Director Engineering

Manulife John Hancock; Southwestern Ontario; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Manulife John Hancock in Canada seeks a senior technology leader to set the technical program direction for the closed block mainframe and policy administration portfolio. You will balance sustaining in-force policies with cost reduction and modernization to reduce risk and drive value.

You will lead multiple direct reports and squads, partnering with AVP and business stakeholders to ensure transparency in cost, risk, and progress while advancing AI-enabled engineering productivity across the

Qualifications

• 3+ years of director-level or senior technology leadership experience.
• 5-10 years of leadership of technology teams, including multidisciplinary groups.
• Strong mainframe and policy administration expertise with related tooling.
• Experience in modernization strategies spanning mainframe, APIs and cloud.
• Insurance policy administration domain knowledge and operational complexities.
• Demonstrated technology and people leadership with engineering practices.
• Strong program and financial management across multi-year roadmaps.
• Inclusive leadership promoting collaboration and psychological safety.

Responsibilities

• Set technical program direction for mainframe and policy administration across sustainment and modernization.
• Lead multiple direct reports and squads with accountability for resources and delivery.
• Prioritize investments balancing stability, regulatory obligations and modernization opportunities.
• Manage portfolio risks, dependencies and partner delivery with accountability for cost and quality.
• Drive improvements in cost, risk and platform health through optimization and observability.
• Champion responsible AI adoption and integrate AI into engineering practices to increase value.

Skills

Director-level experience

Leading technology teams

Mainframe & policy administration

Mainframe tooling

Architecture & modernization

Insurance policy administration domain

People leadership

Program & financial management

Inclusive leadership

Tools

IMS

IBM MQ for z/OS

CA AutoSys

File-AID

Easytrieve

REXX

DFSORT

SAS

Job description

You will set the technical program agenda across the closed block mainframe and policy administration domain, providing direction for how these critical platforms remain stable, reliable and cost-effective while progressively modernizing the in-force technology landscape. This role balances the operational responsibility of servicing in-force policies without interruption with the strategic mandate to reduce cost and risk and advance modernization over time.

You will lead multiple direct reports and the squads within their organizations, serving as a trusted technology partner to the AVP and business stakeholders. You will provide clear accountability and transparency related to cost, risk, progress and outcomes.

Position Responsibilities

• Set the technical program direction for the mainframe and policy administration portfolio, defining priorities, sequencing, dependencies and delivery approaches across a multi-year sustainment and modernization agenda.
• Lead multiple direct reports and their squads, with accountability for resourcing, performance, capability development, delivery effectiveness and consistent engineering standards across the portfolio.
• Partner with Business Delivery Leads to prioritize investment and capacity, balancing platform stability and sustainment, regulatory and risk commitments, operational obligations, and incremental growth and modernization opportunities.
• Manage portfolio risks, dependencies and partner delivery across policy administration systems, batch processing, integration layers and downstream systems. Proactively drive mitigation and hold internal and third-party partners accountable for quality, cost and delivery.
• Drive measurable improvements in cost, risk and platform health by advancing run-cost and capacity optimization, decommissioning, reliability, observability and overall stability. Influence business and technology leaders on the investments and decisions required to advance the closed block agenda.
• Champion responsible AI adoption and engineering productivity across the portfolio, enabling leaders and squads to integrate AI into engineering practices and delivery workflows to improve productivity, accelerate delivery and increase value for customers and the business.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience at the Director level or in a comparable senior technology leadership role.
• 5-10 years of experience leading technology teams, including leaders and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong mainframe and policy administration expertise, including experience with or knowledge of COBOL, JCL, DB2, VSAM, RACF, Endevor, CICS and related mainframe tooling, as well as capacity, performance and cost management.
• Strong architecture and modernization experience, with the ability to lead legacy modernization, migration and integration strategies spanning mainframe platforms, APIs and cloud technologies such as Microsoft Azure.
• Insurance policy administration domain knowledge, including experience with new business products and, ideally, in-force or legacy insurance products and the operational complexities associated with these platforms.
• Demonstrated technology and people leadership, including developing talent, establishing engineering practices and influencing senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Strong program and financial management capabilities, with experience leading complex, multi-year programs across multiple squads, including roadmap development, dependency and risk management, budget ownership, resource forecasting and investment prioritization.
• An inclusive leadership approach that supports collaboration, psychological safety, diverse perspectives and equitable opportunities for team members.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with IMS and IBM MQ for z/OS.
• Experience with CA AutoSys, File-AID, Easytrieve, REXX, DFSORT and SAS.
• Experience with test data management and batch regression strategies for legacy systems.
• Experience evaluating selecting and onboarding delivery partners within a legacy technology environment.

When you join our team

• We'll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.
• We will recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.
• As part of our distributed team, we will support you in shaping the future you want to see.

The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

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 https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html .

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitmen