SVP, Head of Legal, Corporate Solutions North America

Location: Kansas City, MO; Armonk or New York, NY; Chicago or Schaumburg, IL

Are you an accomplished legal executive with deep expertise in commercial insurance and a proven track record of strategic leadership? Join Swiss Re Corporate Solutions (CorSo) as our Head of Legal for North America and lead a high-performing team in driving business growth and navigating complex regulatory landscapes across one of our most significant and dynamic markets.

About the Role

As Head of Legal for CorSo North America, you will join the CorSo US Leadership Team and serve as the principal legal advisor to CorSo's executive leadership across the US and Canada.  You will lead and develop a team of 10 legal professionals in providing strategic counsel on business-critical matters, balancing high-impact leadership with hands-on legal expertise to drive our business forward while maintaining robust risk governance. 

Reporting directly to the General Counsel for Corporate Solutions based in Zurich, Switzerland, you will join a global team supporting CorSo's diverse portfolio of business lines, including property, financial products, professional liability, accident and health, alternative risk transfer, international programs, and credit/surety.  We pride ourselves on being pragmatic, business-enabling partners who think holistically, collaborate across regions, and bring clarity to an increasingly complex risk landscape.  

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of 10 legal professionals across multiple locations, fostering a culture of inclusion, accountability, and commercial mindset while developing talent and delegating work effectively
• Provide strategic counsel to senior CorSo North America leadership, translating complex legal issues into clear, actionable guidance that enables sound business decisions
• Enable business objectives by supporting complex insurance and reinsurance transactions, structures, and distribution agreements across primary and excess lines for CorSo's US and Canadian portfolio
• Design and implement comprehensive risk management strategies that identify, assess, and mitigate legal, regulatory, and reputational risks
• Navigate complex regulatory frameworks across multiple US and Canadian jurisdictions, anticipating regulatory changes, assessing implications to provide timely steer to stakeholders, and ensuring organizational readiness
• Foster cross-functional collaboration with Compliance, Risk, Finance, Underwriting, Operations, and regional/global legal teams to drive integrated business solutions

About You

You're an exceptional legal executive and colleague who combines strategic vision with practical business acumen. You excel at translating complex legal concepts into actionable business strategies and have a proven ability to lead high-performing teams in growth environments. Adept at identifying priorities and clearing obstacles, you navigate complex regulatory environments, multi-jurisdictional issues, and sophisticated transactions while maintaining business momentum. Your sophisticated understanding of insurance markets enables you to anticipate challenges and identify opportunities while maintaining the highest standards of legal and ethical conduct.  

Key Requirements include:

• 10+ years of senior commercial insurance legal experience in an environment of relevant scope, scale, and complexity
• Proven track record of leading inclusive teams, developing talent, and enabling high performance
• Deep knowledge of primary and excess domestic and international insurance, including distribution networks, MGA relationships, and complex insurance transactions, e.g. captives / fronting, alternative risk transfers, and M&A/ transactional liability
• Extensive experience with US state and national insurance regulatory frameworks and filing requirements, including engaging with a lead domestic regulator of international insurance operations, e.g. Missouri
• Excellent communication skills, able to communicate with clarity and conviction at all levels and across geographies and cultures, equally effective presenting to the Board or Executive Committee and communicating complex legal issues to cross-functional stakeholders
• Operational management skills and proven ability to allocate resources and work to meet objectives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Learning agility, comfortable with change and change management, including embrace of new technology or tools for continuous improvement

The estimated base salary range for this position is $200,000 to $270,000 for Kansas City (MO), Chicago, or Schaumburg (IL), and $212,000 - $285,000 for New York or Armonk (NY).  The specific salary offered for this, or any given role, will take into account a number of factors including but not limited to job location, scope of role, qualifications, complexity/specialization/scarcity of talent, experience, education, and employer budget. At Swiss Re, we take a "total compensation approach" when making compensation decisions. This means that we consider all components of compensation in their totality (such as base pay, short-and long-term incentives, and benefits offered), in setting individual compensation.

Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office (or working at a site outside of the office for essential business activities) at least three days per week.

About Group Legal and Compliance at Swiss Re

Swiss Re trades in legal and trust products at the center of a complex international web of law and regulation. Legal and compliance risks are a pervasive threat in financial services. Group Legal & Compliance (L&C) ensures the proper and systematic identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks inherent to an evolving external environment.  L&C fully supports the company's value chain and broad product suite, its complex operations, and the demanding regulatory framework in which Swiss Re operates. L&C's value is delivered through services aimed at protecting Swiss Re, enabling execution of strategy and business operations and providing governance support and assurance throughout the firm.

About Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

CorSo is Swiss Re's commercial insurance arm, backed by financial strength and more than 160 years of risk expertise.  Our extensive knowledge in traditional as well as alternative risk transfer solutions sets us apart in providing smarter risk products that are globally aligned but tailored to local needs.  We are relentlessly looking for ways to improve our service so that when it matters most, you can count on us. Driven by data, informed by expert insights, and enhanced through innovation. Our solutions are designed to transform commercial insurance. Please visit us at Corporate Insurance Solutions | Swiss Re to learn more.