AVP, US Life Insurance Sales Desk

John Hancock; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 208,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Incentive programs

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

John Hancock seeks an AVP, Life Insurance National Sales Desk to lead strategic support for our life insurance sales force. The role focuses on building and optimizing a world-class support model to drive multi-year growth, partner satisfaction, and sales performance.

You will guide talent development, training, and cross-team collaboration while governing licensing and regulatory requirements. Hybrid work in Boston supports dynamic market needs.

Qualifications

• BS/BA degree required.
• 5+ years of leadership in a sales org.
• 5+ years in inbound/outbound call operations and sales plan implementation.
• Life Insurance sales or sales support experience with strong business relationships.
• Strategic development of support models with internal/external focus.
• Agile and forward-thinking to drive process improvements.
• Strong communication, organizational, presentation and negotiation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects with deadlines.
• Extensive product and industry knowledge; licensing (Life/Health, Series 6, 26).
• Ability to work cross-teams with multiple stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategic plans to enhance Life Sales Support effectiveness.
• Recruit, retain, and develop top talent across External Wholesalers, National Accounts, and B2B.
• Lead directors, managers, and support professionals to meet department goals.
• Improve sales support processes for efficiency and better partner experiences.
• Collaborate with product, underwriting, marketing, analytics for cohesive GTM strategies.
• Lead sales training, licensing compliance, and curriculum development.
• Analyze performance metrics and present updates to senior management.
• Ensure quality and compliance in all partner and internal interactions.
• Engage with marketing and demos to refine materials and messaging.
• Participate in go-to-market processes and provide regulatory sales leadership.
• Co-design customized support models for new markets and partnerships.
• Deliver growth strategies aligned to company directives and sales plans.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Negotiation

Communication

Analytical thinking

Project management

Talent development

Licensing knowledge

Education

BS/BA Degree

Tools

Salesforce

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

The AVP, Life Insurance National Sales Desk, plays a critical role in facilitating the growth and success of our life insurance sales team. They will be responsible for overseeing and enhancing the internal support services that empower our sales team to excel. Their strategic guidance, leadership, and expertise will contribute to the achievement of our sales targets and the satisfaction of our valued partners. They will play a key role in building, implementing, measuring, and optimizing a world-class support model to meet a multi-year growth strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement strategic plans and deploy tactical day-to-day execution to enhance the effectiveness of the life Sales Support department.
• Recruiting, retaining, and developing top talent to support External Wholesalers, National Accounts, and B2B partnerships.
• Team Leadership of a team of Directors, Managers and sales support professionals, providing direction, training, and support to ensure the achievement of department and company goals.
• Sales and Internal Process Improvement to continuously assess and refine sales support processes to increase efficiency and provide a seamless experience for sales organization and external customers.
• Collaboration to foster effective cross-departmental strategic priorities with product, underwriting, marketing, analytics, and other relevant teams to ensure a cohesive approach to sales support and go-to-market strategies.
• Sales Training, curriculum development, and implementation of training programs for the sales support team to pass required license requirements through call scripting, development of soft selling skills, improving their product knowledge, and consistent message delivery which support current and new product lines.
• Performance analysis to monitor and analyze key performance metrics that identify areas for improvement and create actionable recommendations.
• Prepare and present regular reports to senior management on the sales support department’s performance and key initiatives.
• Quality Assurance to ensure that all interactions with partners and internal teams meet the company standards for quality and compliance.
• Customer Engagement strategy to build and maintain strong relationships with key internal and external customers, addressing their concerns and providing high-quality sales value and support.
• Assist and provide observations about marketing materials, presentations, and demos, based on teams’ direct interaction with partners.
• Actively participate in the sales preparation processes and go-to-market strategies.
• Provide technical, regulatory consultative sales leadership.
• Partner with Sales and Account Management to provide direction and co-create key measures and achievements to build a cohesive initiative-taking sales support model that considers various internal roles, and external partners’ growth strategies and is aligned to overall key strategic directives.
• Co-design customized support models for new markets and direct B2B relationships. Develop proper sales compensation plans to recognize individual contributions while maintaining a collaborative and balanced team of team model across selling units and roles.
• Deliver targeted growth strategies aligned to company directives and deliver sales plans.

Job Requirements:

• BS/BA Degree
• 5 + years of leadership experience in a sales organization
• 5+ years’ experience in inbound and outbound call operations and implementation of sales plans across varying groups and support models.
• Life Insurance Sales or Sales Support activities marked by strong business relationships, skilled leadership, and business results and be well-versed in leading multidisciplined and multiple teams.
• Strategic development of support models focusing both internally and externally, with strong operational leadership that delivers firsthand a deep understanding of the sales processes and what drives carrier selection in an intermediated distribution model.
• Agile and forward thinking to target continuous improvement opportunities and drive execution focused on enhancing and customizing our service delivery to boost the overall sales performance
• Superior communication, organizational, presentation, and negotiation skills
• Exceptional team selling sales skills and experience building scalable training curriculums that support talent mobilization.
• Ability to manage multiple projects with specific time deadlines
• Extensive product and industry knowledge
• Maintain relevant licensing - Life/Health, Series 6, Series 26
• Advanced analytical and critical thinking skills
• Ability to work cross-teams to solve sales problems, including Regional Wholesalers, National Accounts, Marketing, Operations, Implementation, Underwriting, and Analytics.
• Conversant with all current products and ancillary services
• Conversant with peer insurers’ products and services, and ability to provide executive summaries to senior leaders on trends, client sentiment, and perception.

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.

#LI-JH

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

Boston, Massachusetts

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$120,000.00 USD - $208,000.00 USD

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/John Hancock 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/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in the U.S. includes up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

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.

Know Your Rights I Family & Medical Leave I Employee Polygraph Protection I Right to Work I E-Verify

Company: John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.)