Head of Real Estate - Commercial

Join AXA Commercial and be part of an award-winning team! As the 2024 Insurance Award’s Commercial Lines Insurer of the Year, we're proud to be industry recognised for our ongoing commitment to supporting our broker partners and customers.

Are you a forward-thinking leader with a passion for driving and executing strategic initiatives? We're looking for a dynamic Head of Real Estate to join our AXA Commercial team and play a crucial role in shaping the future of our esteemed Real Estate Specialty function. In this senior leadership role, you'll have the chance to influence key decisions and guide the Underwriting, Operational, and Distribution strategies to help us achieve our ambitious goals.

If you're ready to elevate your career and make a meaningful impact within our thriving organisation, we encourage you to apply and contribute to our mission. Join us in fostering a collaborative and innovative environment where your expertise can flourish, continuing AXA’s Real Estate success story and positioning us as one of the largest Real Estate portfolios in the UK.

What you’ll be doing:

• Own the Real Estate results, with responsibility to deliver profitable growth traded in the London Real Estate market.
• Oversee broker and client engagement, underwriting, and distribution strategies to optimise trading decisions and enhance the broker experience across various programs, including UK, multinational, and non-conventional initiatives.
• Lead, inspire, and develop both the Leadership and broader Branch Teams, to deliver exceptional underwriting, distribution, and operational services.
• Establish a clear five-year strategy and vision for Real Estate, outlining key objectives for the branch, defining individual roles and contributions, aligned with the AXA Commercial Grow28 strategy.
• Sponsor the continuous improvement of the Real Estate team, through investment in people capability, leading a change agenda for operational efficiency and utilising data and digital capability.
• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and honesty within the Real Estate team, driving engagement and development while supporting the Branch and AXA Commercial strategies to achieve all KPIs.
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key senior stakeholders, including clients, brokers, and AXA Executive Committee members, to execute the strategy and enhance business opportunities for Real Estate and the broader Commercial division.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory and legislative standards within the Real Estate function, including adherence to internal governance and controls.

At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them. In this role you will be expected to be meeting brokers and clients in the London market regularly spending over 60% of your working week away from home. Away from home means either attendance at one of our office locations, visiting brokers or clients and attending industry events.

What you’ll bring:

• ACII qualification is preferred.
• Degree or equivalent qualification is desirable.
• Strong presentation skills, including the ability to effectively engage large groups of senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and motivating high-performing teams; exceptional people leadership skills are essential.
• Prior experience managing large teams in a branch environment, with a proven track record of achieving results across various KPIs.
• In-depth understanding of the London Real Estate and Multinational markets and their associated processes and broker partnerships is crucial.
• Excellent relationship management skills, with the ability to build and maintain successful long-term relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, including clients.
• Strong people and resource management capabilities, with a proven ability to lead and inspire teams.
• Pragmatic decision-maker with strong analytical and numerical reasoning abilities.
• Proven experience in long- and short-term planning, as well as distribution, operational, and strategic planning in previous roles.

As a precondition of employment for this role, you must be eligible and authorised to work in the United Kingdom.

This position has been defined as an Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) role under the IDD regime which means that in addition to pre-employment screening checks, the successful candidate will be subject to background screening every 4 years with an annual declaration in interim years.

What we offer:

At AXA UK, we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• Competitive annual salary dependent on experience
• Annual company & performance-based bonus
• Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
• Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
• Private medical cover
• Company cash car allowance
• 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 5 days leave
• AXA employee discounts

To apply, click on the ‘apply for this job’ button, you’ll then need to log in or create a profile to submit your CV. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer and don’t discriminate against employees or potential employees based on protected characteristics. If you have a long-term condition or disability and require adjustments during the application or interview process, we’re proud to offer access to the AXA Accessibility Concierge. For our support, please send an email to kate.wilding@axa-uk.co.uk.

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Who we are:

AXA Commercial protects businesses, from multinationals to micro start-ups, giving them the confidence to thrive. We’re currently making our biggest ever investment to develop the expertise and skills we need to be the best. We’re a vibrant community where everyone is supported to learn, develop, and take ownership of their work.