How To Become A Bond Underwriter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bond underwriter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bond underwriter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.58 an hour? That's $78,172 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBond UnderwriterUS Average

Salary

6.1

Avg. Salary $78,172

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 5.89%

Black or African American 8.03%

Hispanic or Latino 10.38%

Unknown 2.51%

White 72.82%

Gender

female 45.26%

male 54.74%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.5

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bond underwriter

Explore bond underwriter education requirements

Most common bond underwriter degrees

Bachelor's

84.8 %

Associate

6.7 %

Master's

4.8 %

Start to develop specific bond underwriter skills

Skills	Percentages
Surety	40.45%
Financial Strength	19.18%
Bonds	15.20%
Underwriting Guidelines	8.33%
Contractor Clients	3.81%

Complete relevant bond underwriter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bond underwriters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bond underwriter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bond underwriter resumes.

Research bond underwriter duties and responsibilities

Manage AUS findings and analyze approvals and results accordingly.
Analyze construction companies for contract surety bond credit; conduct financial analysis of corporate financial statements.
Work closely with multiple insurance agents on underwriting fidelity bonds.
Obtain information from clients and underwrite and execute bonds as attorney-in-fact.

Apply for bond underwriter jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a bond underwriter job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do bond underwriters rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Bond underwriter reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2023

Cons

High pressure environment, constant scrutiny of job performance

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Pros

I was fortunate to start via an underwriting training program with a large insurance company. These are difficult to get into now and companies aren't as committed to training. The training offered me a great overview of the industry & various product lines. This offered me flexibility as I learned new products and specialty programs. I enjoy a 9-5 role, great benefits, good bonuses and travel. You also meet many people with variety of education and professional backgrounds and interests and make great long term friendships. The industry welcomes and needs people with many talents. I've enjoyed working remote and with small teams in the office.