• Leads and develops a high-performing team of Underwriting Operations Specialists, setting clear expectations, fostering accountability, and building a culture of trust and continuous growth. • Shapes and refines underwriting operational processes, ensuring they are well-documented, scalable, and aligned to Branch’s philosophy, appetite, and practices. • Partners closely with the Underwriting Practices team to translate strategic direction into operational execution that supports business goals. • Analyzes workload trends, policy action rates, and operational metrics to identify opportunities for increased efficiency, automation, and capability enhancement—presenting data-backed recommendations to leadership. • Oversees quality, SLA, and communication standards, proactively addressing performance gaps and implementing corrective actions where needed. • Drives a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring operational protocols evolve with business needs and industry best practices. • Manages relationships with third-party service providers, ensuring service levels meet Branch’s underwriting support objectives and representing Branch’s needs in vendor strategy discussions. • Serves as an escalation point for complex or ambiguous policy scenarios, exercising sound judgment within authority and modeling effective decision-making for the team. • Balances day-to-day task delivery with intentional talent development, coaching individuals to take on greater scope and impact. • Partners with Technology, QA, and Data teams to design and approve test strategies that validate functional and financial outcomes of underwriting initiatives.