Director, Design - Global Design System

Manulife; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 105,000 - 191,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative financial services provider is seeking a Director of Design for their Global Design System. This pivotal role involves shaping and scaling a design system that enhances user experiences across multiple regions. You will lead a talented team, advocate for design excellence, and ensure usability and accessibility in all digital interactions. If you have a passion for human-centered design and a proven track record in enterprise design systems, this is an exciting opportunity to impact millions of users positively. Join a company that values diversity and innovation, and take your career to the next level.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Flexible work policies

Professional development opportunities

Strong work-life balance

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in UX leadership and design systems.
• Proven track record in building enterprise design systems.
• Deep expertise in UI/UX best practices and design collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement a scalable design system for digital transformation.
• Establish governance models and adoption strategies for sustainability.
• Lead cross-functional teams to ensure integration into workflows.

Skills

UX Leadership

Design Systems

Accessibility (WCAG)

Collaboration Skills

Influencing Stakeholders

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Design or related field

Master's Degree (preferred)

Tools

Figma

Storybook

React

Angular

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The Opportunity

As Director, Design - Global Design System at Manulife, you will play a key leadership role in a Global Design System team responsible for shaping, scaling, and driving adoption of an enterprise-wide design system that serves multiple business units across Canada, Asia, and the US. This system will enable consistency, efficiency, accessibility, and innovation across Manulife’s digital experiences. You will partner with design, engineering, and product teams across regions to define the visual language, interaction patterns, and usability guidelines that ensure a seamless, high-quality experience for millions of users.

This is a pivotal leadership role requiring deep expertise in enterprise design systems, accessibility, and design operations. You will champion human-centered design, visual and interaction standards, and design governance, driving system adoption and enabling teams to work more efficiently and creatively. The ideal candidate has successfully led enterprise-wide design systems and understands the organizational, technical, and cultural complexities of embedding a design system into a global enterprise.

Responsibilities

Global Design System Strategy & Leadership

• Define and implement a scalable, enterprise-grade design system supporting Manulife’s digital transformation across all regions, advocating for design excellence, accessibility, and usability.
• Define the visual language, interaction patterns, and usability guidelines to ensure a high-quality experience for millions of users.
• Balance global standardization with regional flexibility, ensuring usability across diverse markets and regulatory landscapes.
• Partner with executive leadership, product, and engineering teams to align the design system with business priorities.

Governance, Adoption & Enablement

• Establish governance models, contribution frameworks, and adoption strategies to ensure system sustainability.
• Lead cross-functional alignment, ensuring the design system is embedded into product design workflows across global teams.
• Define design principles, usage guidelines, and best practices to ensure consistency and scalability.
• Optimize for multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-regulatory challenges, ensuring designs can be localized and adapted without breaking system integrity.
• Facilitate design reviews, audits, and contribution models, ensuring high-quality system evolution and usage.
• Establish and oversee training, onboarding, and community engagement initiatives to drive system adoption across Manulife’s digital teams.
• Develop and track KPIs that measure adoption, efficiency gains, and business impact.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Stakeholder Influence

• Serve as a primary design system advocate, influencing decision-making at all levels.
• Partner with regional design leads to ensure the system meets regional needs while maintaining overall consistency.
• Cultivate collaboration between design, engineering, and product management teams, ensuring smooth integration into digital workflows.
• Build and cultivate a global design system community, mentoring teams on best practices and fostering a culture of ownership.

Technical & Operational Execution

• Own the evolution of design tooling, documentation, and workflows, ensuring seamless integration with enterprise platforms (Figma, Storybook, React, Angular, etc.).
• Work closely with engineering leadership to ensure design-to-code consistency, accessibility compliance (WCAG), and performance optimization.
• Maintain a structured backlog of design system updates, prioritizing enhancements based on business needs and user feedback.
• Identify and handle external partnerships and vendors as needed to support system expansion.

What motivates you?

• You obsess about customers, listen, engage, and act for their benefit.
• You think big, with curiosity to discover ways to use your agile approach and enable business outcomes.
• You thrive in teams and enjoy getting things done together.
• You take ownership and build solutions, focusing on what matters.
• You do what is right, work with integrity, and speak up.
• You share your humanity, helping us build a diverse and inclusive work environment for everyone.

What We Are Looking For

• 10+ years of experience in UX leadership, design systems, or enterprise product design, preferably within a global enterprise or multi-jurisdictional organization.
• Proven track record of building and scaling enterprise design systems within large, global organizations, balancing standardization with regional/local adaptation.
• Deep expertise in UI/UX best practices, accessibility (WCAG), design systems, and design-to-development collaboration.
• Experience with governance models, adoption strategies, and design system operations.
• Experience working in complex matrixed organizations with multiple business units and partners.
• Exceptional collaboration, influence, and communication skills – able to influence senior stakeholders, drive alignment, and advocate for design at an executive level.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise design tools and frameworks (Figma, Storybook, React, Angular, etc.).
• Familiarity with Agile, Lean UX, and enterprise digital delivery models.
• Experience navigating multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and regulatory complexities in global design and content.

What can we offer you?

• A competitive salary and benefits packages.
• A growth trajectory that encourages following your passions and learning new skills.
• A focus on growing your career path with us.
• Flexible work policies and strong work-life balance.
• Professional development and leadership opportunities.

Our commitment to you

• Values-first culture
• We lead with our Values every day and bring them to life together.
• Boundless opportunity
• We create opportunities to learn and grow at every stage of your career.
• Continuous innovation
• We invite you to help redefine the future of financial services.
• Delivering the promise of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• We foster an inclusive workplace where everyone thrives.
• Championing Corporate Citizenship
• We build a business that benefits all collaborators and has a positive social and environmental impact.

About Manulife And John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit our story.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace diversity and strive to attract, develop, and retain a workforce as diverse as our customers. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement, and compensation, and we administer all practices and programs without discrimination based on protected grounds. We prioritize removing barriers to provide equal access to employment. For accommodations during the application process, contact [e-mail].

Primary Location

Toronto, Ontario

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Salary Range

Expected between $105,750.00 CAD - $190,350.00 CAD. Actual salary varies based on factors including location, experience, and qualifications. Employees may participate in incentive programs.