Director, Strategy & Business Architecture

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Director, Strategy & Business Architecture to join the Canada Segment’s Technology Strategy team.

This role plays a key part in advancing business and technology transformation aligned to our One Manulife 2030 strategy and Digital Customer Leader (DCL) ambitions. You will partner with business and technology leaders to shape strategy, define operating models, and enable seamless, end-to-end customer experiences through innovation, automation, and data-driven decision-making.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives, encourages innovation, and supports continuous growth and development for all employees.

Position Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with business and technology leaders to inform and influence strategic planning, assess operating model impacts, and identify transformation opportunities that drive business outcomes.
• Develop business-driven, customer-centric roadmaps that support strategic priorities and measurable results.
• Facilitate outcome-based planning and roadmap development, including evaluating and prioritizing investment opportunities.
• Lead complex business transformation initiatives, including capability and value stream assessments, ensuring alignment between strategy and execution.
• Build and maintain a holistic view of the organization’s business architecture to support capability, customer journey, and value stream analysis.
• Conduct market and industry research to identify emerging technologies and innovation opportunities that enhance business models and operational efficiency.
• Guide product and vendor decisions from an architectural perspective, ensuring effective integration of new technologies while optimizing costs and managing risks.
• Contribute to the successful delivery of strategic initiatives by meeting project timelines, budgets, and established standards.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience Director / Manager Strategy and Business Architecture coming from Consulting or Financial Services environments.
• Demonstrated ability to apply an enterprise-wide perspective across strategy, processes, capabilities, enabling technologies, and governance.
• Proven capability to identify organizational challenges, including cross-functional dependencies and inefficiencies, and influence stakeholders at all levels to achieve alignment.
• Experience acting as a liaison between business and technology teams, effectively communicating business needs, technical constraints, and strategic priorities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify trends, assess impacts of change, and support informed decision-making.
• Experience in strategic planning, roadmap development, emerging technology adoption, and technology portfolio optimization.
• Experience conducting capability, value stream, and customer experience assessments (e.g., SWOT analysis) and defining transformation roadmaps.
• Experience using model-based representations and business architecture frameworks to analyze and communicate complex information.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences across multiple levels of the organization.
• Experience in management consulting with a focus on business strategy and transformation.
• Knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., Zachman, TOGAF) and Business Architecture Guild best practices.

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 distributed 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

Toronto, Ontario

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$113,260.00 CAD - $210,340.00 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 .