How to hire an underwriting director

How to hire an underwriting director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step underwriting director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an underwriting director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new underwriting director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the underwriting director you need to hire. Certain underwriting director roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an underwriting director to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an underwriting director that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of underwriting directors.

   Type of Underwriting Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Underwriting Director	Financial managers are responsible for the financial health of an organization. They produce financial reports, direct investment activities, and develop strategies and plans for the long-term financial goals of their organization.	$37-73
   Accounts Receivable Manager	An accounts receivable manager is responsible for overseeing the financial matters in a business or company, focusing on the generated sales and income. Moreover, they are also responsible for maintaining an accurate and efficient collection of payments, conducting research and analysis, and supervising the workforce, striving to meet all the goals within the allotted time... Show more	$20-54
   Accounts Payable Manager	An accounts payable manager is in charge of supervising a company's financial activities, particularly in all payable matters. Their primary responsibilities revolve around managing and assessing staff performances and overseeing check and payroll disbursements... Show more	$24-45

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Portfolio
   • Underwriting Policy
   • Product Development
   • Life Insurance
   • Underwriting Guidelines
   • Insurance Products
   • Membership Growth
   • Underwriting Process
   • Client Relationships
   • Business Relationships
   • Business Development
   • Risk Selection
   • Loss Ratio
   • Underwriting Authority

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Supervise staff of 20-30 credit professionals managing an $80 - $100 million A/R portfolio consistently exceeding aging goals.
   • Create FHA platform, complete the required test cases to obtain non supervise lending designation.
   • Review of appeals; concluding and processing the finalization; communicating the adjustments to the original underwriter for educational purposes.
   • Develop underwriting training on ISO and proprietary forms and guidelines for implementation of company strategy.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your underwriting director job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An underwriting director can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, underwriting directors' average salary in nebraska is 34% less than in new hampshire.
   • Seniority. Entry-level underwriting directors 49% less than senior-level underwriting directors.
   • Certifications. An underwriting director with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an underwriting director's salary.

   Average underwriting director salary

   $109,027yearly

   $52.42 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level underwriting director salary

   $77,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

4. Writing an underwriting director job description

   A good underwriting director job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of an underwriting director job description:

   Underwriting director job description example

   * Manage the IDI underwriting team
   * Build a strong team & risk culture
   * Manage and maintain high quality and time-service standards
   * Maintain MR's facultative underwriting exceptional reputation among clients and in the industry
   
   * Support facultative submissions by
   * Managing the intake and execution of facultative submissions
   * Case underwriting
   * Second signature/ co-signs
   * Continue to manage and develop client relations and be primary contact for IDI carrier's IDI management on facultative business
   
   * Manage and develop client relations and be primary contact for IDI carrier's IDI management on facultative business
   * Recognize pertinent risk factors and understand insurable risk and financial justification to make strong decisions; ensure appropriate documentation to support these decisions.
   * Provide prompt handling of facultative new business and additional requirements.
   * Keep up with mortality trends and industry underwriting practices of both clients and competitors. Maintain current understanding of client's personnel and their business practices.
   * Represent and promote Munich Re with phone contact, at industry meeting business travel to client's offices and participating on external reviews/audits.
   
   Your profile
   
   * 10 years of IDI underwriting experience
   * Reinsurance experience is a plus
   * People management experience
   * Credentials: FLMI, FALU, CLU, or equivalent
   
   About us
   
   Together, we engage with everything we have and are, to help humankind act braver and better.
   
   As the world's leading reinsurance company with more than 40,000 employees in over 50 locations around the globe, Munich Re introduces a paradigm shift in the way you think about insurance. By turning uncertainty into manageable risk, we enable fundamental change. We recognize Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging as a key priority with a culture that welcomes different thoughts and opinions. We dare to think big and are continuously innovating on behalf of our clients.
   
   Our data, our technology, and our teams place us in a unique position to drive transformative change in the life insurance industry. We invest strategically in our world class talent, offering our employees a work experience that promotes professional development, innovation, and rewards high performance.
   
   Please note that only candidates who are selected for interview will be contacted directly. We thank all candidates for their interest.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right underwriting director for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with underwriting directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit underwriting directors who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your underwriting director job on Zippia to find and recruit underwriting director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit underwriting directors, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new underwriting director

   Once you've found the underwriting director candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new underwriting director first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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