Business Systems Analyst

Manulife; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work environment

Career development opportunities

Supportive team culture

Job summary

Manulife is seeking a Business Analyst for its Document Management Platform team in Boston. This role focuses on translating complex business needs into implementable solutions, ensuring high-quality communications for customers.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and 4+ years of IT experience, with strong analytical and communication skills. This position offers a hybrid work setup with three days in the office and two days working from home.

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of IT experience; up to 2 years in a Business Analyst role.
• Strong understanding of XML/XSD is required.
• Ability to gather information and document requirements clearly.

Responsibilities

• Review and interpret XSDs and related data models.
• Serve as a primary liaison between business partners and tech teams.
• Plan and support end-to-end testing of SmartCOMM solutions.

Skills

Requirements Analysis

Data Mapping

Stakeholder Communication

Integration Coordination

Testing

Attention to Detail

Team Collaboration

Analytical Skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

REST APIs

XML/XSD

Jira

Confluence

Job description

Business Analyst role on the Document Management Platform team is a high-impact opportunity to shape how John Hancock communicates with its customers at key moments, especially for new products and long-term care. You’ll sit at the intersection of business, technology, and operations, turning complex requirements into clear, implementable solutions on the SmartCOMM platform.

Your work will directly support John Hancock’s mission to make decisions easier and lives better by ensuring communications are accurate, timely, and easy to understand. In this role, you’ll gain deep domain expertise, end-to-end delivery experience, strong cross‑functional collaboration skills, and increased technical and analytical capabilities, all while having visible impact on critical customer-facing processes.

Office location: Boston - USA, or Toronto - Canada or Waterloo - Canada

Work arrangement: Hybrid - 3 days from Office (from nearest office), 2 days from Home; Working remotely option is not available.

Position Responsibilities:

Requirements Analysis & Data Mapping

• Review and interpret XSDs and related data models from admin systems to ensure required data elements are available to support SmartCOMM templates and communications.
• Gather and analyze mock‑ups and business inputs for new or updated customer communications (e.g., letters, statements, invoices) and participate in walkthroughs with business and admin stakeholders.
• Translate business needs and mock‑ups into clear Business Requirements Documents (BRDs), use cases, and detailed field‑level mapping specifications between source systems (XSD/XML) and SmartCOMM templates.
• Create, maintain, and validate end‑to‑end data mapping documentation, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and alignment with business rules, regulatory requirements, and design standards.

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

• Serve as a primary liaison between business partners, admin/system teams, SmartCOMM developers, and external vendors to ensure shared understanding of scope, requirements, and constraints.
• Communicate requirements, BRDs, and mapping specifications clearly to the development and QA teams, addressing follow‑up questions and clarifications in a timely manner.
• Facilitate resolution of technical and requirements‑related questions, balancing business needs, technical feasibility, and platform standards.

Integration & Vendor Coordination

• Coordinate integration activities with admin systems to ensure data feeds, APIs, and file exchanges support the required document generation and distribution workflows.
• Collaborate with print/output vendors (e.g., RRD) and internal partners to support successful delivery of physical and digital communications, including testing and operational readiness.

Testing, Quality, and Defect Management

• Plan, coordinate, and support end‑to‑end testing of SmartCOMM solutions, from data extraction through document generation and delivery across all channels (PDF, print, digital).
• Partner with admin/system teams to secure required test data, extracts, and XMLs for QA and UAT purposes.
• Review and analyze QA queries and defects, validating against requirements and design; work with stakeholders to determine whether findings represent true defects or acceptable behavior and drive resolution.

Governance, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement

• Participate in core team, governance, and prioritization meetings to report on status, risks, issues, and dependencies related to SmartCOMM initiatives.
• Provide clear, concise, and timely updates on requirements progress, mapping completion, integration readiness, and testing outcomes to stakeholders and leadership.
• Identify opportunities to standardize templates, mappings, and processes across communications, contributing to continuous improvement of the Document Management Platform and SmartCOMM delivery practices.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, Software Engineering or related field; equivalent combination of education and experience considered.
• Minimum 4 years of IT industry experience is required coupled with 0–2 years of experience in a Business Analyst, business systems, or related analytical role (internships, co‑op, or project experience acceptable).
• Experience with REST API integration/services.
• Foundational understanding of software development and system integration concepts.
• Strong understanding of XML/XSD and basic data mapping is required.
• Training will be provided for SmartCOMM‑specific patterns.
• Ability to gather information from stakeholders and help document requirements in a clear, structured format (e.g., process flows, simple BRDs, user stories, acceptance criteria).
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to analyze and validate data, mock‑ups, and test results against documented requirements.
• Basic understanding of testing concepts (system, integration, UAT) and willingness to support test planning and defect triage.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to summarize issues and requirements clearly for both business and technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team environment and collaborate across business, IT, and vendor partners.
• Comfortable participating in meetings, asking clarifying questions, and following up on action items.
• Comfort working with standard productivity and collaboration tools (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint, Visio/Miro, Confluence/SharePoint, Jira/Azure DevOps).
• Interest in learning customer communications technologies (SmartCOMM or similar CCM tools) and document management processes.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Exposure to financial services, insurance, or technology projects is an asset but not required.
• Large environment complexity exposure is desired but not a must.

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.

Manulife es un empleador que ofrece igualdad de oportunidades. En Manulife/John Hancock, valoramos nuestra diversidad. Nos esforzamos por atraer, formar y retener una fuerza laboral tan diversa como los clientes a los que prestamos servicios, y de fomentar un entorno laboral inclusivo en el que se aprovechen las fortalezas de las culturas y las personas. Estamos comprometidos con la equidad en las contrataciones, la retención de talento, el ascenso y la remuneración, y administramos todas nuestras prácticas y programas sin discriminación por motivos de raza, ascendencia, lugar de origen, color, origen étnico, ciudadanía, religión o creencias religiosas, credo, sexo (incluyendo el embarazo y las afecciones relacionadas con este), orientación sexual, características genéticas, condición de veterano, identidad de género, expresión de género, edad, estado civil, estatus familiar, discapacidad, o cualquier otro aspecto protegido por la ley vigente.

Nuestra prioridad es eliminar las barreras para garantizar la igualdad de acceso al empleo. Un representante de Recursos Humanos trabajará con los solicitantes que requieran una adaptación razonable durante el proceso de solicitud. Toda la información que se haya compartido durante el proceso de solicitud de adaptación se almacenará y utilizará de manera congruente con las leyes y las políticas de Manulife/John Hancock correspondientes. Para solicitar una adaptación razonable en el proceso de solicitud, envíenos un mensaje a [e-mail].