Manager, Underwriting

About FWD Group
FWD Group (1828.HK) is a pan-Asian life and health insurance business that serves approximately 40 million customers across 10 markets, including BRI Life in Indonesia. FWD’s customer-led and tech-enabled approach aims to deliver innovative propositions, easy-to-understand products and a simpler insurance experience. Established in 2013, the company operates in some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world with a vision of changing the way people feel about insurance. FWD Group is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 1828.
For more information, please visit www.fwd.com
About FWD Takaful Berhad
FWD Takaful Berhad (“FWD Takaful”) is a takaful provider in Malaysia that offers family takaful services. FWD Takaful is licensed under the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 and is regulated by Bank Negara Malaysia. FWD Takaful is a takaful business unit of FWD Group.
Visit https://www.fwd.com.my
Join us
We’re proud to be a company that encourages and nurtures fearless innovation in achieving our vision of changing the way people feel about takaful. Our teams come from a wide variety of industries and backgrounds because we value developing a truly diverse pool of talent that brings different perspectives and experiences. Our values – committed, innovative, proactive, open, and caring – define who we are and what we do as we work together to bring our vision to life, every single day.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Own and drive the MHIT New Business and Underwriting delivery plan, milestones, dependencies, risks, issues and actions.
Define, validate and secure sign-off for business requirements, underwriting rules, medical evidence rules, process flows, controls, exception handling and the underlying operational SOPs.
Coordinate with Technology, Business Analysts, Product, vendors and Group stakeholders to ensure the solution is built and integrated in line with approved requirements.
Lead business testing, including test planning, scenario coverage, execution, defect triage, retesting and business acceptance.
Drive operational readiness covering approved SOPs, user guides, training, access, staffing, controls, reporting, cutover and support arrangements.
Support go-live and lead post-launch stabilisation before assuming full ownership of MHIT New Business and Underwriting operations.
Establish, maintain and periodically review the end-to-end MHIT operational SOPs, ensuring processes, controls, escalation paths, roles and service standards remain current, approved and consistently applied.
Lead workload planning, resource deployment, daily service delivery, underwriting quality, productivity, escalations, management reporting and continuous process improvement.
Build team capability through coaching, performance management, training, succession planning and regular assessment of capacity and skill requirements.
Own operational governance, including adherence to approved underwriting guidelines and SOPs, risk and control monitoring, audit and compliance actions, complaint and control-breach follow-up, and timely closure of operational issues.
QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE
Bachelor’s degree in insurance, business, finance, medical science, healthcare, operations management or a related field.
Relevant experience delivering insurance transformation, product implementation or major operational change, preferably involving medical and health insurance.
Demonstrated experience in business requirements, process design, testing, defect management, operational readiness, go-live and post-launch stabilisation.
Project management, Lean or process improvement certification is an advantage.
Medical underwriting knowledge and an established underwriting authority are preferred.
KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCIES
Strong understanding of end-to-end New Business and Underwriting operations for medical and health insurance, including application requirements, medical evidence, underwriting decisions, loadings, deferments, not-taken-up cases, policy issuance and related controls.
Able to translate business needs into clear requirements, process maps, business rules, test scenarios, SOPs, user guidance and implementation plans.
Strong delivery discipline, with the ability to manage scope, timelines, dependencies, risks, issues, decisions and action owners.
Sound judgement in assessing solution quality, control effectiveness, operational readiness and go-live risk.
Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively, secure decisions and resolve cross-functional delivery gaps.
Hands-on, organised and accountable, with the ability to work independently while remaining aligned with the MHIT Project Manager and governance forums.