption of new underwriting capabilities and technologies.
Strong understanding of mortality management, underwriting operations, and regulatory compliance.
Excellent communication, relationship-building, and collaboration skills.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Normal office environment with remote work-from-home flexibility based on business needs.
Core business hours with flexibility to meet business objectives.
Periodic travel may be required.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Underwriting Guidelines DevelopmentRisk Selection PracticesMortality ManagementPredictive AnalyticsAccelerated UnderwritingAutomated Underwriting MethodologiesUnderwriting Policy ImplementationOperational EffectivenessChange ManagementDecision Quality Improvement

Soft Skills

Excellent CommunicationRelationship-BuildingCollaboration SkillsMentoringTeam Development