Saskatchewan Blue Cross®, one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers, is currently recruiting for a full-time permanent Manager, Underwriting to join our team in the Underwriting department. This role is based in our Saskatoon or Regina Office. We offer flexibility, with a shared expectation that team members spend meaningful time in the office to collaborate and connect.
JOB FUNCTION
The Manager, Underwriting provides leadership and direction to a team of underwriters and coordinators, ensuring consistent, risk‑based pricing decisions that support sustainable growth and enable the Sales team to deliver competitive insurance solutions to members and employers. This role is accountable for building underwriting capability, setting clear expectations, and ensuring underwriters are well supported, while working closely with Underwriting professionals to maintain alignment and transparency and reviews and approves non‑standard underwriting requests and elevated risk decisions, while maintaining pricing discipline in support of margin and risk objectives.
As an active member of the SBC leadership team, the Manager, Underwriting provides leadership and direction to the Underwriting team, champions corporate initiatives, and delegates staff to support enterprise priorities. The role leads collaboration with internal and external stakeholders and upholds the organization’s mission, vision, and values, while protecting the company’s brand, corporate image, and reputation through sound underwriting governance and decision‑making.
WHY CHOOSE SASKATCHEWAN BLUE CROSS?
We’re driven by a mission to empower communities on their journey to whole health and wellness, and have a lot of exciting things ahead of us. We’re improving our members’ experiences through investment in our people, technology, services and products. When you join our team, you’re joining an organization where employees are valued, recognized for their contributions and empowered to make us stronger. The wellbeing of our employees, our members, our partners and our communities is at the heart of our operations.
Our industry is evolving fast, and so are we! We’re looking for people who:
- Share our values
- Believe that creating great experiences is totally within their control
- Collaborate and always set others up for success
- Build positive relationships and an understanding of what people’s needs are
- See solutions and possibilities (not problems!)
- Are simply outstanding at what they do
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR IN YOU:
- Big picture thinking paired with exceptional execution
- Spectacular partner management and communication skills
- The ability to see and harness market trends and opportunities
- A passion for elevating value propositions and delivering tangible results
- Proficiency in defining solutions and delivering to outcomes
- Deep understanding of the end-to-end health and wellness benefits ecosystem
- Strength in financial and data model analysis, interpretation and translation into actionable insights
- Passion for project management and detailed execution
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU:
- You put customers first by listening, engaging, and acting in their best interests
- You think big, stay curious, and are passionate about enabling new business outcomes
- You thrive in collaborative environments and enjoy achieving results as a team
- You lead with a growth mindset and embrace continuous learning
- You take ownership, build solutions, and focus on what matters most
- You do what’s right, work with integrity and speak up
- You build strong, productive, and lasting relationships with partners in the market
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
- Provide leadership oversight and guidance to underwriting teams, ensuring consistent application of underwriting standards and risk‑based pricing practices
- Provide oversight of underwriting outcomes and pricing performance, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities to support margin and growth objectives
- Partner with Sales leadership to support complex opportunities, providing underwriting guidance while balancing competitiveness with risk and margin objectives
- Lead, coach, and develop underwriters to build technical capability, decision consistency, and risk‑based pricing expertise
- Participate in strategic initiatives and corporate projects in support of enterprise priorities
- Oversee coordination with internal and external partners to ensure timely, accurate data inputs that support underwriting, pricing, and risk decisions
- Provide underwriting leadership input into Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corporations (CDIPC) and National Blue Cross reporting, including review, risk assessment, and recommendation of outcomes
- Provide recommendations to the Senior Leadership Team and Executive Leadership Team and communicate final decisions to stakeholders
- Provide oversight and decision authority on escalated disability and salary discrepancy cases, ensuring appropriate risk assessment (including anti‑selection risk) and alignment with underwriting standards
- Approve non‑standard and escalated underwriting requests, including review of contract wording, strategic investment parameters, and overall risk and financial impact
- Ensure underwriting policies, authorities, and practices are applied consistently and in alignment with corporate risk appetite
- Advise stakeholders of decisions related to non‑standard underwriting requests
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS
- Completion of a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education, training and leadership experience is required
- 3-5 years of related experience with 1-3 years of supervisory accountability
- Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation is an asset
- Knowledge of Group and Individual insurance products
- Knowledge of Life, Group and Medical Underwriting best practices
- Knowledge of Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corporations (CDIPC) framework
- Familiarity with and adherence to Saskatchewan Employment Legislation
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft 365 with the ability to understand and learn new systems
- Exceptional written and oral communication abilities
- Ability to use sound judgement to make good decisions based on information gathered and analyzed
- Strong managerial skills, including motivating, developing, coaching, and leading teams
- Ability to promote cooperation, collaboration and partnerships between individuals or groups both internal and external to Saskatchewan Blue Cross
- Demonstrated experience applying the principles of successful transformation/change management
- Proven organizational skills and the ability to efficiently manage multiple projects and tasks with competing deadlines
- Effective negotiation, dialogue/conflict resolution, and diplomacy skills
- Must be legally entitled to work in Canada on an unrestricted basis
- The successful candidate will be required to undergo a criminal record and background check satisfactory to Saskatchewan Blue Cross
Saskatchewan Blue Cross is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.
We are also deeply committed to Indigenous inclusion. We recognize the importance of lived experience, cultural knowledge, and traditional leadership. These are valued alongside conventional qualifications as part of our holistic approach to recruitment.
#SBCCareers
