Underwriting Manager – Health

Job Title: Underwriting Manager – Health & Life

Reporting To:
Technical Director

Location:
United Arab Emirates

Employment Type:
Full-Time

About the Role

In ALFIT we are seeking an experienced
Underwriting Manager – Health & Life
to lead and manage underwriting activities across Health & Life insurance portfolio, including Individual, SME, and Group business.

This role is critical to ensuring disciplined risk selection, consistent underwriting practices, and strong alignment with risk appetite, pricing assumptions, and reinsurance framework. the Underwriting Manager will play a key role in establishing underwriting governance, systems, and processes while supporting sustainable portfolio growth.

The role works closely with Actuarial, Business Development, Reinsurance, Product, Claims, and IT to ensure technical integrity and a seamless customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

Underwriting Governance & Risk Management

• Implement and enforce underwriting guidelines, authority limits, and risk rules.
• Ensure consistent application of underwriting standards across all business lines.
• Support the development and refinement of underwriting philosophy.
• Monitor adherence to the company's risk appetite and escalate exceptions when required.
• Conduct regular audits of underwriting decisions and documentation.

Operational Underwriting & Product Support

• Lead underwriting activities for Health & Life products (Individual, SME, Group).
• Ensure pricing decisions are technically sound and commercially competitive.
• Oversee experience analysis including demographics, networks, regions, and morbidity/mortality trends.
• Support the development of underwriting tools and pricing frameworks in collaboration with IT.
• Ensure products and underwriting practices comply with UAE regulatory requirements (DHA, DOH, MOHAP, CBUAE, ICP).

Reinsurance Alignment

• Apply reinsurance guidelines to ensure compliance with treaty terms.
• Prepare and manage reinsurance referrals and facultative submissions.
• Liaise with reinsurers on complex cases, exceptions, and treaty-related matters.
• Ensure underwriting decisions align with Alfit's reinsurance strategy and risk-sharing structure.

Portfolio Monitoring & Analytics

• Monitor portfolio performance indicators including loss ratios, frequency, and severity.
• Identify adverse trends and recommend corrective actions such as repricing or guideline updates.
• Support the preparation of underwriting and portfolio performance reports for senior management.

System Integration & Process Design

• Provide underwriting business requirements for the core insurance system.
• Support testing of underwriting workflows, pricing engines, rules engines, and digital medical assessment processes.
• Contribute to automation initiatives such as referral triggers, risk scoring, and AI-supported underwriting.
• Ensure system configuration reflects underwriting governance and controls.

Stakeholder & Sales Support

• Support Business Development teams with underwriting assessments for brokers and clients.
• Provide technical underwriting explanations for large or strategic opportunities.
• Participate in client or broker meetings where underwriting clarification is required.
• Deliver underwriting training to sales and operational teams.

Team Leadership

• Recruit, coach, and develop underwriting team members.
• Build underwriting capability through continuous technical training.
• Promote a culture of accuracy, discipline, and technical excellence.

Qualifications & Experience

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science, Business, Healthcare Management, or a related field.
• Professional underwriting certifications (e.g., LOMA, AHIP) are a strong advantage.

Experience

• 7–10 years of Health insurance underwriting experience (UAE / GCC preferred).
• Strong experience in SME and Group underwriting.
• Hands-on experience with underwriting engines or core insurance systems.
• Prior team leadership or supervisory experience is preferred.

Key Skills & Competencies

• Strong knowledge of the UAE Health insurance market and regulations.
• Expertise in medical underwriting and risk assessment.
• Solid understanding of actuarial pricing principles.
• Strong analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management abilities.
• Ability to balance commercial objectives with technical discipline.
• High attention to detail and strong process orientation.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, startup or pre-launch environment.
• Customer-centric mindset (internal and external).