Job Placement · Insurance · Claims / Underwriting Manager
BLS tracks no combined code for this seat, and the adjuster license under it varies by state: Texas requires 24 CE hours and a fingerprint check, Florida waives the exam for AIC or CPCU holders. BEG places this Tier III hire in 23 to 35 days for a fixed $12,864 to $15,437.
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TL;DR
BLS has no dedicated occupation code for this seat, and neither does state licensing. Texas requires all-lines adjusters to complete 24 hours of continuing education every two years, three of them in ethics, plus a fingerprint background check through IdentoGO before the state exam, while Florida waives that exam entirely for candidates who already hold the CPCU or Associate in Claims designation. Whichever state footprint the seat sits in, it owns the unit’s authority grid, file audits, and cycle-time or loss-ratio targets, plus hiring and coaching the adjusters or underwriters underneath it. Clients typically want a manager who has run a team in the same line and the same state licensing footprint, and those candidates are often mid-cycle on a retention bonus or already being promoted internally at a competitor, which keeps shortlists thin for a full quarter at a time. BEG runs this as a Tier III milestone search, fixed at $12,864 to $15,437 before the search starts.
The State-By-State License Map
Because BLS tracks no combined code for it, and the adjuster license underneath it is set state by state, with Texas and Florida alone running different exam waivers, CE clocks and background check rules.
Where The Missing Job Code Slows This Down
Four things happen in sequence, and the absence of one clean license or job code is what makes each step harder than it looks.
| Stage | What is happening | Where it stalls |
|---|---|---|
| Work out which state’s rules actually apply | Texas and Florida alone run different exam-waiver routes, CE deadlines and background-check requirements for all-lines adjusters. | A posting written for one state’s licensing rules screens out qualified candidates licensed correctly under a different state’s rules. |
| Post the seat without a clean job code | BLS tracks claims adjusters and underwriters as separate occupations with no combined manager code, so postings borrow language from either side inconsistently. | Inconsistent titling confuses candidates about actual scope and authority before they ever apply. |
| Compete against a retention bonus or an internal promotion | This seat owns the unit’s authority grid, file audits, and cycle-time or loss-ratio targets, plus hiring and coaching the adjusters or underwriters below it. | Qualified candidates are frequently mid-cycle on a retention bonus or already being promoted internally at a competitor, keeping shortlists thin for a full quarter. |
| Close before catastrophe season changes the math | BLS notes the number of natural disasters drives demand for property and casualty field adjusters, which can pull experienced managers into surge assignments. | A slow search can lose a candidate to a catastrophe deployment or a counteroffer timed around the same season. |
None of this is a shortage of management talent. It is the absence of one clean license or job category, and a search built around the actual state footprint closes faster than one built around a title BLS does not track.
What Contingency Would Cost On Either Side Of The Desk
A contingency recruiter charging 20% to 25% of first-year salary would run $15,600 to $19,500 at the claims-side median of $78,000, or $16,274 to $20,342 at the underwriting-side median of $81,370, since this seat can be benchmarked either way. BEG prices it as a Tier III engagement, fixed at $12,864 to $15,437 when the search starts, meaningfully under either contingency range and unaffected by which side of the desk the search leans toward or which state’s license the candidate holds.
What An Unmanaged Unit Costs Meanwhile
At the $78,000 claims-side median, an open manager seat is roughly $1,500 a week of authority-grid decisions, file audits and coaching that do not happen, work that either waits or lands on a senior individual contributor who was not hired to run a team. A vacancy here also stalls something a license map cannot fix on its own: without a manager signing off, adjusters and underwriters near their own authority ceiling have nowhere to escalate a file, so the backlog is not just management work undone, it is frontline files stuck behind it.
Surge Staffing, Interim Coverage, Or A Permanent Manager
Those are three different problems with three different vendors, and naming the wrong one is the fastest way to overpay for the wrong fix.
| Model | Who employs the worker | How you pay | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract or catastrophe adjusting staffing | The staffing firm | Daily or hourly rate for the deployment | You need claims capacity covered through a catastrophe surge, not a manager hired permanently. |
| Temp or interim underwriting management coverage | The staffing agency | Hourly or weekly bill rate for the assignment | You need the authority grid and file audits covered through a transition, not permanently. |
| Contingency recruiter | You | 20% to 25% of first-year salary, $15,600 to $19,500 at the claims-side median | You will accept a fee that rises with the offer in exchange for paying nothing until someone starts. |
| BEG permanent placement | You | Tier III milestone fee, $12,864 to $15,437, fixed at the start | You want the fee locked before the search starts, with a replacement term if the hire does not last. |
A catastrophe surge, a leadership gap and an open seat all look similar from the outside and need different vendors on the inside. Full detail on the insurance placement hub.
FAQ
23 to 35 days from discovery call to signed offer on average, with an 86% fill rate on active searches, based on isolved placement data. Searches that specify the wrong state’s licensing rules from the start tend to run longer.
A Tier III milestone fee of $12,864 to $15,437, fixed before the search starts. A 20% to 25% contingency fee would run $15,600 to $19,500 at the claims-side median of $78,000.
Because BLS tracks no combined code for it, and clients typically want a manager who has run a team in the same line and the same state licensing footprint, narrowing an already specialized pool further.
24 hours of continuing education every two years, 3 in ethics and 12 classroom or equivalent, plus a fingerprint background check through IdentoGO for most applicants. The state exam is waived for a recent TDI-approved course, a reciprocal state license in good standing, or the CPCU or AIC designation, per Texas TDI.
The 6-20 license requires Florida residency, age 18 or older, and 24 hours of CE every two years due by the end of the licensee’s birth month. The exam is waived for AIC or CPCU holders or an insurance degree with 18 semester hours, and the license lapses after 48 months with no active appointment, per Florida DFS.
The unit’s authority grid, file audits, and cycle-time or loss-ratio targets, plus hiring and coaching the adjusters or underwriters below the seat, without necessarily owning the department’s headcount or budget.
No. BEG places a permanent manager your carrier or agency employs directly, for a fixed Tier III fee. If the actual need is catastrophe surge coverage or a transition bridge, say so on the discovery call, and a staffing firm, not BEG, is the right vendor.
The claims-side median is $78,000, with a 75th percentile of $98,030 and a 90th percentile above $117,040. The underwriting-side median runs slightly higher at $81,370, and federal government pays the highest claims-side median in the group at $93,660.
35% work at direct property and casualty carriers, 29% at agencies, brokerages and other insurance related activities, and 13% in federal government, per BLS.
BLS projects claims adjuster, examiner and investigator employment down about 5% through 2035, but roughly 21,600 openings a year still occur across the group from replacement, and natural disaster frequency continues to drive demand for experienced claims leadership.
A 45-day replacement guarantee applies. Because the licensing footprint is state specific, it is worth confirming how any recruiter structures a replacement search if the candidate’s license does not transfer cleanly.
A senior underwriter is an individual contributor with large account authority. This seat manages people, owning the authority grid, file audits and performance targets for a full team of adjusters or underwriters, on either side of the business.
Hiring around this seat? See senior underwriter, director of underwriting, or all insurance placement.
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