Insurance recruitment specialists

Specialist insurance recruitment, built on market knowledge, personal relationships and senior involvement.

KESS was founded with insurance recruitment at its heart. We understand a sector where specialist knowledge matters, relationships are important and finding the right person can have an immediate impact on performance.

From individual appointments and specialist roles to senior leadership and complete teams, we provide a highly personal recruitment service shaped around your business, your market and the people you need.

We know the right people change everything
Insurance is a specialist, highly connected industry where the strongest candidates can be difficult to identify, attract and engage.

Finding someone with the right experience is only part of the challenge. They also need to fit your organisation, understand your market, complement the people around them and have the potential to make a meaningful difference.

That is where KESS comes in.

Our roots are in insurance recruitment and the sector continues to form an important part of our business. We combine specialist understanding with experienced human judgement, senior involvement and intelligent recruitment technology to help insurance businesses recruit more effectively.

Rather than simply searching a database for available candidates, we undertake live searches, actively identifying and approaching people against the requirements of each assignment.

It means every search starts with your business and the person you actually need.

Specialist recruitment for the insurance industry
Understanding a complex market

Insurance is not one homogenous recruitment market.

Different businesses, disciplines and specialisms require different experience, technical knowledge and personal qualities. An effective search therefore starts with understanding not simply the job title, but the context surrounding it.

We take time to understand:

Your business and where it sits within the insurance market
The role and its commercial importance
Required technical and market experience
Reporting structures and responsibilities
Your culture and ways of working
Salary, benefits and market expectations
Career progression and the wider opportunity
The qualities that will enable someone to succeed long term

This enables us to build a more informed candidate profile and take a focused search to the market.

Insurance roles we recruit for

KESS can support recruitment across a broad range of insurance functions and levels, including:

Underwriting

Underwriters, senior underwriters, underwriting managers, technical specialists and underwriting leadership appointments.

Broking

Insurance brokers, account executives, account handlers, client directors and senior broking appointments.

Claims

Claims handlers, claims specialists, claims managers, technical claims professionals and senior claims leadership.

Operations

Insurance operations, technical support, business operations, service delivery and operational leadership.

Risk & Compliance

Compliance, governance, regulatory, risk and associated management and leadership roles.

Sales & Business Development

Business development, distribution, partnerships, client development and commercial leadership.

Finance & Business Support

Finance, marketing, HR, administration and other professional functions supporting insurance organisations.

Leadership & Executive Recruitment

Heads of function, directors, senior leadership and C-suite appointments requiring a more focused and discreet search.

Can’t see the role you need? Talk to us. Our approach is built around the requirement rather than a fixed list of job titles.

Recruiting across the insurance ecosystem

We work with businesses looking to strengthen teams across the wider insurance marketplace.

This can include:

Insurance companies
Supporting established and growing insurers with specialist, commercial, operational and leadership appointments.

Insurance brokers
Helping broking businesses recruit individuals and teams capable of developing client relationships and supporting continued growth.

MGAs and specialist insurance businesses
Finding people with the technical expertise, entrepreneurial approach and market understanding required within specialist and growing organisations.

Professional and specialist insurance services
Supporting businesses providing services to the wider insurance industry where insurance knowledge and sector relationships are important.

Whether you are an established organisation, an independent business or building something new, our approach can flex around your recruitment needs.

Fresh searches. Fresh candidates.
We don’t simply rely on who’s already in the database

The strongest candidate for your role may not currently be looking for another job.

That is why KESS takes a live-search approach to recruitment.

Rather than depending principally on a historic candidate database, we search the market around each assignment, identifying people whose experience, capabilities and ambitions align with the opportunity.

This creates a fresher and potentially wider candidate pool and helps us reach individuals who may be open to the right conversation without actively searching job boards.

Combined with our insurance market knowledge and recruitment experience, it allows us to approach each assignment with a clear objective:

Find the right person for this business, not simply the most readily available candidate.

Senior-led insurance recruitment
Experience throughout the process

Every important appointment deserves appropriate attention.

At KESS, senior involvement is part of how we work. From helping define the requirement through to candidate search, selection, negotiation and appointment, experienced people remain close to the process.

This becomes particularly valuable when recruiting specialist insurance professionals or senior people where the candidate market is smaller, discretion matters and individual conversations can make the difference.

You get a recruitment partner who understands what you are trying to achieve and remains accountable throughout.

Insurance leadership recruitment
Finding the people who can shape what comes next

Senior appointments can change the direction of an insurance business.

Whether you need to recruit a Head of Department, Director, senior technical specialist or C-suite leader, KESS provides a more focused approach to leadership attraction.

We work with you to understand the immediate requirements of the position as well as the wider strategic context: what the individual needs to achieve, the team they will lead, the stakeholders they must influence and the qualities required to succeed within your organisation.

We can then undertake a targeted search to identify, approach and engage senior insurance professionals who may not otherwise be visible within an active recruitment market.

Explore our Leadership Attraction service →

Building insurance teams

Recruitment requirements do not always arrive one vacancy at a time.

Growth, acquisitions, new divisions, business restructuring or changing market opportunities can create a need to recruit several people simultaneously.

KESS can support anything from a single specialist appointment through to multiple hires and wider team-building programmes.

By understanding the structure you are trying to create, we can look beyond individual vacancies and consider how different appointments complement one another, helping you build a stronger team rather than simply fill a collection of positions.

Explore Team Recruitment →

A recruitment partner, not simply a recruitment supplier

Our ambition is to build long-term partnerships with the businesses we support.

That means being available beyond an individual vacancy.

We can help you think through recruitment strategy, role definition, remuneration, employer positioning, candidate attraction and wider people challenges, bringing an informed external perspective when it is valuable.

For founders, owners and directors in particular, we understand that recruitment challenges can sometimes appear quickly. A business-critical employee may leave, an opportunity may require a new team or an employment issue may need immediate attention.

KESS is designed to be someone you can call when that happens.

Human judgement. Enhanced by AI.

Technology is changing recruitment and we believe its potential should be embraced.

KESS uses AI-powered tools where they can make the recruitment process more focused, informed and effective, from supporting research and search through to helping analyse information and identify opportunities.

But recruitment remains fundamentally about people.

Technology supports our consultants rather than replacing experienced judgement, personal conversations or the relationships required to understand whether an individual and organisation are genuinely right for one another.

For our clients, that means combining the efficiency and reach of modern recruitment technology with the experience and personal involvement of a senior-led recruiter.

Why choose KESS for insurance recruitment?

Insurance heritage
KESS was originally established as a specialist recruitment business serving the insurance industry.

Senior involvement
Experienced recruitment professionals remain involved throughout your assignment.

Live candidate searches
We actively search the market around your vacancy rather than relying solely on an existing candidate database.

Personal service
You deal with people who know your business, understand the assignment and stay close to the process.

Flexible approach
From individual hires to leadership appointments and complete teams, our service adapts around what you need.

Technology-enabled
We embrace AI and emerging recruitment technology where it can improve search, intelligence and efficiency.

Partnership mentality
Our relationship does not have to end when a vacancy is filled. We aim to become a recruitment and people partner you can turn to as your business develops.

Looking for an insurance recruitment agency?

Whether you have an immediate insurance vacancy, need to find a difficult-to-reach specialist, are strengthening your leadership team or simply want an informed conversation about the recruitment market, speak to KESS.

Tell us who you’re looking for →