Great benefits and flexibility, but limited office locations - Underwriter West Bend Insurance Company Employee Review

Strong compliance culture West Bend takes IT risk and compliance seriously. Controls were not just documented for audits but actually used to improve security and operations. Real ownership as an intern I was trusted with real compliance work like testing SOX and ITGC controls, working in ServiceNow, Saviynt, Splunk, and helping design controls rather than just observing. Exposure to enterprise-level tools I gained hands-on experience with tools that are widely used in industry, especially for access governance, logging, and audit support, which translated directly to real-world compliance work. Cross-functional collaboration I worked closely with security, infrastructure, audit, and IAM teams, which helped me understand how compliance fits into the broader business and technical environment. Learning-focused environment The team was very open to teaching and walking me through the why behind controls, risks, and audit requirements, which accelerated my growth in IT compliance.

Complex legacy systems Some systems were older, which made controls and integrations more complex and required extra documentation and compensating controls. High documentation overhead Compliance work required detailed evidence and documentation, which could slow things down, especially during audit periods. Coordination across teams Resolving issues sometimes took longer because multiple teams had to be aligned, which is common in regulated environments. Limited automation in some areas Not all controls were fully automated yet, which meant more manual testing and follow-ups. Steep learning curve There was a lot to learn quickly, especially around insurance systems and regulatory requirements, which was challenging early on.

Modern technology stack with opportunities to work on cloud systems, APIs, distributed architecture, and enterprise modernization efforts. There are smart engineers throughout the organization, and some teams genuinely care about delivering quality solutions. The technical challenges themselves can help accelerate growth in areas like Azure, React, system integration, and large-scale enterprise workflows.

The environment often felt highly results-driven without enough emphasis on communication clarity, collaboration, or healthy engineering alignment. Requirements and priorities shifted frequently while delivery pressure remained high. Many interactions across leadership and architecture boundaries felt transactional instead of collaborative, which could make engineers feel isolated rather than supported. Success often depended as much on navigating ambiguity and organizational dynamics as technical ability itself.