Senior Insurance Underwriter

Senior Insurance Underwriter | Optiom | Driven by Aviva

This role can be based out of Calgary, Langley, or Toronto/GTA/Ontario — apply from wherever works best for you.

Compensation

$100,000–$130,000 CAD base salary, plus an annual performance bonus (10–15% of base) based on experience and location.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Optiom's vehicle protection suite — vehicle replacement, GAP, extended warranty, tire and rim protection, appearance protection, and related ancillary products — is distributed through more than 330 dealerships and 900 broker offices across Canada, with over 600,000 policies sold to date.

We're looking for a Senior Underwriter to own risk assessment and adjudication across that entire product suite, not just one line of business.

This role also carries in-house underwriting authority for property & casualty placements of standard and non-standard business, and a mandate to market Aviva and Lloyd's open market business for the placement of risk.

You'll accept, reject, endorse, renew, and cancel policies within our underwriting risk criteria and procedures, contribute to the development and implementation of binder agreements, and build direct relationships with partners, brokers, and other market stakeholders. You'll also mentor and train junior underwriting staff, and help shape the workflows, procedures, and technology behind how we underwrite risk.

This is a hands-on role for someone who has a wide range of underwriting experience in automotive, transportation and other areas in P&C, as they are mentoring a junior underwriter or presenting portfolio performance internally.

You'll be involved in shaping underwriting standards for a specialty product suite at a company that's actively scaling its dealer and broker footprint across Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Optiom's ambitions extend beyond our consumer vehicle protection roots. We're building toward a broader specialty product footprint in the P&C market, including commercial products such as transportation — and the underwriting discipline, market relationships, and in-house authority this role establishes today are foundational to that expansion.

This is a chance to help shape underwriting standards not just for our current book, but for where Optiom is headed next.

WHO YOU ARE

You Bring

• Minimum 10 years of progressive property & casualty underwriting experience, including direct, hands-on underwriting of automobile dealership-related risk, broader transportation background and solid background in underwriting in general
• Demonstrated ability to underwrite and manage a multi-product suite — not just a single line — with evidence of rating, adjudicating, and monitoring performance across several related products concurrently
• Direct experience holding or exercising in-house underwriting authority — accepting, rejecting, endorsing, renewing, and cancelling policies for standard and non-standard P&C business within delegated criteria
• Direct experience underwriting or marketing business with the various markets (open market placements and/or binding authority/binder business)
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to read loss ratio and claims trend data and translate it into underwriting action

Bonus Points For

• Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation or Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) designation
• Prior experience contributing to Lloyd's binder development, wording negotiation, or other delegated authority agreement work
• Experience mentoring, training, or providing technical guidance to junior underwriting staff
• Experience underwriting within an MGA, program administrator, or specialty insurer environment
• Experience within an Aviva-affiliated, bank-owned, or other large-insurer-backed environment, with familiarity operating under parent-company governance
• Familiarity with OMVIC-regulated dealership environments and F&I compliance considerations
• Bilingual (English/French)

WHO WE ARE

Optiom is creating the national digital distribution platform for specialty insurance and premium financing. We have offices in Calgary, Langley and a growing team in Ontario.

We are a specialty MGA and a wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva Canada, one of the country's largest property and casualty insurers. We design and distribute specialty vehicle protection products through a national network of broker and dealer partners, embedded at the point of vehicle financing and leasing.

We're a team of specialists who take pride in the discipline behind our products — the underwriting, the rating, the claims data — as much as the products themselves. Joining Optiom means joining a business with strong backing, a clear purpose, and real room to shape how we underwrite risk as we grow.

HOW TO CONNECT

This search is being led by David Dial, VP Human Resources, Optiom Inc.

Apply directly through LinkedIn, or feel free to reach out to David to learn more about the role.

Employment terms will reflect the employment standards legislation of the province in which the successful candidate is based (Alberta, British Columbia, or Ontario).

Optiom uses AI tools to assist with initial candidate screening. All final hiring decisions are made by our human hiring team.

Optiom Inc. | Driven by Aviva