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Salary: USD 200,000 - 240,000 / annual
Shepherd is a Managing General Underwriter (MGU) building an AI-native commercial risk platform for construction, energy, and professional services. The company has raised $67M+ including a $42M Series B led by Intact Private Capital and is backed by Costanoa Ventures, Spark Capital, Susa Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Shepherd is launching a Professional Liability product to expand its existing Construction and Energy verticals. The Professional Liability Underwriting Lead will play a central role in building and shaping this new product expansion, with initial focus on Errors & Omissions (E&O) and Miscellaneous Professional Liability (MPL). This is an opportunity to define underwriting strategy, go-to-market approach, and drive long-term profitable growth.
In this role, you will:
- Define strategy for professional liability including target classes, lines of business, limits, attachment points, geographies, appetite, and growth/loss-ratio targets
- Support development of underwriting guidelines, rating approach, authority framework, and referral rules
- Partner with Product, Engineering, and Data to design submission-to-bind workflow, pricing tools, and exposure/loss-trend views
- Underwrite new and renewal primary and excess professional liability within your authority
- Own premium, profit, loss-ratio, and retention results for the book
- Leverage broker relationships to drive submission flow and actively market Shepherd's professional lines products at broker meetings, industry events, and through targeted business development
- Hire, coach, and grow a team of professional liability underwriters as the book scales
- Work with Corporate Underwriting on letters of authority, underwriting audits, and coaching
- Collaborate with Claims, Actuarial, Customer Experience, and Finance on underwriting, servicing, and reporting
The role is based in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Dallas-Fort Worth offices.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 8+ years of professional liability underwriting experience with deep expertise across architects and engineers E&O and exposure to other industries (technology, financial services, real estate, manufacturing, healthcare)
- Proven record of profitable growth: originating new business, quoting, binding, and building a professional liability book while managing to loss-ratio and combined-ratio targets
- Strong technical command of risk selection, underwriting models, exposure and loss analysis, loss development and trends, pricing, and coverage across E&O and MPL
- Strong technical command of risk selection, application and financial review, pricing, and coverage including claims-made forms, retroactive dates, prior acts, extended reporting periods, retentions, and primary/excess structures
- Sound judgment on manuscript endorsements, contractual liability, and emerging exposures across professional services including technology, regulatory, and litigation trends
- Established broker relationships at regional and national level that can drive submission flow from day one
- People leadership experience leading, mentoring, or managing underwriters, including setting authority and running underwriting audits
- Executive presence to present strategy and results to leadership, capacity partners, and reinsurers
- Comfort with ambiguity; ability to make sound decisions with incomplete information and adapt quickly
- Willingness to travel approximately 25%
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
