Portfolio Manager

The Opportunity

Are you looking for a caring, collaborative, values-driven workplace with inspiring teammates and leaders? Do you have the ambition and desire to be the best and thrive at the most impactful global insurance provider in the world? Look no further than Zurich Canada. 

If you have a dynamic skillset in a Commercial Insurance or Financial Services environment, and are looking for a new challenge, we would love to hear from you. 

Zurich Canada is currently looking for a Portfolio Manager to join our Alternative Risk Solutions team. 

Reporting to the Head of Portfolio Management, you will: provide portfolio insights and market intelligence to the management and underwriting teams using a combination of dashboarding and analytics tools. You will have the opportunity to work in a cross functional team with broad exposure to senior leaders across the company.

This is a unique opportunity to build your knowledge and experience for the future in a supportive environment where your voice matters. 

This is a hybrid work opportunity, with 2-3 days in the office or in the external facing market.

What you will do

• Portfolio Reporting
  • Lead technical business requirements and stakeholder management with IT to industrialize internal reporting and analytics.
  • Provide in depth review of Program, MGA, or portfolio book roll opportunities to understand exposures, limits, portfolio mix on new and renewal business.
  • Direct portfolio consultants as they develop dashboards and reporting tools; lead others with business and technical expertise.
  • Codify underwriting guidelines and create automated rulesets to ensure broker and MGA compliance (line limits, minimum deductibles, SIC, deviation authority) utilizing data platform.
  • Create presentations for senior stakeholders to share key portfolio insights, management action plans, and new and renewal business opportunities.
  • Develop dashboard tools to monitor portfolio KPIs like retention, portfolio mix, and rate adequacy.

• Financial Planning and Management
  • Build and maintain financial forecasting tools to determine top and bottom-line projections.
  • Work with business stakeholders to drive accountability of results and to inform senior stakeholders on execution of plan targets.

• Rate Execution
  • Provide business and market insights to the actuarial team to develop actuarial assumptions.
  • Work with actuaries, underwriters, and management to translate actuarial indications into rating strategies, rating segmentation, and rating tools.
  • Monitor portfolio rate adequacy and rate changes. Deliver segmented insights for execution of actuarial indications.

• Underwriting Strategies
  • Provide performance analysis on Programs to broker partners, customers, and executive stakeholders as part of new, renewal, and half-year performance updates.
  • Work with underwriters and management to develop underwriting strategies and guidelines (e.g., deductibles, SIRs, referral triggers) that ensure sustainable profitability and operational efficiencies.

• Claims Insights
  • Manage stakeholder relationships with claims analytics and complex claims adjusters to unlock claim insights. Expand claims analytics relationship to get better insights on impact of claims operational metrics on program and portfolio performance – e.g. time to close, severity/frequency trends, CAT insights
  • Monitor and review large losses for portfolio-level trends. Work alongside underwriting, claims, and risk services team to share large loss learnings with broader organization.
  • Monitor attritional loss trends to diagnose performance drivers (e.g., theft, water damage) and enable proactive action plans.

• Accumulation Management
  • Monitor and proactively manage accumulation risk across the portfolio utilizing insights from Zurich’s CAT management tools.
  • Maintain accumulation data integrity by resolving operational and underwriting data issues.
  • Provide accumulation insights into new and renewing programs that allow for better pricing segmentation and rating optimization.
  • Assist in developing submission materials and presentations for reinsurance treaties.

Job Accountabilities - What you bring to the table

Required:

•    7+ years of industry experience in insurance, financial services, and / or consulting.
•    Strong financial acumen – be able to understand P&L statements and drivers of line items.
•    Understanding of advanced insurance and reinsurance concepts.
•    Ability to craft a strong narrative and storyline using charts, graphs, and visual tools.
•    Self-organizing and structured thinker. Capable of following, adapting, and creating organizational frameworks.

Preferred:
•    Advanced PowerPoint, Advanced Excel, data analysis, and data presentations skills.
•    Programing and / or automation skills in SQL, Python, R, Databricks 
•    Able to work independently, navigate uncertainty, and own actions through their resolution.
•    Ability to influence others and to manage sophisticated stakeholders and relationships.
•    Capable of managing multiple competing priorities across short and medium-term project windows. 
•    Recognize emerging problems and proactively manage their solutions. 
•    Resourceful and able to solve problems collaboratively.
•    Can work well under pressure.

Our Culture

•    At Zurich, we are proud of our culture. We are passionate about Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging (DIEB). We want you to bring your whole self to work, and we want our employees to be reflective of the communities in which we live and work. Our DIEB initiatives are creating an environment where everyone feels welcome.

•    We have a collaborative culture where diversity of thought is valued. We value your input and strive to give our employees the tools they need to make an impact. 

•    We care about our employees’ well-being and offer a comprehensive health/benefits plan with varying levels of coverage to suit your specific needs and a competitive total compensation package.

•    We understand how important it is to rest, recharge and do the things you love. At Zurich, all employees receive a minimum of four weeks of vacation per year to do just that.

•    We also understand that employees require time off for personal reasons. Maybe you have an appointment during a workday, a cultural or religious holiday you would like to observe, or you need time off to focus on your mental health. Zurich employees receive four personal days per year to be used at their discretion. 

•    We are committed to continuous improvement and offer access to a comprehensive range of training and development opportunities. 

•    We care about our communities. Our communities are where our customers, people, and shareholders live and work. While we can be proud of the contribution to society Zurich makes through our core business of insurance, we must also give back to our communities through our talent, time and resources.

•    We have won numerous awards for our workplace culture. We are proud to be one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers and to have received Insurance Business Canada’s 5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award.   

Make a difference. Be challenged. Be inspired. Be supported. Love what you do. Work for us. 

About Us

Zurich Canada is part of the Zurich Insurance Group, a multi-line insurer with approximately 55,000 employees worldwide serving customers in global and local markets. Zurich Canada has been a leading insurance provider serving mid-sized and large companies, including multinational corporations, in the Canadian commercial market for 100 years. With over 500 employees in offices across the country, Zurich offers the global strength of a top insurance provider combined with in-depth knowledge of industries and local markets. Zurich Canada aspires to be risk management professionals’ first choice as their premier partner to help meet the risk challenges of today and tomorrow. Read more at www.zurichcanada.com.