What is a Cyber Underwriter?
Cyber Insurance is often referred to as cyber liability insurance or cyber security insurance.
A cyber underwriter will be the lead person in the insurance company or Lloyd’s syndicate who determines their approach to offering a cyber insurance policy to any potential customer, or not.
The underwriter will be responsible for setting the tone and direction of the underwriting strategy within the company, and will have overall responsibility for every policy that is underwritten.
There will be an underwriting team as well who will assist the underwriter in their work, and will often do much of the day today clerical work that comes with issuing such a policy.
This underwriting team may be small or quite large, and may specialize in certain areas of cyber security, business insurance, fraud and other potential areas of risk.
Cyber Underwriter Job Description
The main job of any underwriter is to assess the risk of a new or existing client, decide if they want to insure them, and if so on what terms and conditions.
The underwriter and his team will also be responsible for overseeing the wording of the insurance policy, making sure that it contains all the relevant clauses or endorsements that they feel appropriate to every policy they underwrite.
Many insurance companies and Lloyds syndicates offer extensive support to clients, in terms of helping companies assess their level of risk to cyber security, both before and after a policy is underwritten.
A cyber underwriter and his team will oversee this advice and the support that is offered to clients and make sure that it is kept relevant and up to date.
A cyber underwriter will also be responsible for making sure that the amount of business they underwrite is within the overall underwriting limits that the company or syndicate has agreed to, and they will monitor their ongoing exposure to risks that they are liable for.
Many cyber underwriters will also be involved in a general market approach to cyber insurance terms and conditions, and will often get involved in helping to shape the cyber insurance market
A cyber underwriter will also have responsibility for assessing and implementing the company or syndicates own re-insurance program, both facultative and treaty.
They will need to make sure that there is adequate protection for their own underwriting policy, insured with companies or syndicates that have strong financial stability.
Cyber Underwriter Jobs
Many cyber underwriter jobs are advertised on the main employment sites online, as well as in the insurance press and sites such as LinkedIn or Glassdoor.
The job description will probably include many of the points above, but may also have a particular focus by way of Industry or trade.
Many cyber underwriter jobs are also kept in house by a particular company or syndicate, in part because current employees will know the business and the business model and can effortlessly move up the food chain into a more responsible position.
Underwriting jobs are often seen as long term commitments, because the effectiveness of the underwriter and their job capability is to a large extent based on experience, built up over a significant period of time.
Cyber Underwriter Salary
As with many jobs, salary will depend on experience and underwriting knowledge and experience.
According to zip recruiter the national average in the US for a cyber underwriter is just under $84000 (July 2023). However other sites put a range of salaries between $105000 and $200000.
The level of salary will also be affected by the location of the job and the benefits that are offered as part of an employment package.
The physical location of the job is important as there is unlikely to be much possibility of hybrid working. Junior underwriting positions will also be available, and entry level salaries are likely to be around $25000.
Some insurance companies will expect the cyber underwriter to also be involved in other types of liability or property insurance that may overlap with cyber security risks, and this should be reflected in the salary and benefits offered for such a position.
