Director, Producer Group Life Underwriting and Broker Relations

About this role

Are you passionate about being part of a team at a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales that delivers extraordinary care to help individuals and businesses prepare for and protect their future? If so, then Nationwide Financial could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers and partners are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.Nationwide is seeking a seasoned life underwriting leader to join our organization as Director, Producer Group Life Underwriting and Broker Relations.
This is a high-impact leadership opportunity supporting Producer Group Underwriting, a relationship-driven environment focused on sophisticated, high-net-worth and large-face-amount life insurance business. The Director will combine deep underwriting expertise with strong leadership, sound judgment, and a genuine commitment to helping producers, brokers, and internal partners deliver excellent outcomes for clients.
This role reports to the Sr. Director, Producer Group Life Underwriting and Broker Relations, and partners closely with senior leaders to support underwriting execution, service, talent development, and strategic priorities.
The successful candidate will be a visible and trusted partner across underwriting, sales, medical, operations, reinsurance, and business leadership. They will help guide complex case decisions, strengthen underwriting consistency and service, develop underwriting talent, and contribute to the continued evolution of the Producer Group function.
What you will do

• Lead day-to-day underwriting for Producer Group business, balancing thoughtful risk selection with responsive, competitive service.

• Serve as a senior resource and escalation point for complex medical, financial, occupational, avocational, and high-face-amount underwriting matters.

• Apply advanced underwriting judgment to support sound mortality outcomes, appropriate reinsurance solutions, and successful case placement.

• Partner directly with reinsurers on complex case consultations, risk selection, capacity, and placement strategy, ensuring solutions align with underwriting philosophy, mortality objectives, and reinsurance requirements.

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with producers, brokers, broker-dealers, reinsurers, sales partners, and internal stakeholders.

• Represent the underwriting function in field conversations, case consultations, presentations, and partner-facing discussions.

• Coach, mentor, and develop underwriters and senior underwriting talent through feedback, knowledge sharing, performance support, and career development.

• Promote underwriting quality, consistency, audit readiness, referral discipline, and decision excellence across the team.

• Identify and sponsor process improvements that strengthen cycle time, efficiency, communication, customer experience, and underwriting effectiveness.

• Collaborate with senior leaders across underwriting, medical, sales, operations, HR, finance, and technology to align business and talent priorities.

• Help strengthen leadership continuity and future-state capability within Producer Group Underwriting.

What we are looking for

• Deep experience in complex medical and financial life underwriting, including sophisticated or large-face-amount cases.

• Demonstrated credibility with producers, brokers, brokerage general agencies, broker-dealers, reinsurers, and other distribution partners, with the ability to navigate complex case discussions and placement strategy.

• Experience working in a competitive, relationship-driven underwriting environment where judgment, responsiveness, and placement strategy matter.

• A track record of leading, coaching, mentoring, or influencing underwriting professionals and cross-functional partners.

• Strong understanding of underwriting philosophy, mortality and risk management, reinsurance considerations, audit expectations, and regulatory requirements.

• The ability to make sound decisions in complex situations, communicate those decisions clearly, and build alignment with varied stakeholders.

• A leadership style grounded in accountability, collaboration, development, curiosity, and service excellence.

• The ability to operate effectively at both the strategic and hands-on level, with a willingness to remain close to the work and the people it supports.

• Professional development or industry designations such as FALU, FLMI, CLU, ACS, or comparable experience are valued.

This role is open to fully remote work.
Some travel may be required.
This role does not qualify for employer-sponsored work authorization. Nationwide does not participate in the Stem OPT Extension program.
Job Description Summary
Our underwriters work hard to provide the exceptional customer experience for which Nationwide is known. Actively engaging with our firms and financial professionals to get to know their clients and their needs builds our understanding of the market, what is needed to win business and put our best offer out first.

If you thrive working autonomously, making decisions on a variety of impactful issues and continuing to learn and adapt to grow, we want to know more about you!

As a Director, you'll lead the day-to-day operations for the Life Underwriting team within Nationwide Financials’ Life New Business organization. The team is responsible for mortality risk assessment and protecting Nationwide against sooner than expected mortality expenses, as well as morbidity risk management for long term care insurance. The Underwriter approves, modifies, or declines applications through an underwriting assessment including evaluation of medical history, occupational hazards, financial background, insurable interest and other relevant information. The business mix consists mostly of universal life, term, long term care and variable universal life. The team handles…