Director, Product Design

As the Director of Product Design at Manulife, you will lead the practice across Canada segment, driving vision, elevating craft, and ensuring efficient, high-performing design delivery across every initiative.

Reporting to the AVP, Product Design, you’ll help lead the build of a future‑ready practice by partnering with the Director of DesignOps & AI to embed responsible AI, modernize workflows, and ensure the team is set up to gain the skills required for the future of product design. You’ll coach a multidisciplinary team delivering simple, fast, inclusive, end‑to‑end digital experiences across web and native mobile.

Position Responsibilities:

Strategic design execution: 25%

• Turn insights into action: Partner with Research, Service Design, Engineering, Product, and senior leaders to transform customer insight into measurable experience improvements and business impact for the Canada segment.

• Drive AI ‑powered design: Partner with the Director of DesignOps & AI to spot high value use cases, set smart guardrails, pilot AI‑ enabled‑ research and design workflows, and lead responsible adoption.

• Elevate the design ecosystem: Collaborate with the AVP and DesignOps & AI to level up ‑design operations, content standards, and global/segment design systems for scalable, consistent delivery.

• Bring design thinking upstream: Work with Service Design and Strategy to embed design thinking early in roadmaps, turning enterprise vision into clear, actionable product strategies.

Leadership & team development: 25%

• Lead and grow the practice: Set clear quality bars and outcomes for Design Leads and their teams; coach, guide, and scale talent through recruiting, retaining, and developing top design capability.

• Power upskilling: Define capability needs, secure resources and budget, and create space on roadmaps for learning; ensure teams are set up for training from DesignOps & AI and external partners.

• Operate as a strategic player ‑coach: Lead with a strategic lens while staying hands o‑n for pivotal initiatives or scaling moments; foster a strong, healthy critique culture.

Design delivery & operational excellence: 30%

• Raise the quality bar & scale with DesignOps: Drive consistency and craft across design while partnering with DesignOps to expand systems, processes, and tooling that accelerate speed‑to‑market without sacrificing quality.

• Measure what matters: Define and track design OKRs (task success, adoption, utilization, time on task, time to value, etc.) to demonstrate clear product and business impact.

• Model inclusion & compliance: Champion inclusive design and AODA/WCAG accessibility across the lifecycle; maintain WCAG 2.0 AA conformance and drive progress toward 2.2 AA in patterns, content, and QA.

• Champion design system adoption: Accelerate adoption and contribution to the design system; partner with DesignOps & AI on governance and standards.

Cross‑functional influence & communication: 20%

• Represent design at senior tables: Shape strategy and influence how human‑first experiences are delivered across the Canadian market.

• Build & sustain strong partnerships: Work closely with Product, Engineering, and business leaders to align design execution with strategic priorities and clearly communicate rationale and impact in planning and delivery.

• Participate in the global design community: Contribute to Manulife’s global design leadership network by sharing expertise, learning from international peers, and applying proven global practices to strengthen the Canadian design practice.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years in product design, including 3+ years leading product design teams: Proven track record partnering with Product and Engineering to deliver at scale, set quality bars, coach design leaders, and operationalize high‑impact delivery.

• Deep expertise across the full product lifecycle (discovery > launch), with strong command of crits, design decision‑making, and quality assurance for web and native mobile.

• Hands‑on experience using AI‑assisted workflows (including vibe-coding) with the judgment to apply appropriate guardrails and ensure responsible use.

• Evidence of measurable outcomes (portfolio with 2-3 case studies demonstrating clear impact on adoption, satisfaction, efficiency, or revenue‑adjacent metrics).

• Inclusion expertise with a working knowledge of AODA/WCAG and inclusive design practices.

• Strong proficiency with Figma and modern design/prototyping tools used to collaborate, scale, and accelerate delivery.

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

$125,100.00 CAD - $175,100.00 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.