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What is a senior underwriter and how to become one
A senior underwriter is in charge of evaluating the eligibility of an applicant for loan application processing. For assigning territory, you need to achieve success in meeting and exceeding profitability and production goals. To ensure accuracy and proper recording of mortgages and UCC filings, you are in charge of checking and monitoring every detail. One of the objectives of your job is to meet all relative underwriting and lender guidelines by calculating debt to income ratios, CLTV, and LTV.
In addition, you must be able to determine debt-to-income ratios by using a manual LTV calculator, credit reviews, and manual income calculators. You are to ensure efficiency, teaching, training, and implementation with underwriters on the LIS system. You are in charge of overseeing and reviewing UCC searches, binders, insurance policies, contracts, and title reports. Just a reminder, you need to make use of the VA certificate and DE certificate.
A senior underwriter has to be analytical, have good interpersonal skills, and solve simple math problems. The average salary of a senior underwriter is $81,344 yearly or $39 per hour. The educational requirement of a senior underwriter is a bachelor's degree in a relevant field with years of experience in the insurance industry. Those relevant fields include Finance, Economics, Mathematics, and Accounting.
What's a day at work look like for a Senior Underwriter?
Robert Hoyt, Ph.D.
Department Head and Dudley L. Moore Jr. Chair of Insurance, University of Georgia
Avg. Salary $69,375
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth Rate -4%
Growth Rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%
Asian 5.56%
Black or African American 9.33%
Hispanic or Latino 9.39%
Unknown 2.46%
White 72.89%
Genderfemale 57.95%
male 42.05%
Age - 43American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 43Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity Level is advanced
7 - challenging
Work Life balance is fair
6.4 - fair
Senior Underwriter career paths
Key steps to become a senior underwriter
Explore senior underwriter education requirements
Start to develop specific senior underwriter skills
Skills 
Percentages Customer Service 11.08% Portfolio 8.29% Underwriting Guidelines 4.71% Strong Analytical 4.12% SR 4.11% Complete relevant senior underwriter training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior underwriters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior underwriter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior underwriter resumes.Research senior underwriter duties and responsibilities
- Manage AUS findings and analyze approvals and results accordingly.
- Perform underwriter approval/declines on FHA, VA, FmHA and conventional loan applications providing financing for one-to-four family residential properties.
- Fix and n variable annuities.
- Check for the accuracy and proper recording of UCC filings and mortgages.
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Prepare your senior underwriter resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior underwriter resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior underwriter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Underwriter Resume templates
Build a professional Senior Underwriter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Senior Underwriter resume.
Apply for senior underwriter jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a senior underwriter job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
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Average senior underwriter salary
The average Senior Underwriter salary in the United States is $69,375 per year or $33 per hour. Senior underwriter salaries range between $44,000 and $108,000 per year.
What Am I Worth?
How do senior underwriters rate their job?
Senior Underwriter reviews
Remote work, banking hours and benefits
High pressure, Toxic work environment when rates increase & people become defensive & scared of layoffs
Remote work opportunity
High pressure environment, constant scrutiny of job performance
I was fortunate to start via an underwriting training program with a large insurance company. These are difficult to get into now and companies aren't as committed to training. The training offered me a great overview of the industry & various product lines. This offered me flexibility as I learned new products and specialty programs. I enjoy a 9-5 role, great benefits, good bonuses and travel. You also meet many people with variety of education and professional backgrounds and interests and make great long term friendships. The industry welcomes and needs people with many talents. I've enjoyed working remote and with small teams in the office.
Industry goes through high & low pricing cycles with, making lots of money or struggling to make budget. This puts direct pressure on underwriters to produce new business in a crowded space promoting the same basic products. I see younger underwriters now with business degrees, advanced degrees & industry certifications promoted quickly with little experience. Underwriting/computer systems are often dated and inefficient. We spend too much time sitting and looking at double monitors with lots of eye strain.
Updated January 8, 2025
