AVP, Global AI Technology Platforms and Solutions

We are seeking an AVP to lead Manulife’s Global AI Technology Platforms and Solutions organization! This technology leadership role is central to bringing Manulife’s AI strategy and vision to life. You will lead the engineering, operations, and enablement teams responsible for Manulife’s Global Agentic AI Platform and global AI solutions such as ChatMFC ensuring secure, consistent, and scalable adoption across the company.

As the steward of Manulife’s inner-source AI platform ecosystem you will be leading Manulife’s innovative Agentic AI transformation. WorkWorking closely with our AI team, you will help guide the organization’s transformation. You will have access to global solutions and the latest AI Assurance Automation methods. You will also champion new ways of working!

You will collaborate closely with senior leaders across business, technology, governance, and risk to ensure our global platforms accelerate time to value while meeting the highest standards of security, compliance, and operational excellence.

Position Responsibilities:
The ideal candidate is a highly engaged and experienced engineer that will lead our AI platform evolution. They are comfortable working in a fast-paced, multi-functional delivery model motivated by value generation. They are comfortable being hands on in the details and experienced at building consensus with senior partners. Specifically, they will be responsible to:

• Lead end‑to‑end delivery of a scalable AI platform that enables Manulife’s business strategy and evolving enterprise needs.
• Drive technical implementation of AI governance, Responsible AI controls, security standards, and regulatory compliance, embedded natively in the AI platform.
• Advance an inner‑source operating model by empowering a global contributor community—fostering reusable component development, codifying contribution and code‑review standards, and enabling open collaboration.
• Ensure platforms are adaptable to emerging technologies and future business requirements.
• Oversee the operational performance of the Global Agentic AI platform and Global AI solutions such as ChatMFC. Drive guidelines for interoperability, reliability, and scalability across regions.
• Champion compliance, security, and governance, proactively addressing regulatory requirements and operational risk.
• Ensure robust AI platform automation, observability, SRE practices, and proactive incident detection across regions.
• Oversee integration and lifecycle management of AI platform capabilities, APIs, and runtime components.
• Continuously improve platform performance, automation, developer experience, and overall efficiency
• Collaborate with business product owners, architecture, security, compliance, and risk teams to ensure regulatory and operational posture.
• Monitor critical metrics and key risk indicators, manage budgets, and coordinate service levels to ensure efficient, cost-effective, and compliant AI platform delivery. Identify optimization opportunities and report outcomes to senior leadership.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• 12+ years of experience in technology leadership roles, with at least 5 years in AI/ML or enterprise platform delivery.
• Deep understanding of AI governance, compliance, and operational risk management.
• Proven experience delivering enterprise‑scale architecture solutions on Microsoft Azure.
• Extensive platform engineering and automation expertise, with proven thought leadership and delivery experience building modern CI/CD practices and Java SDK‑based platform delivery.
• Hands on leadership of engineering teams, leaning in to ensure the team is using the latest AI supported development practices
• Demonstrated outstanding leadership, communication, and collaboration skills with experience leading global engineering and operations teams and engaging senior business collaborators.
• Experience building tools to drive engineering efficiency, streamlining governance tasks by design
• Advanced proficiency in Java (required) and Python (required); additional experience other programming languages is an asset.
• Hands-on experience with WebApp development and ITIL-aligned service management.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies, iterative development practices, and inner‑source/open‑source operating models.

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-Hybrid

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 hr@manulife.com.

Referenced Salary Location

Toronto, OntarioHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$129,800.00 CAD - $241,200.00 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 hr@manulife.com 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 hr@manulife.com for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.