What does an underwriting associate do?
The job of an underwriting associate is to assess financial risk for insurers and their clients. Their duties may vary but typically include generating business leads through the promotion of products and services, collaborating with other team members, departments, and branches to achieve company goals, and handling cancellations and non-renewal requests. Additionally, you may perform administrative tasks such as conducting risk assessments and managing the renewal of accounts. As an underwriting associate, you are also expected to support underwriters in computing premiums and rates.
Underwriting associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real underwriting associate resumes:
- Assist underwriters in expediting new business, processing endorsements and/or modifying existing policies while achieving broker relationships.
- Save BCBS significant dollars annually by conducting conscientious and thorough research to support decisions and revisions to group plans.
- Work directly with independent agents and BCBS marketing department to analyze information and make eligibility decisions with strict timelines.
- Review premium audits, pull ISO rates and run property valuations.
- Develop ISO quotes on all lines of business under guarantee cost, first dollar policy forms.
- Perform credit investigation through Dunn and Bradstreet and Experian.
- Receive, review and process applications/correspondence regarding surety bonds.
- Prepare commercial aviation quotes and enter policy information into AS400.
- Write sales outlines for use by staff.
- Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer.
- Evaluate new and renewal submissions as delegated by underwriters for prescribe criteria and clearance into AS400 invoicing system.
- Organize ImageRight files into accurate, uniform documentation for individual policyholders.
- Process documentation within manage database systems and ImageRight system for the legal binding of commercial insurance risk.
Underwriting associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Underwriting Associates are proficient in Customer Service, Data Entry, and Risk Assessments. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Analytical skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Underwriting Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 19%
Provided customer service to personal bankers and settlement agents by investigating and resolving loan package discrepancies to avoid processing delays.
- Data Entry, 8%
Utilize online system to access reference material, retrieving rating information and performing policy data entry; process written policies
- Risk Assessments, 5%
Performed risk assessments of specific medical conditions and interpreted medical diagnoses.
- Strong Analytical, 5%
Developed broker and reinsurance relationships to gain strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
- Underwriting Guidelines, 4%
Review individual risks for acceptability and handle those within authority based on company underwriting guidelines and standards.
- Insurance Policies, 4%
Transitioned insurance policies from recently acquired companies to ANPAC policies utilizing company specific insurance software.
Common skills that an underwriting associate uses to do their job include "customer service," "data entry," and "risk assessments." You can find details on the most important underwriting associate responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform underwriting associate duties is analytical skills. Underwriting associates responsibilities require that "underwriters must evaluate information from a variety of sources to balance risk against caution." Underwriting associates also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "analyze and summarize motor vehicle reports. "
Detail oriented. underwriting associates are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to underwriting associate responsibilities, because "underwriters must stay focused when reviewing insurance applications because each item may affect the coverage decision." An underwriting associate resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "conduct detailed loss analysis on self insured retention tpa business. "
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what underwriting associates do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to underwriting associate responsibilities because "underwriters need to communicate and relate well with people because much of their work involves dealing with clients or others, such as insurance sales agents." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical underwriting associate tasks: "cited for excellence in interpersonal communications, teamwork, customer service, flexibility and reliability. "
The three companies that hire the most underwriting associates are:
- The Independent Traveler26 underwriting associates jobs
- The Travelers Companies24 underwriting associates jobs
- Chubb20 underwriting associates jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable underwriting associate resume templates
Build a professional underwriting associate resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your underwriting associate resume.
Compare different underwriting associates
Underwriting associate vs. Reviewer sales
An insurance analyst provides analytical services to maintain an efficient workflow at insurance companies. They are typically in charge of evaluating insurance policies to identify possible risks for the policyholder and the company, validating client information, and reviewing insurance applications to ensure their accuracy. They may meet with clients to answer inquiries, make arrangements, and advise which policies suit them the best. Moreover, an insurance analyst may process policy renewals and amendments, maintain records, perform cancellations, and investigate claims while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between underwriting associates and reviewer sales. For instance, underwriting associate responsibilities require skills such as "customer service," "data entry," "risk assessments," and "strong analytical." Whereas a reviewer sales is skilled in "cost reduction," "customer complaints," "program improvements," and "performance data." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Reviewer sales tend to reach similar levels of education than underwriting associates. In fact, reviewer sales are 3.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Underwriting associate vs. Commercial lines manager
Commercial lines underwriters are professionals who are responsible for reviewing corporate insurance applications to evaluate the risk involved and to approve or disapprove applicants. These underwriters are required to analyze the business information of their clients as well as monitor their activities to change insurance policies when risk is high or substandard. They must contact outside parties to discuss and explain underwriting policies as well as quote rates. Commercial lines underwriters must also utilize underwriting guidelines so that they can determine the loss-ratio history and loss-control reports.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real underwriting associate resumes. While underwriting associate responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "data entry," "risk assessments," and "strong analytical," commercial lines managers use skills like "risk management," "insurance carriers," "workers compensation," and "account management."
In general, commercial lines managers achieve similar levels of education than underwriting associates. They're 2.9% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Underwriting associate vs. Insurance analyst
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from underwriting associate resumes include skills like "customer service," "data entry," "risk assessments," and "underwriting guidelines," whereas an insurance analyst is more likely to list skills in "life insurance," "patients," "health insurance," and "powerpoint. "
Insurance analysts typically earn similar educational levels compared to underwriting associates. Specifically, they're 2.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Underwriting associate vs. Commercial lines underwriter
Types of underwriting associate
Updated January 8, 2025
