Business strategist Jobs in Waterloo, ON

The CRM Business Analyst, reporting to the Manager of CRM Strategy, Growth & Go-to-Market, partners with business stakeholders, sales leaders, and technology teams to enhance the Salesforce platform supporting Affinity, Retail Insurance, and Mass Market Distribution. This role drives CRM enhancements, business process improvements, and adoption initiatives that improve sales effectiveness, user experience, and operational efficiency.

This position is ideal for an individual who combines Salesforce expertise with strong business analysis, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills. Success in this role requires more than gathering requirements. It requires curiosity, sound judgment, and critical thinking to understand business problems, challenge assumptions, and recommend solutions that deliver meaningful business value. The successful candidate is a proactive self-starter who thrives in ambiguity, creates clarity where it does not exist, and independently drives initiatives from concept through implementation. Working within an Agile delivery model, the CRM Business Analyst translates business needs into scalable CRM solutions that improve user experience, data quality, and business outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

CRM Strategy, Optimization & Support (40%)

• Build strong partnerships with business stakeholders by developing a deep understanding of their objectives, challenges, and opportunities.

• Proactively identify opportunities to improve CRM adoption, user experience, operational efficiency, and data quality.

• Analyze business processes and requests to identify root causes, recommend improvements, and deliver solutions that maximize business value.

• Evaluate, triage, and prioritize CRM requests and enhancement opportunities based on business value and strategic alignment.

• Elicit, analyze, and document business requirements through user stories, acceptance criteria, process maps, and supporting documentation.

• Act as the primary business-facing contact for CRM support and issue resolution, coordinating with technology partners as required.

• Develop and execute change management, communication, and training activities supporting new capabilities and releases.

• Develop and maintain business expertise in Salesforce capabilities and related business processes.

Project Delivery & Business Analysis (40%)

• Support and coordinate CRM initiatives from discovery through implementation, adoption, and continuous improvement.

• Facilitate discovery workshops and collaborate with business and technology teams to define solution approaches that balance business value, technical feasibility, and long-term sustainability.

• Analyze requirements, identify potential gaps, and recommend alternative approaches when appropriate.

• Advocate for stakeholder needs while balancing technical constraints and organizational priorities.

• Coordinate releases, deployments, testing activities, and implementation readiness with technology partners.

• Develop and execute user acceptance testing plans to validate business requirements and ensure quality delivery.

• Partner with the Product Owner to manage and prioritize CRM backlog items aligned with strategic business objectives.

• Support initiative delivery by identifying risks, tracking progress, and communicating recommendations to stakeholders.

Data Management & Governance (20%)

• Execute CRM data maintenance activities including mass updates, territory realignments, and organizational changes.

• Monitor and analyze CRM data to identify quality issues, trends, risks, and opportunities for continuous improvement.

• Partner with stakeholders to establish governance practices that improve data quality, platform adoption, and long-term sustainability.

Qualifications

Required

• 3+ years of experience in Business Analysis, CRM Administration, Product Ownership, or a related role.

• Strong Salesforce platform knowledge.

• Experience supporting business analysis activities for complex initiatives and working with stakeholders to define business requirements.

• Demonstrated initiative and ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities.

• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills with experience translating business needs into scalable technology solutions.

• Exceptional verbal, written, presentation, and facilitation skills.

• Demonstrated ability to build effective relationships and collaborate with stakeholders across multiple levels of the organization.

• Proven ability to independently manage competing priorities, drive work forward, and deliver high-quality outcomes.

• Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively to non-technical audiences.

Preferred

• Salesforce Administrator Certification.

• Experience supporting sales organizations and CRM-driven business processes.

• Knowledge of insurance distribution, wholesaling, wealth management, or financial services.

• Experience with analytics, reporting, CRM Analytics, Power BI, or similar business intelligence tools.

• Experience supporting CRM governance, change management, and user adoption initiatives.

• Experience working within Agile delivery frameworks such as Scrum or Kanban.

Success Profile

The ideal candidate:

• Thrives in ambiguity, creating clarity and momentum when the path forward is not immediately obvious.

• Demonstrates curiosity by understanding business problems before proposing solutions.

• Thinks critically, challenges assumptions, and recommends better ways of working.

• Builds trusted relationships and influences stakeholders through collaboration.

• Demonstrates ownership and accountability by independently driving work to completion.

• Balances strategic thinking with strong execution and attention to detail.

• Continuously develops Salesforce knowledge while remaining passionate about improving sales effectiveness through technology.

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 .

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 .

Referenced Salary Location

Waterloo, Ontario

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$59,100.00 CAD - $98,500.00 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 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 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 .