Reinsurance Recruitment

Reinsurance Recruitment

Exec Capital recruits senior reinsurance professionals across the London reinsurance market — Lloyd’s syndicates writing reinsurance business, company market reinsurers, the senior reinsurance broking community, catastrophe modelling specialists and the executive leadership of UK-domiciled and Bermuda-affiliated reinsurance entities operating in London. Reinsurance is a specialist sub-market within the broader UK insurance industry, characterised by deep technical complexity, cycle-driven commercial dynamics, and a senior community where most candidates are personally known to each other. Senior reinsurance recruitment requires recruiters who understand the technical content of the role and operate under established discretion protocols.

This page covers reinsurance-specific senior recruitment. For senior recruitment across the wider UK insurance industry — primary insurers, life insurance, general insurance, broking and MGAs — see our Insurance Recruitment pillar page.

The UK Reinsurance Market

London is the world’s leading reinsurance hub alongside Bermuda and Zurich. The London reinsurance market operates through three main channels: the Lloyd’s market, where managing agents operate syndicates writing reinsurance business; the company market, where reinsurance companies operate as authorised UK insurers; and London branches and subsidiaries of international reinsurers headquartered elsewhere. Many UK reinsurers have parallel Bermuda operations, particularly for property catastrophe business, and London senior reinsurance professionals frequently move across the London-Bermuda axis through their careers.

The reinsurance market is structurally different from primary insurance in several respects that shape the senior recruitment profile:

Cycle dynamics. Reinsurance pricing moves through pronounced cycles driven by capital availability, catastrophe loss experience and the renewal calendar centred on 1 January, 1 April and 1 July renewals. Senior reinsurance professionals are expected to demonstrate cycle management discipline — leaning in when pricing is favourable, leaning out when terms deteriorate.

Concentration and volatility. Reinsurance portfolios are more concentrated and more volatile than primary insurance portfolios. Single catastrophe events can produce loss ratios above 100% on affected lines. Senior reinsurance underwriters operate with portfolio construction and aggregation discipline that primary insurance does not require to the same degree.

Broker-intermediated. The reinsurance market is fully broker-intermediated for most lines. Senior reinsurance underwriters develop deep broker relationships, with the broker community shaping which deals are seen and on what terms. The senior broking community is itself a specialist recruitment market.

Capital efficiency. Reinsurance is a capital-intensive business; senior reinsurance leadership engages closely with capital providers, ILS investors, retrocession structures, sidecars and other alternative capital arrangements that affect the firm’s underwriting capacity and commercial flexibility.

Senior Reinsurance Roles We Recruit

Active Underwriter (Lloyd’s syndicate). The senior underwriting executive responsible for a Lloyd’s syndicate’s underwriting strategy, portfolio construction and underwriting decisions. The Active Underwriter is the most senior underwriting role at syndicate level, with regulatory engagement through the managing agent and direct accountability to the syndicate’s capital providers.

Head of Class or Class Underwriter. Senior class underwriters lead specific lines of business — property catastrophe, casualty treaty, specialty treaty, marine, aviation, cyber, political risk, life retrocession. The role combines technical underwriting expertise with broker relationship management and team leadership.

Treaty Underwriter. Treaty underwriters assess and price treaty reinsurance arrangements — quota share, surplus share, excess of loss, stop loss — covering portfolios of business written by primary insurers. Treaty underwriting requires actuarial fluency, portfolio analysis capability and deep cycle awareness.

Facultative Underwriter. Facultative underwriters assess and price individual risks ceded by primary insurers — typically large or unusual risks that fall outside automatic treaty arrangements. Facultative underwriting combines technical risk assessment with rapid response capability for time-sensitive renewals.

Catastrophe Modeller and Cat Risk Lead. Senior catastrophe modelling professionals own the firm’s catastrophe exposure framework — using vendor models (RMS, AIR, Verisk, ImpactForecasting) alongside proprietary research to quantify natural catastrophe exposure. Senior cat modellers are in genuinely short supply across the London and Bermuda markets.

Reinsurance Actuary. Senior actuaries supporting reinsurance underwriting — reserving, pricing model development, exposure analysis, ORSA contribution. Fellowship of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is the standard credential.

Senior Reinsurance Broker. Senior reinsurance brokers at the major London broking houses — placing treaty and facultative reinsurance on behalf of primary insurer clients. The role combines deep technical reinsurance expertise with relationship management across cedants and markets.

Head of Reinsurance. The senior executive responsible for the reinsurance function within a primary insurer (the “reinsurance buyer” perspective) or within a reinsurance entity itself (the “reinsurance seller” perspective). The role profile differs significantly between the two settings.

Managing Director and CEO of reinsurance entities. Executive leadership of UK-domiciled reinsurers, London-market reinsurance operations of international groups, and Lloyd’s managing agents writing reinsurance business. These roles carry SMF1 designation under the Senior Managers Regime where the entity is in scope.

Treaty and Facultative Reinsurance

The reinsurance market divides into two main contract types, and senior reinsurance professionals typically specialise in one or the other:

Treaty reinsurance. Agreements covering portfolios of business — typically all of a primary insurer’s policies in a particular line of business, or a defined subset. Treaty arrangements include proportional treaties (quota share, surplus share) where the reinsurer assumes a proportion of premiums and losses, and non-proportional treaties (excess of loss, stop loss) where the reinsurer covers losses above a defined threshold. Treaty underwriting is portfolio-driven and actuarial in character.

Facultative reinsurance. Individual risks ceded by the primary insurer to the reinsurer — typically large risks, unusual exposures, or risks falling outside automatic treaty cover. Facultative underwriting is risk-driven and underwriting-judgement intensive. Facultative business is typically negotiated through specialist brokers with rapid response cycles.

Regulatory Framework

Reinsurance operates within the broader UK insurance regulatory framework with several reinsurance-specific elements:

Solvency II and capital requirements. UK reinsurers are subject to Solvency II in the same way as primary insurers, with capital requirements reflecting the specific risk characteristics of reinsurance business — premium and reserve risk, catastrophe risk, counterparty default risk on retrocession arrangements.

PRA supervision. The Prudential Regulation Authority supervises UK reinsurers on safety and soundness grounds. Reinsurance-specific supervisory focus includes catastrophe risk aggregation, retrocession dependencies, capital adequacy through stress scenarios and the operation of internal capital models.

Lloyd’s Corporation rules. Lloyd’s syndicates writing reinsurance business operate under the Lloyd’s Corporation’s rules in addition to PRA and FCA regulation. Lloyd’s sets specific requirements on managing agent governance, syndicate business plans, capital provider arrangements and oversight of underwriting performance.

Senior Managers and Certification Regime. Senior reinsurance roles in scope of SM&CR carry the relevant Senior Manager Function designation — typically SMF1 (CEO), SMF2 (CFO), SMF4 (CRO), SMF9 (Chair) and SMF20 (Chief Underwriting Officer) for the most senior reinsurance executive roles. SMF designation brings personal regulatory accountability under the Duty of Responsibility.

Bermuda regulatory interaction. Many UK reinsurance entities operate parallel Bermuda structures under the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Senior reinsurance executives moving between London and Bermuda operations require fluency in both regulatory regimes and the practical mechanics of capital and risk transfer between the two.

Skills, Profile and Salary Benchmarks

Profile. Senior reinsurance professionals typically combine fifteen to twenty-plus years in reinsurance underwriting, actuarial or broking roles, with deep specialisation in specific lines of business. The strongest candidates have worked across multiple market cycles and have demonstrated cycle management discipline through periods of both favourable and unfavourable pricing.

Technical fluency. Deep understanding of treaty structures, contract wording, portfolio dynamics, catastrophe modelling, retrocession structures and capital efficiency. The technical complexity of reinsurance is higher than primary insurance in most respects and rewards specialist depth over generalist breadth.

Educational background and credentials. A degree is standard. Common professional credentials include Fellowship or Associateship of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), IFoA Fellowship for actuarial roles, CFA charter for investment-linked roles, and where applicable specific catastrophe modelling and risk management certifications.

Broker network access. Reinsurance is broker-intermediated, and senior reinsurance candidates’ broker relationships are themselves valuable assets the hiring firm acquires. Strong broker relationships materially affect the deal flow the candidate can bring to a new firm.

Indicative UK salary benchmarks for senior reinsurance roles:

• Senior Treaty Underwriter: £120,000 to £250,000 base
• Class Underwriter (Lloyd’s): £150,000 to £350,000 base
• Head of Class / Treaty Director: £200,000 to £400,000 base
• Active Underwriter (Lloyd’s syndicate): £250,000 to £500,000 base
• Senior Reinsurance Broker (specialty): £150,000 to £350,000 base
• Senior Catastrophe Modeller: £100,000 to £250,000 base
• Reinsurance CFO / CRO (mid-size reinsurer): £250,000 to £500,000 base
• MD / CEO Reinsurance Entity (UK): £400,000 to £800,000+ base

Compensation in reinsurance typically includes annual bonus arrangements ranging from 30% to 100% of base salary, profit commission arrangements at Lloyd’s syndicate level for Active Underwriters and senior underwriting professionals, and long-term incentive plans for executive leadership of listed-company reinsurance operations. Material Risk Taker remuneration regulation applies to in-scope senior roles with deferral, malus and clawback provisions.

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