Product Underwriting Legal – Lead Underwriting Counsel

We are seeking an experienced attorney to join the Product Underwriting Legal team as Lead Underwriting Counsel in the Global Legal, Compliance and Regulatory (GLCR) department at AIG.

The Product Underwriting Legal team is comprised of attorneys and other para-professionals providing high quality advisory, transactional and regulatory support across the Company. This role will support projects that are time-sensitive, highly visible inside and outside of the company, and key to AIG’s strategic business initiatives. This position ultimately reports to the Global Head of Underwriting and Reinsurance Legal within AIG’s legal department. 

The primary responsibility of the Lead Underwriting Counsel is to support the Chief Underwriting Office and the North America and International businesses of AIG in the development of market leading products through drafting and developing both new and updated standard proprietary AIG policies and endorsements that reflect underwriting intent clearly and unambiguously.  The role requires collaboration with the North America and International Insurance line of business legal teams as well as other areas in GLCR and with Underwriting, Claims, Actuarial, and Reinsurance colleagues.

Responsibilities:

• Draft and develop both new and updated standard proprietary AIG products, policies, and endorsements.  Support Compliance and Regulatory Filings to obtain required approvals, where necessary.
• Support the office of the CUO in identifying the need to adopt new and updated policies and endorsements and work with appropriate parties to effectuate the transition. 
• Develop AIG policies and endorsements based on broker and other insurers’ forms, to address client-specific exposures and to promote the use of AIG preferred wordings in policy placements.
• Work closely with GLCR colleagues to address legal, regulatory and compliance issues of all types related to product development and policy wordings.
• Provide advice and insights with respect to policies and endorsements used by other market participants.
• Ensure underwriting intent is reflected by utilizing clear and unambiguous policy and endorsement wording.
• Work with other areas in AIG, such as Claims, Actuarial, and the Coverage Litigation team, to identify exposure trends relative to policy and endorsement wordings and to appropriately address the trends in policies and endorsements standard language. 
• Drive remediation of existing policies and endorsements, identifying those that should be retired, updated, or replaced. 
• Act as a liaison coordinating and driving policy and endorsement wording drafting and discussions with line of business leaders, chief product underwriters, senior claims executives and other internal and external stakeholders. 
• Support the population and maintenance of a comprehensive policy and endorsement repository.
• Support the office of the CUO in the development of guidelines and authorities to facilitate comprehensive product and wordings governance.  
• Provide policy and endorsement training for AIG underwriting staff, giving direction and insight on wording and usage.

What we are looking for:

• Legal degree and current legal qualification/licenses required.
• Demonstrated experience advising senior business partners/clients on complex insurance wording, coverage, and related insurance transactional matters within aggressive timeframes.
• Proven ability to work in a team environment to successfully achieve goals.
• Strong ability to prioritize projects, respond promptly in an appropriate manner and deliver with excellence in a high pace environment.
• Exceptional oral and written communicator with the ability to distill complex topics and issues into to relatable and easy to understand concepts for non-lawyers
• Driven problem solver with demonstrated success in proactively addressing internal and external client needs with fit for purpose solutions in a timely fashion.
• Very detail oriented and focused on developing thorough documentation to support sustainable processes and practices.
• Avid curiosity and eagerness to learn from experiences and new situations.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office tools and legal research databases

For positions based in New York City, the base salary range is $225,000 - $275,000. In addition, the position is eligible for a bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable incentive plan. We’re proud to offer a range of competitive benefits, a summary of which can be viewed here: AIG Benefits Overview.

A look at our benefits

At AIG, we have a 100-year legacy of working to make the world a better place.  And that begins with our employees. We are proud to offer a range of employee benefits and resources that help you protect what matters most – your health, savings, financial protection, and wellbeing. We provide a variety of leaves for personal, health, family, and military needs. For example, the “Giving Back” program allows you to take up to 16 hours a year to volunteer in your community.  We also believe in fostering our employees’ development and offer a range of learning opportunities for employees to hone their professional skills to position themselves for the next steps of their careers.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer

It has been and will continue to be the policy of American International Group, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal opportunity to all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, age, gender, gender expression, national origin, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected categories. At AIG, we believe that diversity and inclusion are critical to our future and our mission – creating a foundation for a creative workplace that leads to innovation, growth, and profitability. Through a wide variety of programs and initiatives, we invest in each employee, seeking to ensure that our people are not only respected as individuals, but also truly valued for their unique perspectives.