Sector
Underwriting recruitment for Belgium and the Netherlands
Good underwriters are the scarcest commodity in Belgian and Dutch insurance, and they rarely apply to job ads. Linkrs recruits underwriting talent across life and non-life, from technical acceptants to heads of underwriting, on both sides of the border.
The underwriting talent market
Underwriting has a pipeline problem. For years, insurers in Belgium and the Netherlands hired few juniors and trained fewer, relying on a generation that entered the market in the eighties and nineties. That generation is now retiring, and the mid-career layer that should replace it is thin. When a senior property or liability underwriter becomes available, several carriers usually know within the week.
The market cycle sharpens the shortage. A hard market rewards technical discipline: carriers want underwriters who can hold a line on rate and wording, not just process submissions. That skill is learned over full cycles, which means the profiles in demand are exactly the ones every competitor is also trying to keep. Retention counter-offers in this discipline are frequent and often aggressive.
The Belgian and Dutch markets are structurally close but not interchangeable. Product norms, broker relationships and authority structures differ, and a Dutch acceptant moving to a Brussels carrier needs more than language alone. That said, the corridor works: specialty lines, marine, credit and surety, and reinsurance roles move across the border regularly, and carriers who search both markets at once see materially stronger shortlists.
Delegated authority is reshaping the discipline. MGAs and underwriting agencies in both countries are hiring experienced underwriters away from carriers with promises of autonomy and speed, while carriers respond by building specialty teams and portfolio-management capability. Job titles are diverging faster than the underlying skills, which makes CV screening unreliable and market knowledge essential.
Underwriting roles we place
Non-life underwriting
- Underwriter Property & Casualty
- Liability Underwriter
- Marine & Transport Underwriter
- Credit & Surety Underwriter
- Acceptant Zakelijke Verzekeringen
- Facultative Reinsurance Underwriter
Life, health and employee benefits underwriting
- Medical Underwriter
- Life Underwriter
- Group Insurance Underwriter
- Underwriter Employee Benefits
- Income Protection Underwriter
Underwriting leadership
- Senior Underwriter
- Underwriting Team Leader
- Portfolio Manager
- Underwriting Manager
- Head of Underwriting
How Linkrs recruits underwriters
We start where underwriters actually are: in our network, not on a job board. Both partners have spent years building relationships with underwriting professionals across Belgium and the Netherlands, and most searches begin with direct, discreet conversations before any advertising is considered. Employed underwriters will take a call from someone who understands the difference between a pricing role and a portfolio role. They will not answer a generic ad.
Every underwriting mandate is run by a partner, end to end. We map the candidate universe in both countries in the candidate's own language, present a shortlist of people who are genuinely interviewable rather than a stack of CVs, and tell you honestly when the brief needs adjusting — on salary, on scope, or on the seniority the market will actually yield.
For most underwriting roles, our no-cure-no-pay Linkrs Search model fits: you pay on placement, and every placement carries a guarantee period. For a head of underwriting or a confidential replacement, we recommend a retained Linkrs Mandate, where discretion is built into the process from the first call.
Frequently asked questions
How do you find underwriters who are not actively looking?
Almost no good underwriter in Belgium or the Netherlands is actively looking; they are found through relationships. We maintain long-running contact with underwriting professionals across both markets, so a search starts with people we already know and trust, extended by referrals from that network. Advertising is a supplement, never the strategy.
Can you recruit underwriters across the Belgium–Netherlands border?
Yes, and it is often where the shortlist gets stronger. Specialty, marine, credit and surety, and reinsurance profiles move across the border regularly. We assess each candidate's fit for the local market realistically — broker culture, product norms and authority structures differ — and we run the conversation in the candidate's own language.
I am an underwriter. What is my profile worth right now?
It depends on your line of business, your cycle experience and your authority level, and we will tell you honestly rather than flatter you. Technical non-life profiles with real portfolio responsibility are in persistent demand in both countries. A confidential conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing; nothing moves without your explicit consent.
What happens if a placed underwriter leaves during the guarantee period?
Every Linkrs placement carries a guarantee period, stated plainly in our terms before we start. If the hire leaves within it, we restart the search under the agreed conditions. In practice this is rare in underwriting, because we screen for motive as hard as for technical skill — a counter-offer risk is flagged before the shortlist, not after the resignation.
Hiring in underwriting?
Tell us about the role. A partner will come back to you with a realistic read of the market — usually within one business day.