What We Do

Insurance is a $10T industry still running on PDFs, email threads, and manual reconciliation. Ascend is changing that. We built the first and only complete financial operations platform purpose-built for insurance — combining accounting automation, payments, and premium financing in a single vertically integrated solution. In five years, we've become the market leader: over 4,000 businesses, including more than half of the 50 largest brokers in the country, trust Ascend to bring clarity to complex accounting operations from collection to close.

How We Do It

Ascend automates the financial operations that insurers, MGAs, and agencies run every day and embeds directly into the transactions where money actually moves. Point solutions are easy to build and even easier to copy. The companies that win won't just sell tools — they'll capture value where the money actually moves. Ascend is built for exactly that moment. Our customers don't just adopt software, they unlock measurable efficiency with a proven 5-7x return on investment.

Our team is onsite in San Francisco. We bring deep expertise in insurance, fintech, and financial infrastructure to build what the industry has never had.

Why We Do It

The insurance industry intermediates trillions of dollars — and almost none of that infrastructure was built for the modern era. Legacy systems aren't just inefficient; they're a ceiling on what the industry can become.

Ascend's mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030 — powering the financial operations of the entire industry and transforming the way trillions of dollars move. We're not building another point solution, we're building the financial backbone of insurance.

The Role

You’ll own Ascend’s brand: its expression, evolution, and architecture as we grow. You’ll report to the head of design and partner closely with product and marketing. We don’t treat brand and product as separate disciplines — the product is where the brand is proven, and the brand is how the product is understood. We want someone who treats brand as infrastructure as much as expression, with the instincts of an art director.

Give the brand fuller expression. Much of our brand lives in reputation. Evolve and codify it across every medium and touchpoint.
Own the brand’s architecture. Products, our AI agent, Altitude 2027, acquired brands: decide what’s shared, what’s distinct, and how the family grows.
Own the moments where customers meet us. Launches, email, onboarding, proposals, case studies — the surfaces that decide whether someone trusts us with their money.
Experiment with code and AI. Build tools and generative systems that produce form no template could, and put that range in everyone’s hands.
Make the brand a living system. Spot patterns, make them self-serve, and keep it responsive as the company changes.
Propose where the brand goes next. Bring a defensible point of view, and push the work further than the brief asked.

Responsibilities Will Include

Objective #1: In your first 30 days:

Learn Ascend's products, our customers, and how money moves through insurance
Audit every place the brand shows up today, from product and web to email, decks, events, and print, and map where it's strong, thin, or inconsistent
Get fluent in our design system and how brand and product share it
Ship real work early by taking over recurring brand and marketing requests
Present an initial point of view: what the brand gets right, what's missing, and where you'd invest first

Objective #2: In your first 60 days:

Take over Altitude 2027's visual system and carry it through to print: signage, wayfinding, program, merch, stage and screen
Propose a direction for the brand's next chapter through references, texture, imagery, and type, and align design, marketing, and leadership around it
Define the brand architecture: how our products, our AI agent, events, and acquired brands relate to Ascend
Build the first templates and toolkits that let teams produce on-brand work without routing through you

Objective #3: In your first 90 days and beyond:

Deliver Altitude 2027 in May, end to end
Codify the evolved brand into a living system of guidelines and components that people actually use, across every medium
Use code and AI to build visual tools and generative systems that expand what the brand can look like
Own the visual layer of onboarding, lifecycle email, and product launches, alongside product design
Track where the brand holds and where it drifts, and keep refining it as the company grows

Must Have

3+ years in brand or visual design, ideally in-house. We care more about the work than the number.
A portfolio that shows you built or meaningfully evolved a brand system, not only executed against someone else's.
Art direction ability: you can build a vision from references, imagery, texture, and type, and show the thinking behind it, not just the finished pieces.
Range across mediums: digital, print, environmental, and enough motion to bring things to life.
Systems instincts: you know when to build a template, a pattern, or a tool instead of another one-off asset.
Ownership: you run initiatives end to end, propose before you're asked, and can defend a decision or change your mind when the argument is better.
Clear communication, written and spoken. You can explain why something works and why it doesn't.

Nice to Have

Experience with B2B, fintech, or technical products
Motion design or animation
Comfort working near code or a headless CMS
AI fluency: using AI to explore, experiment, and build internal tools

Base Salary Range: $100,000-$150,000

Benefits

Unlimited PTO 🌴
Meaningful equity 🤑
Dog friendly office 🐕
Commuter benefits 🚌
Free lunch in office everyday 🥡
Health care for you and your dependents 🍎

Equal Opportunity

We are committed to equal opportunity employment and embrace diversity within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We encourage candidates to apply even if their experience doesn't precisely match this opportunity. We value diversity and are dedicated to equal opportunity employment.

About the company

Ascend is a financial technology company that automates agency bill operations for insurance agencies. Its software combines billing, premium financing, and carrier payable workflows into one platform, helping agencies manage bills, finance premiums, and issue carrier payments more efficiently. Agencies interact with a user-friendly portal that clearly presents financing options, enabling faster policy binding and premium collection without back-and-forth paperwork. By automating these processes, Ascend aims to increase profitability and efficiency for agencies, and differentiate itself by offering a single integrated solution rather than multiple separate tools. The company’s stated goals are to improve EBITDA, reduce operating costs, and save agents time, enabling them to serve their clients better.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Debt Financing

Total Funding

$285.5M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2021

Get referred to Ascend

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

Ascend says 4,000 businesses use it, including half of top 50 brokers.
Smart Inbox launched April 14, 2025, shrinking manual document entry and month-end close.
Cash Application launched November 4, 2025, cutting unapplied cash and speeding SOX 404 reporting.

What critics are saying

Regulators can block the Honor Capital merger, killing Ascend's financing moat in 2026.
Insurance agencies switching AMS360 or Vertafore breaks Ascend's embedded workflow and revenue.
Applied Systems, Vertafore, or carriers bundling automation compress margins and slow enterprise sales.

What makes Ascend unique

Ascend unifies agency bill, payments, reconciliation, and premium financing for insurance workflows.
March 3, 2026, CAA named Ascend its Accounting Automation Partner nationwide.
May 14, 2026, the Honor Capital merger adds native premium financing nationwide.

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Benefits

Health Insurance
401(k) Company Match
401(k) Retirement Plan
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Phone/Internet Stipend
Parental Leave

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

1 year growth

2 year growth

Insurance Age

Oct 20th, 2026

Ex-Willis Networks boss Read joins Ascend.

Ex-Willis Networks boss Read joins Ascend. Former managing director of Willis Networks, John Read, has joined Ascend Insurance Holdings as group development director. Insurance Age revealed in August that Read had left after nearly 15 years with the network, including over three as MD. He was succeeded by Lynne Norledge. Read, pictured, started his 30-plus year career with Aviva and has also worked for Marsh and Allianz Insurance. At Ascend he will be responsible for driving growth with a "focus on creating a group centred on high-quality, independent commercial lines brokers across the UK". European mid-market private equity firm Inflexion launched the Show password You may also like. More on insight. * 20 Oct 2026

NetVU

Jul 22nd, 2026

Is your Agency Bill process ready for the busy season?

Is your Agency Bill process ready for the busy season? By gabby nguyen posted 2 days ago. Summer offers something that's hard to come by in insurance: a chance to pause before the pace picks up again. It's the ideal time to evaluate the operational processes that will either support - or slow down - your team during renewal season. One of the biggest opportunities? Agency Bill. Many agencies have modernized their front office but still rely on manual invoicing, emailed premium finance agreements, multiple payment systems, and time-consuming receipt posting behind the scenes. Those inefficiencies often become most visible when volume increases. If your team is spending more time on billing than serving clients, it may be worth asking: Are account managers spending time chasing payments instead of working with customers? Are payment updates, premium finance agreements, and carrier payables spread across multiple systems? Is accounting still manually tracking payment status and posting receipts? Will your current process scale as your agency grows? Three Arbor Insurance, an AMS360 agency serving businesses across Alabama and Georgia, reached that point as production increased. Rather than hiring additional operations staff, the agency chose to modernize its financial workflows. As President David Foster explained, "I could solve the problem in one of two ways: either hire more operations-focused employees, increasing the costs to run the agency, or find a solution that helped me get more out of the team I had today." By integrating Ascend with AMS360, Three Arbor created a single workflow for invoicing, payments, financing, receipt tracking, and carrier payables. The result was a measurable improvement in efficiency: account managers were no longer spending an estimated 20% of their time chasing payments, negotiating premium finance agreements, and ensuring carrier payments went out on time. The agency also increased EBITDA by 4% through financial operations automation. These small operational improvements made today can have an outsized impact when business picks up. Exclusive for NetVU members: Schedule an Agency Bill Workflow Assessment with Ascend to benchmark your current process and identify opportunities to reduce manual work within your existing Vertafore environment. No commitment required - just practical recommendations tailored to your agency. 0 comments

Pulse 2.0

May 14th, 2026

Ascend and Honor Capital merge to create first fully integrated insurance financial operations platform

Ascend and Honor Capital have agreed to merge, creating what they describe as the insurance industry's first fully vertically integrated financial operations platform. The combined entity will unify AI-powered accounting automation, invoicing, embedded payments and premium financing into a single solution for insurance businesses. Ascend's platform currently serves over 4,000 businesses, including more than half of the 50 largest US brokers. Honor Capital is the fourth-largest premium finance company in the United States, authorised to operate in all 50 states. Following the merger, Praveen Chekuri will serve as CEO alongside co-presidents Tony M. Perez and Andrew Wynn. Ascend co-founders Wynn and Chekuri established the company in 2021, whilst Perez has led Honor Capital for over a decade. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals.

PR Newswire

Mar 3rd, 2026

Ascend Named the Accounting Automation Partner for Combined Agents of America (CAA)

Ascend named the Accounting Automation Partner for Combined Agents of America (CAA). Mar 03, 2026, 09:42 ET SAN FRANCISCO, March 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Ascend, the comprehensive financial operations automation platform for the insurance industry, today announced a strategic partnership with Combined Agents of America (CAA), one of the nation's largest privately held insurance aggregator groups. This partnership designates Ascend as the Accounting Automation Partner for CAA's nationwide network of independent agencies. The collaboration is designed to modernize back-office operations for CAA member agencies, replacing fragmented manual workflows with end-to-end automation for both agency and direct bill processes. Eliminating the Back-Office Bottleneck As independent agencies scale, accounting workflows - traditionally manual and error-prone - often become a primary bottleneck. Ascend's platform removes these hurdles by automating the most time-consuming aspects of the insurance lifecycle: * Commission Reconciliations: Eliminating hours spent processing and matching policy commissions. * Billing & Payments: Streamlining premium collection for a seamless client experience. * Carrier Payables: Accelerating commissions and increasing speed-to-bind. "Our mission at CAA has always been to empower our members with the best-in-class tools they need to thrive," said A.J Lovitt, CEO of Combined Agents of America. "Ascend's innovative approach to automation allows our agencies to pivot from administrative tasks to high-value client service and strategic growth." Driving the Future of Accounting Operations This partnership arrives as the insurance industry increasingly prioritizes digital transformation and the integration of AI-driven financial tools. "CAA represents a leader for independent agency networks," said Amelia Lee, Head of Partnerships at Ascend. "We are thrilled to be their exclusive accounting automation partner and help provide solutions that support the growth ambitions of CAA's member agencies." About Ascend Ascend is the comprehensive accounting automation platform for the insurance industry, providing technology that automates payments, collections, payables, and reconciliation for agencies, intermediaries and carriers. To learn more about how Ascend can transform your business, please visit www.useascend.com. About Combined Agents of America (CAA) Founded in 1997, Combined Agents of America, LLC is a leading insurance network of independent insurance agencies. Committed to the evolution of the independent agency system, CAA provides its members with the leverage, resources, and scale of a national organization while maintaining local agency independence. Media Contact: Mike Nguyen SOURCE Ascend

II Reporter

Nov 7th, 2025

Ascend Launches Cash Application Tool to Address Unapplied Cash Balances

Ascend launches Cash Application tool to address unapplied cash balances. New solution automates reconciliation to improve financial accuracy and compliance for insurance brokers. (Image source: Ascend Cash Application page.) Ascend (San Francisco) has launched Cash Application, a new component of its accounting automation platform designed to help insurance brokers reduce unapplied cash balances and maintain compliance with financial reporting standards. The solution automates accounts receivable reconciliation, enabling brokers to accelerate revenue recognition and streamline month-end processes. Cash Application tracks and categorizes client invoices, carrier commission statements, and return premiums, reducing reliance on manual workflows that often delay reconciliation and obscure financial performance. "A Top 20 broker facing compliance challenges with their unapplied cash balances partnered with Ascend to implement Cash Application," comments Andrew Wynn, Co-CEO, Ascend. "Since adopting the solution, they've cut their monthly balance of unapplied cash by more than half, and what previously took more than eight days to reconcile now takes just three." * Categorize all bank deposits in real time and assign them to the correct line items in agency management systems (AMS). * Automatically match and apply cash to statements and invoices by fetching relevant financial documents. * Improve revenue recognition and cash flow by reducing unapplied cash. * Support SOX 404 compliance through clear, audit-ready reporting. Cash Application joins Ascend's portfolio of financial automation tools, including its Direct Bill Reconciliation solution, and reflects the company's focus on increasing operational efficiency for brokers. "Our goal has always been to make financial operations as effortless and transparent as possible," adds Wynn. "With Cash Application, we're giving agencies the financial control and flexibility they've been missing."

Ascend

Brand Designer

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