Director Software Engineering

Manulife Insurance Malaysia; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 113,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Pension plan

Paid time off

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Manulife is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead the Software Engineering Shared Services across Global Technology. The role drives an engineering operating model, governance, automation, and AI-enabled development practices to deliver measurable business value.

You will partner with Architecture, Cybersecurity, Platform Engineering, and Operations to elevate delivery quality, resilience, and high-performing teams, while mentoring leaders and building scalable capabilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, technology delivery, platform engineering, or engineering leadership roles.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience leading engineering managers, technical leads, or distributed engineering teams.
• Demonstrated experience building, scaling, or operating engineering shared services, platform teams, developer enablement, or engineering excellence organizations.
• Strong knowledge of modern software engineering practices, including CI/CD, DevSecOps, automated testing, cloud-native development, APIs, observability, release management, and operational resilience.
• Experience leading software delivery health, production support, incident management, risk remediation, and quality improvement initiatives in complex enterprise environments.
• Proven ability to influence and collaborate across matrixed organizations while balancing competing priorities and stakeholder expectations.
• Strong communication, coaching, organizational, and strategic leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mature the Software Engineering Shared Services operating model across GFT, including intake management, prioritization, capacity planning, demand visibility, delivery forecasting, and service governance.
• Drive engineering delivery excellence through improved software quality, release management, automated testing, CI/CD adoption, operational resilience, and continuous improvement practices.
• Establish engineering standards, guardrails, and reusable development practices across software delivery, secure development, GitHub workflows, release processes, and engineering metrics.
• Champion AI-assisted software engineering and autonomous SDLC practices to improve developer productivity and engineering effectiveness.
• Partner with Architecture, Cybersecurity, Platform Engineering, Operations, and Quality Engineering teams to align engineering practices with enterprise standards and business priorities.
• Lead incident response, vulnerability remediation, disaster recovery readiness, and production stability initiatives across software engineering services.
• Build, coach, and develop a high-performing team of engineering leaders and engineers while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Leverage engineering metrics and dashboards to improve visibility into demand, delivery health, technical health, capacity, cost optimization, and engineering performance.

Skills

Software engineering leadership

CI/CD

DevSecOps

Cloud-native development

Observability

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Software Engineering/IT

12+ years software engineering/tech delivery experience

5+ years people leadership

Tools

GitHub

Automation tooling

Job description

The Director, Software Engineering will lead the evolution of Manulife's Software Engineering Shared Services function within Global Technology. This leadership role is accountable for establishing a scalable engineering operating model, driving engineering excellence, improving software delivery quality, and accelerating adoption of AI-enabled software development practices. The successful candidate will work across engineering, architecture, cybersecurity, platform, and operations teams to advance modern software engineering capabilities, strengthen operational resilience, and build high-performing engineering teams that deliver measurable business value.

Position Responsibilities

Lead and mature the Software Engineering Shared Services operating model across GFT, including intake management, prioritization, capacity planning, demand visibility, delivery forecasting, and service governance.

Drive engineering delivery excellence through improved software quality, release management, automated testing, CI/CD adoption, operational resilience, and continuous improvement practices.

Establish engineering standards, guardrails, and reusable development practices across software delivery, secure development, GitHub workflows, release processes, and engineering metrics.

Champion AI-assisted software engineering and autonomous SDLC practices to improve developer productivity and engineering effectiveness.

Partner with Architecture, Cybersecurity, Platform Engineering, Operations, and Quality Engineering teams to align engineering practices with enterprise standards and business priorities.

Lead incident response, vulnerability remediation, disaster recovery readiness, and production stability initiatives across software engineering services.

Build, coach, and develop a high-performing team of engineering leaders and engineers while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Leverage engineering metrics and dashboards to improve visibility into demand, delivery health, technical health, capacity, cost optimization, and engineering performance.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience.

12+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, technology delivery, platform engineering, or engineering leadership roles.

5+ years of people leadership experience leading engineering managers, technical leads, or distributed engineering teams.

Demonstrated experience building, scaling, or operating engineering shared services, platform teams, developer enablement, or engineering excellence organizations.

Strong knowledge of modern software engineering practices, including CI/CD, DevSecOps, automated testing, cloud-native development, APIs, observability, release management, and operational resilience.

Experience leading software delivery health, production support, incident management, risk remediation, and quality improvement initiatives in complex enterprise environments.

Proven ability to influence and collaborate across matrixed organizations while balancing competing priorities and stakeholder expectations.

Strong communication, coaching, organizational, and strategic leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience within financial services, insurance, or other highly regulated industries.

Experience implementing AI-assisted software development, developer productivity tooling, or autonomous SDLC practices.

Knowledge of GitHub modernization, engineering automation platforms, and software engineering enablement programs.

Experience with budgeting, vendor management, capacity planning, and resource optimization.

Experience leading large-scale engineering transformations and organizational change initiatives.

Professional certifications in Agile, SAFe, Scrum, Cloud Technologies, DevOps, or related disciplines.

Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field is considered an asset.

When You Join Our Team

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

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 recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law. It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [e-mail].

Salary and Working Arrangement

Referenced Salary Location Waterloo, Ontario Working Arrangement Hybrid 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.

Benefits

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.

Company Mission

We're Manulife. And we’re on a mission to make decisions easier and lives better. Better is what drives us. It’s what inspires us to find new ways to support customers and colleagues in living longer and healthier lives. It’s the reason we’re dedicated to investing in digital innovation and accelerating a sustainable and economically inclusive future. Joining us means you’ll be empowered to learn and grow your career. We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words. And as part of our global team, you’ll help shape the future you want to see – and discover that better can take you anywhere you want to go.

Awards

Recent awards include: 2024 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winner. Manulife Named one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2023. Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2023. We’ve been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers (2024). Manulife included in Bloomberg’s 2023 Gender-Equality Index.