Financial Analyst - Associate Underwriter or Underwriter, Surety

Department: Surety

Location: Toronto or Halifax

Reports To: Surety Executive Underwriter - Manager

Company Overview:

Liberty Mutual Surety™, a business unit of Liberty Mutual Insurance, is the largest global surety.  Conducting business worldwide through fronting relationships and Liberty-owned subsidiaries, we provide bonds in over 60 countries for construction firms, manufacturers and suppliers, and commercial enterprises on an account and transactional basis.  We are committed to building mutually profitable relationships by providing smart business solutions, ease of doing business, and consistent, responsive service.  Liberty Mutual Surety is dedicated to the communities we serve and highly values a diverse workforce in more than 16 countries.

If you are unsure whether your experience matches every requirement below, we encourage you to apply anyway. We are looking for varied and diverse perspectives and experiences that we can add to our team!

Our core values guide all of our decision-making and come to life through our benefits and employee programs. We offer:

- A premier flexible work environment (a combination of on-site & remote work) supporting our employees in their pursuit of a healthy work-life balance

- Competitive health & dental benefits plan

- Market-leading pension plan

- Competitive time off policy

- External education & tuition reimbursement programs

- Employee & Family Assistance Programs

- An opportunity to get involved and become a member of one of our national employee committees – social responsibility, employee engagement, diversity, equity & inclusion

The Opportunity:

Liberty Mutual Surety™ is seeking a Financial Analyst - Associate Underwriter or Underwriter, Surety in our Toronto, ON or Halifax, NS office. In this role, you will use your business and financial acumen to perform primary credit underwriting and financial/risk analysis, provide recommendations, and make decisions on new and existing accounts.  Using your excellent people skills, you will market, underwrite, and service customers and accounts within an assigned territory.  This is an excellent opportunity for a self-motivated financial professional looking to advance their career with a top surety company that focuses on its employees and customers first.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Perform analytical evaluations of financial statements on both a static and trend basis. Determine an underwriting position and monitor present and historical financial position of risk through analysis of interim financial statements and work in progress data as appropriate.  Recommend, implement and monitor milestones and potential exit strategy on accounts showing high risk trends.
• Monitor an existing book of business from an underwriting standpoint.  Continuously evaluate the qualitative characteristics of the business (new and existing) as assigned.  Examples include utilization of self-audit programs and financial ratio analysis reports.  Make recommendations to Manager for proper lines of authority to be submitted to Home Office.  Monitor and control utilization of such lines to ensure compliance with guidelines.
• Responsible for investigating, analyzing, and managing all necessary underwriting/accounting/workflow issues within framework of Surety policies and procedures.
• Originate, lead, and underwrite surety transactions.
• Analyze exposures and determine the appropriate surety coverage and conditions, risk exposure, loss history, and economic trends that may impact terms and conditions offered to the client.
• Meet with customers from assigned territory to solicit business/submissions via marketing efforts and educate customers on Liberty Mutual Surety policies, procedures, appetite, and requirements.  Act in a consultative capacity and discuss/review accounts and performance.
• Develop/maintain strong relationships, meet with clients, and oversee a book of surety business. Meet production, marketing, and profitability goals as set by Manager and assist in business development.  Develop a book of business strategy to broaden the portfolio with various accounts in compliance with given Underwriting Guidelines.
• Attend client, broker and market meetings as well as regular meetings with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable internal and external laws, regulations, policies, procedures and guidance.
• Adhere to underwriting standards, instructions and best practice methodology in order to minimize risk as incorporated into the Underwriting Controls Framework.
• Provide direction for topics to be addressed in meetings with customers.
• Actively contribute to the team spirit and collaborate cross-country and cross-functionally with Liberty Mutual Canada.  Identify cross-selling opportunities with other Liberty product line areas and meet goals as set by Manager.
• Assist in market screening and the definition of appropriate policies and underwriting guidance.
• Use of risk profiling and pricing tools.
• Prepare and implement instructions for administering work flows and accounting/billing issues to service unique situations.
• Perform special projects and other duties as assigned – bring creativity for the optimization of work flows and accounting/billing issues.

Skills & Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, ideally in Finance or Accounting.
• 2+ years financial/commercial credit underwriting experience highly preferred.
• Mature and self-confident; ability to face clients, business partners and senior colleagues.
• Strong problem-solving, marketing and account-management skills.
• Must be detail-oriented, able to manage time and prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work independently and manage many tasks simultaneously in addition to comfortably interacting with people in small groups and social situations.
• Strong economic, political, current affairs understanding and knowledge.
• Strong computer skills, in particular Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook.
• Strong level of numeracy, literacy and technology skills without losing the conceptual skills for the bigger picture.
• Demonstrate strong collaboration and teamwork.
• Ambitious self-starter.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Liberty Mutual Surety is committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible environment where all employees feel valued and supported. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the communities we operate in and serve. If you require an accommodation for the recruitment/interview process due to a disability (which may be invisible or visible, temporary or permanent), please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.