Wholesale Financial Lines Manager

Wholesale Financial Lines Manager

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries. People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It's what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you'll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Based in our Naas/Kill office, Howden Ireland are delighted to have a vacancy as a Wholesale Financial Lines Manager, who will be responsible for growing and managing a high-performing financial lines portfolio, with a primary focus on Professional Indemnity, alongside Cyber and related financial lines products.

About the Role:

This role combines day-to-day trading and quoting, team leadership across new business and renewals, and ownership of a delegated underwriting authority (DUA) that is a core strategic growth initiative for the business. The DUA is initially focused on Construction-related Professional Indemnity risks (including Design & Construct, Architects, Engineers and Surveyors) and will expand into additional segments over time as the portfolio scales. This is a player–manager role, suited to a commercially driven PI professional who enjoys being close to the market while building a sustainable, scalable book and team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and grow the Financial Lines portfolio, with primary responsibility for Professional Indemnity, supported by Cyber and complementary products.
• Deliver sustained new business and renewal growth, aligned to agreed monthly and annual targets.
• Shape and execute a clear PI growth strategy, balancing underwriting discipline, pricing, and market opportunity.
• Expand the portfolio into new sectors and risk types over time, in line with insurer appetite and DUA development.
• Lead and manage a new delegated underwriting authority, initially focused on construction-related PI risks (D&C, Architects, Engineers, Surveyors).
• Act as the day-to-day underwriting and trading lead under the DUA, ensuring efficient, high-quality decision-making.
• Ensure the DUA operates in line with governance, authority limits, compliance requirements, and insurer expectations.
• Monitor performance, loss trends, pricing, and portfolio metrics, providing insight and feedback to senior management and capacity providers.
• Support the expansion of the DUA into additional segments as the book matures.
• Actively trade, quote, negotiate, and place PI and financial lines risks on a daily basis.
• Provide technical leadership and deal support on complex or high-value cases.
• Maintain strong working relationships with insurers, MGA partners, and London Market underwriters.
• Ensure optimal placement strategies that balance coverage, pricing, turnaround times, and sustainability.
• Lead, manage, and develop a busy and growing Financial Lines team covering both new business and renewals.
• Set clear expectations around activity, pipeline management, service standards, and conversion performance.
• Embed strong trading discipline across the team, from submission quality through to bind and handover.
• Act as a senior referral point for technical, commercial, and underwriting queries.
• Build and strengthen relationships with retail broker partners, positioning Robertson Low as a trusted PI and financial lines specialist.
• Support broker education around PI risk, DUA capability, appetite, and coverage differentiation.
• Attend broker, insurer, and market meetings as required, both locally and in the London Market.
• Share market insight, appetite changes, and emerging trends with the wider wholesale business.
• Recruit, onboard, and develop team members as the portfolio grows.
• Conduct regular one-to-ones, performance reviews, and coaching sessions.
• Support professional development, technical training, and CPD completion across the team.
• Foster a high-performance, collaborative culture aligned to Howden and Robertson Low values.
• Ensure all activity is conducted in line with regulatory, compliance, and client best-interest requirements.
• Embed strong processes around documentation, referrals, authorities, and audit trails.
• Work closely with Compliance, Operations, and Finance to support scalable growth of the PI and DUA portfolios.
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives across systems, workflows, and MI.

About You:

CIP (minimum) with progress toward MDI/ACII preferred; maintains Fit & Proper status and completes all required regulatory training. 8+ years in Professional Indemnity, either in wholesale broking, underwriting, or a hybrid trading role. Experience managing or working within delegated underwriting authorities is highly desirable. Strong exposure to construction-related PI risks (D&C, Architects, Engineers, Surveyors). Excellent technical product knowledge, deep understanding of Irish broker & insurer landscape and awareness of market forces, M&A Proficient with broking platforms, excellent Excel/Powerpoint and reporting skills. Experience using Acturis, Power BI for MI reporting and pipeline analytics will be an advantage. Proven capability to hire, lead, and develop a trading team; establishing cadences, KPIs, and coaching interventions that lift performance. Strong track record of pipeline management and revenue delivery. Deep understanding of London Market and capacity placement. Commercially astute, data-driven, and execution-focused. Credible leader who can coach performance and influence stakeholders. Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, target-driven environment.

About Howden Ireland:

Howden Ireland is part of Howden, the global insurance intermediary group, and has over 600 employees across 28 local offices advising clients on their commercial insurance, personal insurance, health insurance, life and pensions and mortgage requirements. Our success is primarily down to the incredible people we employ.

What Do We Offer In Return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we're looking for individuals who share the same values as us: Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond Reasonable adjustments We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours or hybrid working. If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it's the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role's criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require. *Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.

Permanent Howden began in 1994, as just three people and a dog. Now there are 23,000 of us, and we're a leading global insurance group, managing $37bn of premiums for our clients. Our largest shareholder group is us – the people who work in the business – supported by three long-term, minority growth-equity partners who share our vision to build a business to last, one that will never be sold. The owner's mindset is something that's embedded in our culture; our people readily take ownership of their decisions, their actions, and their outputs. They're invested in every sense. And we all know that by working together to drive the business forward, everyone will benefit from the extraordinary results we can achieve.