Director, Vitality

Manulife; Halifax; Hybrid; CAD 136,000 - 186,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Pension plan

Incentive programs

Flexible environment

Job summary

Manulife seeks a Director, Manulife Vitality to lead the day-to-day direction, performance, and evolution of the Vitality program in Canada. You will translate strategy into measurable customer, operational, and financial outcomes while guiding a high-performing team.

You will own portfolio performance, lead cross-functional initiatives, manage budgets, and partner with Distribution, Product, Marketing, Legal, and Operations to drive growth and engagement.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in strategy, product management, program management, or related leadership roles.
• 5+ years leading complex cross-functional initiatives with multiple stakeholders.
• 3+ years of people leadership with coaching and performance management.
• Proven experience building business cases, managing budgets, financial analysis, and reporting.
• Ability to influence decisions and deliver results in a matrixed organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day management and performance of the Manulife Vitality program to meet strategic, customer, operational, and financial targets.
• Develop annual business plans and prioritize initiatives to drive member growth, engagement, and advisor adoption.
• Own Vitality portfolio performance, including financial results, member engagement, and operational health.
• Evaluate and prioritize new opportunities, partnerships, enhancements, and investments to grow the program value.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives spanning multiple teams, partners, and business units.
• Oversee the Vitality roadmap with governance, sequencing, resourcing, and delivery.
• Provide strategic oversight of partner relationships and launch readiness to maximize value realization.
• Lead portfolio governance, business reviews, and decision-making forums with actionable insights.
• Own annual budget, forecasting, and financial management for the program.
• Monitor performance metrics and identify opportunities to improve customer outcomes and business results.
• Collaborate with Distribution, Product, Marketing, Legal, Technology, Operations, and Customer Experience to align priorities.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Cross-functional leadership

People leadership

Financial analysis

Budget management

Influence in matrix org

Communication & stakeholder mgmt

Executive presence

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business/related field

MBA or comparable designation

Job description

The Director, Manulife Vitality is accountable for the day-to-day leadership, performance, and evolution of the Vitality business, translating strategic direction into measurable customer, operational, and financial outcomes. This role leads a high-performing team responsible for partnerships, program governance, member experience, analytics, and operational effectiveness while personally leading key strategic initiatives, business planning activities, and enterprise relationships. It is a unique opportunity to shape the future of health engagement in Canada, influence business outcomes at scale, and develop broad leadership experience across strategy, product, distribution, operations, and customer engagement.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead the day-to-day management and performance of the Manulife Vitality program, ensuring delivery against strategic, customer, operational, and financial objectives.
• Develop annual business plans, strategic priorities, and recommendations that support member growth, engagement, business performance, and advisor adoption.
• Own Vitality portfolio performance, including financial results, member engagement, operational health, risk management, and business outcomes.
• Lead evaluation, prioritization, and recommendation of new opportunities, partnerships, enhancements, and investments that strengthen the value proposition and support growth objectives.
• Personally lead complex cross-functional initiatives and strategic projects that span multiple teams, partners, functions, or business units.
• Oversee the execution of the Vitality roadmap, ensuring priorities are appropriately governed, sequenced, resourced, and delivered through the team.
• Provide strategic oversight of partner relationships, commercial performance, launch readiness, and ongoing partnership value realization.
• Lead portfolio governance, business reviews, and decision-making forums to ensure leaders have clear recommendations, performance insights, and actions.
• Own the annual budget, forecasting process, business cases, and financial management of the program.
• Monitor member, advisor, operational, and financial performance metrics and identify opportunities to improve customer outcomes and business results.
• Partner closely with Distribution, Product, Marketing, Legal, Technology, Operations, Customer Experience, and external partners to align priorities and execute business objectives.
• Represent Vitality in senior leadership discussions, governance forums, and enterprise initiatives, providing data-driven recommendations and business insights.
• Build, coach, and develop a high-performing team while fostering accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in strategy, product management, program management, customer engagement, partnerships, insurance, financial services, or related business leadership roles.
• 5+ years leading complex cross-functional initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience with accountability for coaching, talent development, and performance management.
• Proven experience developing business cases, managing budgets, financial analysis, and performance reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to influence decisions and deliver results in a matrixed organizational environment.
• Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, stakeholder management, and relationship-building skills.
• University degree in Business, Commerce, Marketing, Economics, Health Sciences, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience within insurance, financial services, health engagement, loyalty, digital product, or wellness-focused businesses.
• Experience managing strategic partnerships, vendors, or external commercial relationships.
• Strong knowledge of customer engagement, behavioural science, loyalty programs, or health and wellness ecosystems.
• Experience leading product launches, customer experience improvements, or business transformation initiatives.
• MBA, Master’s degree, or relevant professional designation.
• Experience working with digital products, mobile applications, analytics platforms, or customer-facing technology solutions.
• Bilingualism (English and French) is an asset. If the successful candidate is in Québec, proficiency in both languages will be required to support clients from various provinces outside of Quebec.

_ 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.

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 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].

Referenced Salary Location

Waterloo, Ontario

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$136,290.00 CAD - $186,290.00 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.