Director of Engineering – Retirement Digital Platforms

Manulife Financial; Toronto; On-site; CAD 113,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

AI and cloud technology focus

Mentorship and leadership development

Job summary

Manulife seeks a Director of Software Engineering to lead the US Retirement Platform and SWIFT-enabled payments technology across Toronto/Waterloo/Boston in a hybrid setup. You will drive modernization, AI-enabled innovation, and mentor multiple squads to deliver scalable, secure software.

This high-visibility role blends strategic leadership with hands-on engineering, requiring 10+ years on large platforms, cloud, APIs, and payments tech.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering leadership experience.
• Experience with enterprise platforms and mission-critical applications.
• Strong understanding of cloud, APIs, and modern practices.
• Experience with SWIFT messaging or payment platforms.
• Proven ability to balance strategy with hands-on delivery.

Responsibilities

• Own tech strategy, roadmap, and delivery for US Retirement platform and SWIFT payments.
• Lead modernization for scalability, resilience, and customer experience.
• Drive cloud-native and AI-powered engineering solutions.
• Mentor engineers and lead multiple squads across teams.
• Ensure secure, high-quality, scalable software and strong governance.

Skills

Leadership

Platform modernization

Cloud-native

AI-enabled development

APIs

Stakeholder mgmt

Tech coaching

Security & compliance

Hands-on coding

Tools

Azure

CI/CD

DevOps

Infrastructure as Code

Job description

Director, Software Engineering - US Retirement Platform & Payments Technology

Toronto, ON / Waterloo, ON / Boston, MA - Hybrid

At Manulife, we're helping millions of customers make decisions easier and lives better. As we continue to modernize our retirement and payments technology platforms, we're seeking an experienced Director of Software Engineering to lead the evolution of our US Retirement (USR) platform and SWIFT-enabled payment capabilities.

This is a highly visible leadership role that combines strategic thinking with technical depth. You'll be responsible for driving platform modernization, leading AI-enabled innovation, overseeing mission-critical payment technologies, and mentoring engineering teams across multiple squads. We are looking for a leader who is not afraid to roll up their sleeves, solve complex technical challenges, and partner closely with engineers to deliver scalable solutions.

What You'll Do

Engineering Leadership & Platform Strategy

• Own the technology strategy, roadmap, and delivery for the US Retirement platform and associated SWIFT payment capabilities.
• Lead the modernization of critical applications, services, and integrations to improve scalability, resilience, and customer experience.
• Drive the adoption of cloud-native, API-first, and AI-powered engineering solutions.
• Partner with Product, Architecture, Operations, and Business leaders to align technology investments with business priorities.

Delivery & Technical Excellence

• Lead multiple engineering squads responsible for platform development, enhancements, integrations, and production support.
• Ensure the delivery of secure, high-quality, and scalable software solutions.
• Drive engineering best practices including Agile delivery, DevOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and operational excellence.
• Champion platform stability, reliability, and performance while supporting ongoing enhancement initiatives.

SWIFT & Enterprise Payments Leadership

• Provide technical leadership for SWIFT-related applications, messaging workflows, and payment integrations.
• Drive the modernization and resiliency of payment processing platforms.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to support evolving payment and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure appropriate governance, controls, and operational readiness for business-critical financial transactions.

AI & Innovation

• Identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation to improve platform capabilities, engineering productivity, and operational efficiency.
• Lead the adoption of AI-enabled development tools and practices across engineering teams.
• Champion innovation and continuous improvement initiatives that create measurable business value.

People Leadership & Mentorship

• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams across multiple squads.
• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Coach engineers and technical leads in architecture, engineering practices, problem-solving approaches, and career development.
• Promote collaboration and psychological safety while driving high performance.

Hands-On Technical Leadership

• Remain actively engaged in architectural decisions, technical design reviews, and complex problem resolution.
• Work alongside engineering teams when required to troubleshoot critical issues, review solutions, and accelerate delivery.
• Demonstrate strong coding and technical troubleshooting abilities, with the capability to dive into code, analyze system behavior, and help teams solve challenging engineering problems.
• Lead by example through technical expertise and practical problem-solving.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including leadership of large-scale engineering teams.
• Experience leading enterprise platforms supporting mission-critical business functions.
• Deep understanding of software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, cloud technologies, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience with SWIFT messaging, payment platforms, or financial transaction processing environments.
• Proven success managing multiple engineering teams and delivering complex technology initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic leadership with hands‑on technical involvement.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with experience partnering across business and technology organizations.
• Exceptional communication, coaching, and leadership capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Wealth Management, Retirement Services, Financial Services, Banking, or Payments Technology.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure and cloud-native architectures.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, and platform automation.
• Experience with AI-enabled software development, automation, and engineering productivity tools.
• Familiarity with React, microservices, API-driven architectures, and modern web technologies.
• Experience leading modernization and digital transformation initiatives.
• Knowledge of security, compliance, resiliency, and operational risk management in regulated environments.

Why Join Manulife?

• Lead the transformation of platforms serving millions of customers.
• Influence enterprise-wide technology strategy and innovation.
• Work with talented engineering leaders and teams across North America.
• Drive the adoption of cutting‑edge AI and cloud technologies.
• Build and develop the next generation of engineering talent.
• Help shape the future of retirement and financial services technology.

If you're a technical leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, solving complex engineering challenges, and driving innovation through cloud and AI technologies while remaining close to the technology, we'd love to hear from you.

Key Recruiting Selling Points

• Ownership of a mission-critical US Retirement and SWIFT platform.
• Leadership across multiple engineering squads.
• AI-focused modernization mandate.
• Strategic leadership combined with hands‑on technical involvement.
• Opportunity to influence enterprise-scale transformation.
• Strong people leadership and mentorship focus.
• Cloud, AI, payments, and digital modernization all in one role.

If you are applying to this role in US, please note the salary range is $127,330 to $236,470 USD. Additionally, employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance

The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

マニュライフとジョン・ハンコックについて

マニュライフ・ファイナンシャル・コーポレーションは、「あなたの未来に、わかりやすさを」を提供する、国際的な大手金融サービスプロバイダーです。当社について詳しくは、 https://www.manulife.co.jp/lをご覧ください。

マニュライフは機会均等を是とする雇用主です

マニュライフ/ジョン・ハンコックでは、多様性を受け入れます。私たちは、サービス提供先であるお客さまと同様に、多様な人材を引きつけ、育成し、定着させ、文化や個人の力を受け入れる包括的な職場環境を促進するよう努めています。当社は公正な採用、定着、昇進、報酬に努めています。当社のすべての慣行およびプログラムは、人種、祖先、出身地、肌の色、民族的出自、市民権、宗教または宗教的信念、信条、性別（妊娠および妊娠関連の状態を含む）、性的指向、遺伝的特徴、退役軍人としての地位、性自認、性に関する表明、年齢、婚姻状況、家族状況、障害、または適用法で保護されるその他の要因に対する一切の差別を行うことなく管理されます。

雇用への平等なアクセスを提供するために、障壁を取り除くことが当社の優先事項です。人事担当者は、応募者が応募プロセス中に合理的配慮を要求する場合に協力します。配慮要求のプロセス中に共有されるすべての情報は、適用される法律およびマニュライフ/ジョン・ハンコックのポリシーに準拠した方法で保存および使用されます。申請プロセスにおいて合理的配慮を要求するには、[e-mail]までご連絡をお願いします。

Referenced Salary Location

Toronto, Ontario

Working Arrangement

ハイブリッド勤務

Salary range is expected to be between

$113,260.00 CAD - $210,340.00 CAD

Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [e-mail] for the salary range for your location.

Manulife offers eligible employees a wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans. We also offer eligible employees various retirement savings plans (including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence. If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact [e-mail] for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.

We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.