Chief Underwriter Aia Nz

BELIEVE IN BETTER
Do you believe in leading the way to a better, healthier, more sustainable future?
At AIA we’ve started an exciting movement to create a healthier, more sustainable future for everyone.
It's finding new ways to not only better people's lives, but to better the communities and environments we live in. As the largest listed company on the HKSE, we’ve been proudly making a difference for people and communities across Asia for over a century. And we build on this every day with our ambition to engage one billion people to live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives by 2030.
And to get there, we need leaders with the courage, clarity and humanity to inspire, guide and support their teams to thrive every day - in the work they do and the life they live. Our leaders always have and will play a vital part in our journey to help more people live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives, build healthier societies and cultivate healthier environments that better everyone.
If you sound like that leader, read on.

The opportunity:
Join AIA as our Chief Underwriter and lead the strategic direction of underwriting across AIA New Zealand. In this pivotal role, you will shape and implement underwriting philosophy, drive operational excellence, and ensure competitive, high-quality decision-making across all lines of business. You’ll be accountable for setting robust underwriting standards, developing high-performing teams, and enhancing AIA’s market reputation through innovative and customer-focused underwriting practices. This is a unique opportunity to influence growth, retention, and intermediary engagement through underwriting leadership at the highest level.

Key responsibilities include:

- Strategic Leadership: Lead the development and implementation of AIA’s underwriting philosophy, ensuring alignment with Group Office strategy and positioning AIA competitively in the market.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Promote and communicate underwriting philosophy across internal and external stakeholders, fostering strong relationships and managing expectations effectively.
- Market Insight & Innovation: Conduct regular benchmarking against industry standards and competitors, identifying opportunities for innovation and growth in both existing and emerging markets.
- Distribution Partnership: Collaborate closely with Distribution to support adviser acquisition and strengthen intermediary relationships through underwriting excellence.
- Industry Representation: Represent AIA at industry events and forums, enhancing our reputation and visibility in the market.
- Capability Development: Design and implement underwriting capability models and training programmes to build a high-performing, service-oriented team.
- Quality & Compliance: Ensure underwriting decisions meet AIA, industry, and regulatory standards, including adherence to reinsurance guidelines and treaty obligations.
- Governance & Oversight: Manage delegation of underwriting authorities, oversee complex assessments and complaint reviews, and lead internal and external audits.
- Product Collaboration: Contribute to product development and due diligence processes, providing underwriting expertise and sign-off.
- Strategic Planning: Participate in the formulation of long
- and short-term underwriting strategies to support product positioning and business growth.
- Leadership & Team Development: Lead and mentor the underwriting team, driving a culture of accountability, excellence, and continuous improvement.
- Customer-Centric Focus: Operate with a broader organisational perspective as part of the Customer Leadership Team, ensuring underwriting contributes to overall customer and business success

Ideally, you’ll bring:

- Proven senior-level underwriting leadership experience
- Relevant industry association qualifications and professional memberships
- Reinsurance expertise with established relationships in the NZ market
- Deep understanding of underwriting philosophy, best practice, and change management
- Strong knowledge of regulatory, legislative, and technical issues within the life insurance industry
- Demonstrated leadership capability with a track record of building high-performing teams
- Comprehensive understanding of competitor products, philosophies, and market practices
- Proven ability to build and maintain relationships with advisers and dealer groups
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong life insurance product and medical knowledge
- Expertise in financial underwriting
- Proficiency in Underwriting Rules Engines (URE) and associated systems
- Skilled in delivering impactful presentations
- Confident communicator with the ability to influence and shape outcomes
- Well-established market profile and professional reputation

Why choose AIA?

At AIA, we believe in empowering every one of our people to find their 'better'. We do this by offering:

- Opportunities to grow within the business through internal mobility
- Competitive employee