Graduate program 2026: Law and engineering degrees bring valuable skills to commercial underwriting

Underwriting is an important function offering diverse career growth opportunities across Suncorp. 

Underwriting involves understanding and assessing risk. It is a core foundation of insurance, as underwriting assessments help establish appropriate coverage and pricing to protect policyholders.  

Daniel and Josephine both secured graduate roles in the in Suncorp’s underwriting and risk engineering teams within Commercial & Personal Injury Insurance, supporting the Vero and GIO brands. 

Although they work across different brands, their roles go hand-in-hand. An underwriter helps businesses protect themselves from financial loss by determining policy terms, and a risk engineer supports the underwriter by inspecting the business premises and providing risk management advice. 

Suncorp Graduate Talent Advisor Kelly Pfeffer leads the graduate program and explained that underwriting and risk engineering are non-discipline specific, which means Suncorp is attracting and hiring students from a broad range of disciplines into these functions. 

“I am still learning more about underwriting every day,” she said. 

“It’s a fascinating space that our graduates are thriving in. 

Daniel, Melbourne  

Daniel is a graduate in the Risk Engineering team based in Vero’s Melbourne office. He focuses on conducting risk surveys on commercial properties throughout Victoria, including assessing physical risks on site such as fire hazards. 

Through liaison with Vero brokers, the team helps Australian businesses of all shapes and sizes run their operations with confidence and peace of mind that they’re protected through the right insurance policy. 

Daniel explained: "There are two Risk Engineering teams. We both support and work alongside our underwriting colleagues."

“My role is to help educate the underwriter about how risky the site is that they're looking to insure. We’d go out on site, complete a risk survey and develop a recommendation so the underwriter can make an informed judgment.” 

Daniel said one of the benefits of his role is getting out of the office and being able to visit a wide variety of sites and risks.  

“I get out and about quite a bit, a lot more than the other grads. I’ve seen a diverse mix of commercial properties, from bowls clubs to huge storage and logistics warehouses.” 

Fire hazard risk is a large part of his assessments and Daniel’s university qualifications in engineering offer valuable background knowledge to support his work. 

But while Daniel was studying, he admits he had ‘no idea’ that insurance was a potential career avenue for an engineering graduate. 

“The Suncorp Graduate Program specifically referenced an interest in engineering graduates. The role description also appealed to me as it offered something different to typical engineering work.  

“My role is general, more business and relationship orientated. I thought would be a great fit for me and turns out, it was!” 

Daniel has been impressed with the graduate program so far, specifically the monthly catchups with other grads, the continual training and the support of the program leaders like Kelly and her team.  

He has also joined the Faculty of Underwriting Management as he saw it as something that could expose him to different areas of Suncorp, help build new skills and generally broaden his perspective about the insurance industry. 

Josephine, Sydney

Josephine didn’t intend to embark on a career in insurance either. She completed a double degree at Macquarie University, including a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Philosophy.  

She was working as a Paralegal in a law firm while looking for suitable graduate programs. 

“I was applying for a couple of legal programs, but my heart wasn't in it. I didn't want to do law. I looked at alternatives and saw the opportunity at Suncorp.” 

Josephine secured a Suncorp graduate position within Commercial Insurance at GIO, in workers compensation underwriting.  

Her role looks at the different types of risk exposure workers face. 

Josephine explained with an example: “Day-to-day I look at policies and talk with brokers or with direct business customers. A broker may come to our team and say they’re looking after a business with 10 employees, who clean skyscraper windows, for example.  

“Their workers are regularly at great heights, so we look at their safety equipment, the company’s claims history etc. We work closely with the internal actuary and pricing teams, providing our data input to help us set fair premiums. We talk to brokers and clients to make sure their workers are properly protected, and their business is covered. 

“There is a lot of critical and analytical thinking that goes into it, as well as relationship building.” 

Josephine said she was surprised at how much she’s been able to utilise her law degree. 

“We also service multiple states, so it is important to understand the different regulations in each state. 

It is a niche field that has still opened doors to many opportunities within the insurance industry. 

“I think one of my biggest fears was that once I had picked a career, I couldn't do anything else. I would be stuck. But with the Suncorp Graduate Program, I've been given opportunities to move around to different teams and to transfer within the company. 

“I’m enjoying it hugely. The Graduate Conference was a highlight for me. We had a three-day conference in Brisbane where we met all the different graduates across the business. I got to make connections across the business, too. 

“And it's been great for me to be able to feel like I have a work-life balance, something I likely wouldn't have had if I’d chosen a different graduate path.”