VP of Underwriting Automation

About Ethos

Ethos is a leading life insurance technology company on a mission to protect families by democratizing access to life insurance and empowering agents at scale. With its robust three-sided technology platform, Ethos is transforming the life insurance experience for consumers, agents, and carriers alike. Ethos offers instant, accessible products and a seamless online process that requires no medical exams and just a few health questions; it eliminates traditional barriers, making it easier than ever for everyone to protect their families. Ethos is redefining how life insurance is bought, sold, and underwritten.

About the role

The VP, Underwriting Automation serves as a pivotal leader, owning the accuracy and integrity of the underwriting rules that govern automated decisioning for each product we sell. You will oversee the comprehensive rules lifecycle, maintaining rigorous governance over the rules, managing relationships and negotiating with carrier partners’ underwriters, and upholding stringent standards for the integrity and qualitative consistency of automated results.

This mandate necessitates deep underwriting and risk selection expertise, balanced with a proven capacity for complex execution. You will need to understand and monitor changes across products, carriers, data sources, and platform capabilities, and translate those dynamics into their implications for automation and risk selection. Furthermore, you will serve as a strategic partner in carrier-facing initiatives and maintain a high-trust, collaborative partnership with Engineering leadership.
Duties and Responsibilities:

- Direct the deployment of automated underwriting solutions; establish clear strategic objectives, maintain agility amid shifting priorities, and uphold rigorous standards for operational excellence.

- Leverage low / no code platform to deliver continuous, rapid improvements to the rules owning the full delivery cycle from definition through testing and delivery for such changes.

- Engage engineering when rule or product needs require new capabilities, effectively converting underwriting methodologies into functional, scalable platform capabilities.

- Ensure the integrity of automated outcomes by assuming full accountability for auto-decisioning rates and the qualitative performance of algorithmic results.

- Oversee the rule governance framework, encompassing design, comprehensive documentation, and preservation standards, while managing the testing protocols and quality audit feedback loops.

- Cultivate collaborative, high-trust partnerships with carrier counterparts, serving as the primary voice of persuasion and influence — negotiating balance points and building a demonstrated track record of reliable delivery.authority for the credible and secure integration of automation into their respective programs.

- Enhance organizational capability by mentoring and developing a robust pipeline of second-line leadership, prioritizing talent depth over mere headcount expansion.

Qualifications and Skills:

- Minimum of ten (10) years of underwriting expertise within the life insurance sector, including a proven background in leading large-scale transformation initiatives.

- At least five (5) years of leadership experience, demonstrating the capacity to guide cross-functional teams with clarity and purpose amidst organizational ambiguity.

- Proven accountability for the strategic management and deployment of underwriting rules engines and governance frameworks at an enterprise scale.

- Demonstrated history of execution, successfully navigating complex, high-stakes projects from initial conceptualization through to operational deployment.

- Substantial experience directly managing carrier and reinsurer relationships, cultivating the professional credibility necessary to influence external partners.

- Fluency in risk selection data and predictive models.

- Practical experience collaborating with Actuarial functions to c