Asia Group Functions Lead Data Engineer

Manulife/John Hancock; Hong Kong; Hybrid; HKD 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Flexible environment

Job summary

Manulife is seeking a Lead Data Engineer to replace and build data capabilities across the organization. You will lead data engineering efforts, design pipelines, and partner with analytics, data science, and IT teams to enable real-time and batch processing.

The role requires 10+ years in data engineering, cloud platforms (Azure), and strong leadership. You will mentor engineers, ensure data quality, governance, and scalable architecture while documenting pipelines for onboarding and

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience as a Data Engineer with ETL pipelines and data processing
• Proficient with Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Python/PySpark, Java/Scala
• Knowledge of Azure infrastructure, RBAC, AD, and security principles

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor data engineers to build a high-performing team
• Design, develop, and manage scalable data pipelines from diverse sources
• Ensure data quality, testing plans, and governance
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate data requirements
• Monitor and optimize ETL processes to improve performance
• Document pipelines and architectures for onboarding

Skills

Leadership

Domain knowledge

Teamwork

Data pipeline development

Data mapping & integration

ETL optimization

Data transformation

Data quality assurance

Platform improvement

Data architecture

User documentation

Performance monitoring

Data governance & compliance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, IT, or related field

Master’s degree (preferred)

Tools

Azure Data Factory

Databricks

Python/PySpark

Java/Scala

Azure Synapse

GitHub CI/CD

Jenkins

Power BI

ADLS Gen2

Job description

Manulife is embarking on replacing and building new data capabilities to help fuel our bold ambition to become a digital customer leader! We are seeking a skilled and motivated Lead Data Engineer to join our diverse team and play a key role in implementing, optimizing, and maintaining assets that deliver these capabilities! The ideal candidate possesses a solid background in data engineering, ETL processes, and data integration, with a passion for understanding data to drive strategic business decisions.

Asia Group Functions Lead Data Engineer Position Responsibilities:

• Leadership: Mentor and coach data engineers on the team, providing technical guidance and leadership to build a high-performing data engineering team. Use excellent leadership and communication skills to foster a collaborative and high-performing team culture. Ensure that team members are meeting project timelines and delivering high-quality solutions that meet the needs of the business.
• Domain Knowledge: Stay up-to-date with the latest tools and technologies and identify opportunities to enhance Manulife's data infrastructure.
• Teamwork: Partner with other lead data engineers, data analysts, business collaborators, and data scientists to understand data requirements and translate them into effective data engineering solutions.
• Data Pipeline Development: Design, develop, and manage data pipelines that facilitate the detailed extraction, transformation, and loading of data from diverse sources. Leverage expertise in big data and cloud computing to ensure solutions are scalable, efficient, and effective.
• Data Mapping & Integration: Collaborate closely with multi-functional teams to understand and design schemas for data from various source systems and other transactional or application databases, ensuring accuracy and reliability.
• ETL Optimization: Continuously improve and optimize ETL processes to enhance data flow efficiency, minimize latency, and support real-time and batch processing requirements.
• Data Transformation: Implement data cleansing, enrichment, and transformation processes to ensure high-quality data is available for analysis and reporting.
• Data Quality Assurance: Design testing plans, develop and implement data quality checks, validation rules, and supervising mechanisms to maintain data accuracy and integrity.
• Platform Improvement: Collaborate with various technical resources from across the organization to identify and implement improvements to the infrastructure, integrations, and functionality.
• Data Architecture: Work closely with business leads and data architects to design, implement, and lead end-to-end architecture based on business requirements.
• User Documentation: Develop and maintain detailed documentation for data pipelines, processes, and configurations to support seamless onboarding.
• Performance Monitoring: Monitor data pipeline performance and solve issues to ensure efficient data flow and proactively find opportunities for improvement.
• Data Governance and Compliance: Ensure consistency with data privacy and compliance standards throughout the data lifecycle.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field. Master’s degree is a plus.
• 10+ years of experience as a Data Engineer, with a track record of efficiently implementing and maintaining data pipelines, scheduling, monitoring, notification, and ETL processes using Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Python\Pyspark, Java, Scala.
• Understanding of Azure infrastructure; subscriptions, resource groups, resources, access control with RBAC (role-based access control), integrations with Azure AD and Azure security principles INTERNAL (user group, service principal, managed identity), network concepts (VNet, Subnet, NSG rules, private endpoints), password\credential\key management and data protection.
• Experience deploying and integrating Azure Data Services (ADF, Databricks) using DevOps tools and principles: GitHub Repository, Jenkins CI\CD pipelines, integrated unit tests, etc.
• Knowledge of Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS Gen2) and its topology on blob storage with file hierarchy, storage account, containers, and folders.
• Proficient in data mart fact and dimension design concepts, ETL/ELT logic to perform upsert and type-2, and applying\implementing with Python\PySpark\store proc\SQL in ADLS (with lakehouse architecture using Databricks) or in Azure Synapse (with Dedicated SQL pool).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with LLM and AI tools.
• Experience using Unity Catalog.
• Experience using Power BI to connect to sources with ADLS (including Delta Lake), Databricks SQL, Azure Synapse (SQL pool), design semantic layer/data models, create\publish reporting content (data sets\paginate report\interactive dashboard), and manage workspaces.
• Solid understanding of data privacy and compliance regulations and standard methodologies.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to solve technical issues efficiently.
• Effective communication skills to collaborate with technical and non-technical partners.
• Thorough approach with a commitment to delivering high-quality work in a fast-paced environment.

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].

Working Arrangement Hybrid: 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 industry-leading AI, 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.

We’re proud of our accomplishments and recognition.

Recent awards include: 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winner, Manulife Named one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2025, Financial Times World’s Best Employers Asia-Pacific 2026, We’ve been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers 2026, #1 Life Insurer for AI Maturity by Evident 2026.