Lead Underwriter – Travel
Australia New Zealand
Location: Australia (Brisbane / Sydney / Melbourne – flexible)Travel: Up to 15%Reports to: Regional Head of Pricing Case APAC MEA, with a dotted line to Executive Head of Travel AU
About the Role
We are seeking a highly experiencedLead Underwriter – Travel (AU NZ) to drive technical excellence, underwriting discipline, and portfolio performance across our Travel Line of Business.
In this senior role, you will oversee case underwriting for bothnew and renewing large commercial and global client deals, ensuring market competitiveness, profitability, and regulatory alignment. You will play a critical role inportfolio remediation, pricing governance, and strategic underwriting decisions, while partnering closely with Sales, Pricing, Actuarial, Product, and Portfolio teams across the region.
This role is ideal for an underwriting leader who thrives in complex environments, enjoys working across borders, and is ready to contribute to a business embracingdigital and AI-enabled underwriting transformation.
Key Responsibilities
Case Underwriting Portfolio Leadership
- Oversee Case Underwriting activities acrossAustralia, New Zealand, and Global Clients
- Partner closely with Sales teams on large and complex new business and renewal opportunities
- Lead underwriting for large commercial and banking client portfolios within AU NZ
- Ensure accurate pricing of deals and facilitate APAC deals requiringL6 or higher approvals
- Support capacity planning and prioritisation aligned with Travel LoB strategy
Pricing, Performance Remediation
- Collaborate with Pricing to monitor tariff-based portfolio performance and initiate corrective actions where required
- Lead remediation activities for underperforming accounts in line with portfolio monitoring insights
- Provide timely and accurate performance data for central portfolio monitoring
- Support commercial margin projections and planning activities at portfolio and client level
Governance, Compliance Risk
- Ensure adherence toAllianz Standard for Underwriting and AzP underwriting guidelines
- Oversee fulfilment of action items arising from conditional Product Risk Assessment approvals
- Maintain strong alignment with Actuarial teams to support reserve adequacy and portfolio visibility
- Ensure regulatory and underwriting governance standards are embedded and sustained
Product, Digital AI Enablement
- Partner with Product teams on Simplicity product rollout and future Travel product enhancements
- Champion the adoption and effective use ofdigital underwriting tools (e.g. Salesforce, Pricing Tools)
- DemonstrateAI readiness, including:
- Comfort working with data-driven insights and predictive outputs
- Supporting AI-enabled pricing, portfolio monitoring, and underwriting decision support tools
- Contributing to the continuous improvement of underwriting processes through automation and analytics
- Act as a role model for digital-first, insight-led underwriting practices
Collaboration Leadership
- Work effectively with virtual, multinational teams across APAC and MEA
- Build strong partnerships across Sales, Pricing, Actuarial, Product, and Portfolio functions
- Provide technical guidance and thought leadership within the underwriting community
About You
Essential Experience Qualifications
- Actuarial, financial, or equivalent analytical background
- Minimum5 years’ experience in underwriting, portfolio monitoring, pricing, or related insurance disciplines
- Strong experience dealing with complex commercial accounts
- Proven ability to operate in multinational, virtual team environments
- Fluent in English with strong stakeholder communication skills
Desirable
- Experience withinTravel Insurance
- Exposure tobanking or financial institution clients
- Experience supporting or leading underwriting transformation initiatives
Capabilities for the Future
- High level ofdigital literacy and AI readiness
95831 | Actuarial | Professional | Non-Executive | Allianz Partners | Full-Time | Permanent
Allianz Group is one of the most trusted insurance and asset management companies in the world. Caring for our employees, their ambitions, dreams and challenges, is what makes us a unique employer. Together we can build an environment where everyone feels empowered and has the confidence to explore, to grow and to shape a better future for our customers and the world around us.
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We therefore welcome applications regardless of ethnicity or cultural background, age, gender, nationality, religion, social class, disability or sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected under applicable local laws and regulations.
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