Role Overview

This role owns the design, oversight, and ongoing improvement of the underwriting governance framework, ensuring underwriting activity stays within risk appetite, regulatory expectations, Lloyd's requirements, and internal policy.

Sitting independently from the underwriting teams themselves, the role gives assurance across every portfolio that decision-making is sound, risk is well managed, and underwriting standards are applied consistently. It works closely with Underwriting, Risk, Compliance, Actuarial, Claims, Finance, and Operations to keep governance both disciplined and commercially workable.

As the main governance point of contact for underwriting, the role covers control oversight, underwriting authority, portfolio and product governance, and committee activity, while pushing continuous improvement across underwriting operations more broadly.

Responsibilities

• Own the underwriting governance framework end to end, keeping it proportionate, effective, and current with risk appetite and regulatory change; maintain the policies, standards, and procedures behind it so controls are applied consistently across all classes of business.
• Hold the underwriting controls framework, ensuring key controls are properly designed, documented, tested, and monitored. This includes oversight of underwriting authorities and delegation (with the DA Lead), referral governance, exception handling, peer review and QA (with the Ops Lead), control testing, attestations, and self-assessments. Track control effectiveness, flag weaknesses early, and see remedial action through to completion.
• Provide governance oversight of underwriting portfolios against approved plans, strategy, and risk appetite — reviewing rate adequacy, loss ratios, exposure and aggregation, capacity use, referral patterns, and quality metrics, and working with underwriting leadership to prompt timely corrective action.
• Oversee product governance across the full product lifecycle, working with Compliance and product owners to ensure fair value, good customer outcomes, and Consumer Duty alignment through approval committees, reviews, fair value, and target market assessments, and outcome monitoring.
• Keep governance aligned with Lloyd's standards, FCA rules, and internal policy — with particular focus on Consumer Duty, conduct risk, operational resilience, financial crime, sanctions, and data protection — tracking regulatory change and recommending policy updates as needed.
• Build and maintain governance MI and reporting, spotting emerging issues, and preparing materials for executive, board, risk, and underwriting committees and regulators as required.
• Coordinate assurance activity across internal and external audit, Lloyd's reviews, regulatory reviews, and underwriting QA, driving findings through to closure and reporting progress to committees and senior management.
• Build strong working relationships across Underwriting, Risk, Compliance, Operations, Claims, Finance, Actuarial, and Technology, acting as a trusted adviser who balances commercial goals against regulatory and risk considerations, and maintaining good relationships with Lloyd's, regulators, and auditors.
• Lead improvement work that strengthens oversight, reporting, and governance efficiency, supporting transformation and automation projects that improve data quality and decision-making, and championing a strong governance culture across the function.