Head of Product Transformation and Innovation

MANULIFE (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in Singapore is seeking a Head of Product Transformation & Innovation who will lead a strategic overhaul of the product development process. This role focuses on embedding a commercial lens in every stage to enhance speed-to-market and align initiatives with business growth. Candidates should have strong leadership, strategic thinking, and communication skills, alongside a university degree. The firm offers a flexible and inclusive environment for professional growth.

Benefits

Flexible working environment

Career development opportunities

Support for well-being and inclusion

Qualifications

• Proven leadership skills and ability to drive product development transformation.
• Strong strategic thinking with effective decision-making capabilities.
• Highly developed communication and relationship management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the redesign of the product development lifecycle.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to implement capabilities.
• Drive mindset and skillset transformation across the product organisation.

Skills

Leadership skills

Strategic thinking

Decision making

Communication skills

Relationship management

Education

University degree

Job description

Overview

The Head of Product Transformation & Innovation will lead the strategic overhaul of Manulife Singapore’s product development and delivery model, embedding a strong commercial lens into every stage of the process. This role is pivotal in evolving the product function from a reactive, BAU-driven setup into a future-ready, customer-centric, innovation-driven and commercially accountable team.

By driving process redesign, digital/AI enablement and cross-functional collaboration, this role will directly address key pain points – such as need of strategic structure, prolonged development cycles, fragmented channel input, and operational risk due to unclear or inconsistent processes. The ultimate goal is to accelerate speed-to-market, improve execution discipline, and ensure product initiatives are aligned with business growth and customer value.

Position Responsibilities

1. Product Development Transformation

• Lead the redesign of the product development lifecycle to enable faster, more structured, and commercially aligned go-to-market execution.

• Partner with IT, Operations, Underwriting, and Distribution to implement capabilities and technology modules aimed at reducing turnaround times by 50%.

• Introduce prioritisation frameworks and governance models to replace ad hoc, request-driven workflows with strategic decision-making.

2. Strategic Product Enablement

• Build a proposition-driven approach to product development that ensures consistent customer and cross-channel alignment.

• Establish structured product management rhythms (reviews, checkpoints, and governance) to balance short-term delivery with long-term innovation.

• Elevate the product team’s role from technical execution to strategic leadership, embedding commercial thinking into product planning and evaluation.

3. Organisational Change & Capability Build

• Drive mindset and skillset transformation across the product organisation, fostering agility, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Strengthen stakeholder engagement across senior leadership to ensure alignment, sponsorship, and visibility of product initiatives.

• Serve as the key interface between product, business leadership, and enabling functions, ensuring clarity of priorities and disciplined execution.

Required Qualifications

• University degree

• Proven leadership skills, strategic thinking, decision making and execution skills

• Highly developed communication and relationship skills

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.