Protecting people from disaster: the agents, underwriters, adjusters and inspectors who price risk and pay claims.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Insurance Agency Owner: Owns an independent insurance agency that sells home, auto, business and life policies from many companies. Typical pay $130k.
Reinsurance Broker: Arranges insurance for insurance companies, spreading the risk of disasters like hurricanes across global markets. Typical pay $160k.
Underwriting Manager: Leads a team of underwriters and sets the rules for which risks an insurer will accept. Typical pay $140k.
Specialty Insurance Underwriter: Insures unusual risks: satellite launches, film shoots, art collections, kidnapping, a pianist's hands. Typical pay $135k.
Claims Manager: Leads a team of claims adjusters and makes the final call on big or tricky insurance claims. Typical pay $130k.
Captive Insurance Manager: Runs an insurance company that a big business sets up to insure itself. Typical pay $150k.
Insurance Product Manager: Designs new insurance products, deciding what they cover, how they are priced and who they are for. Typical pay $145k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Commercial Insurance Broker: Helps businesses buy the right insurance, from factories and trucking fleets to hospitals. Typical pay $95k.
Insurance Underwriter: Decides whether an insurance company should cover a person or business, and at what price. Typical pay $80k.
Claims Adjuster: Investigates insurance claims and decides how much the company should pay. Typical pay $78k.
Catastrophe Adjuster: Travels to disaster zones after hurricanes, floods and wildfires to handle hundreds of claims. Typical pay $90k.
Insurance Fraud Investigator: Investigates suspicious insurance claims like staged car crashes, faked injuries and arson. Typical pay $78k.
Auto Damage Appraiser: Inspects damaged vehicles and estimates repair costs for insurance companies. Typical pay $75k.
Loss Control Specialist: Inspects businesses for an insurer and recommends ways to prevent accidents and fires. Typical pay $80k.
Marine Surveyor: Inspects boats, ships and cargo for insurance and buyers, and investigates marine accidents. Typical pay $80k.
Premium Auditor: Visits businesses to check their payroll and sales records so their insurance bill is correct. Typical pay $68k.
Insurance Sales Agent: Sells auto, home, life and health insurance to people and businesses. Typical pay $60k.
Crop Insurance Adjuster: Inspects farm fields after hail, drought or floods to calculate crop losses. Typical pay $62k.
Public Adjuster: Works for homeowners and businesses (not the insurance company) to get them a fair payout after a disaster. Typical pay $80k.
Subrogation Specialist: Gets money back for an insurance company from the person or company who actually caused the damage. Typical pay $65k.
Surety Bond Underwriter: Decides whether to guarantee that a construction company will finish a project, by issuing a surety bond. Typical pay $90k.
Workers' Compensation Claims Examiner: Handles claims from workers who got hurt on the job, making sure they get medical care and wage payments. Typical pay $75k.
Employee Benefits Broker: Helps companies choose health, dental and retirement plans for their employees and negotiates with insurers. Typical pay $95k.
Prize Indemnity Underwriter: Insures prize contests, like a $1 million half-court shot or a hole-in-one car giveaway, so the sponsor doesn't pay if someone actually wins. Typical pay $82k.
Aviation Insurance Underwriter: Decides whether to insure airplanes, helicopters, airports and pilots, and at what price, based on aircraft, flying experience and safety records. Typical pay $100k.
Life Settlement Broker: Helps older people sell life insurance policies they no longer want to investors for cash, instead of letting them lapse. Typical pay $90k.
Insurance Archaeologist: Hunts down insurance policies from the 1940s to 1980s that companies forgot they had, so the old policies can pay for pollution or asbestos claims today. Typical pay $78k.
Insurance Field Inspector: Drives to homes and businesses to photograph and measure them for insurance companies. Typical pay $42k.
Insurance Paramedical Examiner: Visits people applying for life insurance at home or work to take blood pressure, height, weight and blood and urine samples for the insurer. Typical pay $40k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.