Director, Canada AI

Manulife Canada is seeking a Director of AI to set the vision and lead the strategy, delivery, and adoption of AI/ML—from predictive and optimization models to GenAI in production—that drive revenue growth, customer retention, cost efficiency, and exceptional experiences. You will own an enterprise portfolio (e.g., pricing optimization, fraud analytics, health analytics, sales enablement, and GenAI), build and scale a high performing team, and deliver measurable business impact with clear OKRs and model monitoring. You’ll partner closely with business and technology leaders, champion responsible AI and model risk management, and mature our analytics operating model (AAMDF) to accelerate speed to value.

Position Responsibilities: 

• Set the Canada AI vision and multi year roadmap aligned to business strategy; translate strategy into an executable, value anchored portfolio.
• Deliver impact at scale: lead use cases across pricing/underwriting optimization, fraud detection & deterrence (incl. document analytics), health analytics (scores, segmentation, outcomes), and sales enablement (lead generation, next best action, recommender systems).
• Ship GenAI to production: stand up practical GenAI capabilities (e.g., advisor enablement, RAG chat, document analytics, topic modeling) with robust security, governance, and telemetry.
• Own the product lifecycle: problem framing, scoping, design, modeling, validation, productionization (MLOps), adoption/change management, and continuous improvement.
• Lead, coach, and grow a team of Data Scientists and ML Engineers; hire, develop, and retain top talent; foster a high engagement, office forward culture.
• Institutionalize excellence: establish standards, reusable methods, and tooling (feature pipelines, CI/CD for ML, model monitoring, drift detection, bias/fairness checks).
• Partner across the matrix: work with Data Engineering, Data Office, Risk, Legal/Compliance, and IT to ensure data reliability, secure environments (Azure/Databricks), and compliant delivery.
• Create intake & prioritization discipline: manage a transparent backlog; balance capacity, timelines, and dependencies; escalate and de risk proactively.
• Measure and communicate value: define OKRs and success metrics, stand up experimentation (A/B tests), quantify VEA/benefits realized, and tell the story to senior leaders.
• Advance the practice: champion Responsible AI, privacy, security, and Model Risk Management; mature our AAMDF operating framework; build academic/industry partnerships.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years in advanced analytics/data science (ML, optimization, causal/experimental design), including 5+ years leading teams and complex cross functional programs.
• Proven record of value delivery (e.g., material revenue uplift, cost reduction, fraud savings, health outcomes), including shipping models to production with measurable impact.
• Hands on familiarity with modern data/ML stacks: Azure, Databricks/Spark, feature stores/pipelines, Python and SQL; strong data wrangling and visualization fundamentals.
• GenAI experience applying RAG, prompt engineering, retrieval, embeddings, and document understanding to production use cases with guardrails and monitoring.
• MLOps & governance: CI/CD for ML, model lifecycle management, monitoring (performance, drift, stability), bias/fairness, lineage, documentation, and audit readiness.
• Executive communication & influence: able to simplify complexity, align stakeholders, and drive adoption in a matrixed, regulated environment.
• People leadership: track record building high performing, engaged teams; culture carrier for collaboration, feedback, inclusion, and continuous improvement.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Financial services or regulated industry experience; familiarity with pricing/underwriting, fraud, customer/sales analytics, or health economics/outcomes.
• Experience standing up lead generation/SmartList, recommender systems, and document analytics for risk/fraud.
• Expertise in experiment design (A/B tests) and causal inference for impact quantification.
• Certifications (e.g., Azure AI/Data, Databricks ML) and experience operationalizing model risk frameworks.
• Exposure to intake/prioritization frameworks, OKR/measurement discipline, and practice operating models (e.g., AAMDF).
• Academic and ecosystem engagement (e.g., university partnerships, patents, invited talks).

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

$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 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.