Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group offering insurance and wealth management solutions in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

We are working hard to not only change ourselves, but to reshape our industry. Our Mission is to make decisions easier and our customers' lives better. To achieve our Mission, we set out our five key areas of focus, narrowing our priorities to those that will strongly position us to transform Manulife into a digital, customer-centric market leader, creating significant value for our customers, employees, and shareholders.

One of our five key areas of focus is to accelerate growth in our highest potential businesses. In alignment with this focus, we are exploring acquisition opportunities within markets aligned to our global vision. In support of this focus, we are establishing a new Integration Enablement Team, supporting the global Manulife organization on all acquisition and integration ambitions. This team will serve as integration experts across the enterprise, functioning as a right-hand of support to the relevant General Manager and/or Delivery Leader and partnering closely with functional leaders to manage the holistic actions, milestones, deliverables of a coordinated integration plan necessary to enable results.

We are seeking a integration program leader with strong business knowledge and delivery experience in implementing complex, multi-year integration programs within the financial services industry, managing multi-function plans to achieve integration objectives and drive a positive experience. The Integration Enablement Program Director is critical to the execution of our strategic growth objectives and will oversee and manage the integration process of integrating acquisitions into Manulife, ensuring a seamless transition and alignment of operations, cultures, technologies, and personnel. This role is crucial for achieving synergy and maintaining business continuity while harnessing the strengths of the acquired company and Manulife.

This is a unique opportunity to lead a highly visible strategic initiative with significant revenue potential.

Job Summary

Reporting directly to the Head of Integration Enablement, the Integration Enablement Program Director is critical to the execution of acquisition strategic goals aligned to the strategy of Manulife. This resource is assigned to complex acquisitions to which significant program delivery expertise, including oversight and management of functional integration plans is required. At assignment, this resource will function as a member of the relevant business unit, serving as a core contributor to business unit success and holding an accountability to the business unit General Manager and/or Delivery Leader.

This roll-up your sleeves resource is:

• Responsible for partnering across business lines, functions and value streams to ensure the acquisition strategic objectives achieve intended outcomes.

• Responsible for the success of acquisition integration through the oversight, leadership and delivery of multi-year strategic initiatives aligned with integration goals, acting as a single point of contact for the General Manager and/or Delivery Leader.

• This resource must partner with senior leaders across the organization to achieve results, report on progress, risks and mitigations.

• This resource must align with established practices of business unit as it relates to governance, prioritization, budgets, financial reporting etc.

Key Accountabilities Integration Program Execution

• Drive acquisition integration programs fundamental to the success of the Manulife strategy in partnership with the Head of Integration Enablement, the relevant business unit Delivery Leader and cross-functional business leaders; ensure business benefits are realized within set parameters of time, budget, etc.

• Partner with leaders across Manulife/John Hancock to ensure acquisition program goals are translated to measurable action plans; communicate and drive action plans balancing resource and funding capacity constraints.

• Serve as a thought partner to senior leadership and business partners; drive a client experience focus throughout all programs and challenge teams to innovate beyond current business norms.

• Develop and manage a central integration plan, milestones, deliverables and roadmap of activities, ensuring key program metrics and success criteria are developed and achieved.

• Oversee all elements of the integration program, ensure a complete solution is delivered which considers the integration and evolution of roles, process, technology and data; partner with change management resources to drive business readiness across the go- forward organization.

• Serve as a primary point of escalation and solutioning for delivery teams, value streams etc.; liaison with business teams, leadership etc. to quickly resolve issues.

• As necessary deep dive into specific initiatives/outcomes to remove roadblocks and solve emerging issues; this may include facilitation of workshops, analysis of outside partnerships, resource planning, financial management etc.

• Collaborate with finance teams to ensure financial objectives and compliance standards are met through the active forecasting of requirements; preparing of annual budgets; scheduling expenditures; analyzing variances and initiating corrective actions.

• Lead program management activities such as milestone and impact planning, progress reviews and approvals, budget planning and management in alignment with established practices of the segment and business unit.

• Develop, motivate, mentor and challenge project teams and value streams (indirect reports).

• Act as a change agent to build and champion awareness/vision of integration objectives.

• Communicate/present consolidated key insights to Program Sponsors and Senior Management audiences/stakeholders that assist in the understanding of overall health and performance of the acquisition integration, and any required actions or decisions

• Identify and negotiate resources across business units, driving collaboration across all workstreams.

• Manage and monitor program financials with a focus on integration activities.

• Execute all governance activities in alignment with practices of the segment and business unit. Conduct post-merger evaluations to assess integration outcomes against the defined goals.

• Implement continuous improvement initiatives based on feedback and performance analysis.

Stakeholder Management

• Communicate and collaborate effectively with senior leadership, Segment/ Business Unit / Function heads, and employees cross Manulife and the acquired company.

• Address internal and external engagement and communication concerns and manage expectations related to the integration process.

• Leverage deep industry knowledge to effectively partner and collaborate across business and functional teams at all levels

• Engage teams in transparent discussions around progress against assigned program; ensure awareness and understanding via strong relationships enabled by trust

• Partner closely with Finance and Governance teams to ensure program reporting align with targets (financials and non-financials), following established practices of segment and business unit.

Position Requirements:

• Proven experience driving Acquisition Integrations and/or multi-year transformational efforts within the financial services industry.

• Proven experience in managing complex mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and integration processes. 

• Proven experience of managing integration programs across multi geographies.

• Strong leadership and project management skills, with the ability to influence and navigate diverse groups and functional teams.

• Proven experience driving innovation within well-established organizations looking to move to the next level of success.

• 10+ years of program management experience, with oversight of multi-function plans.

• Proven ability to probe for understanding of risks and issues to ensure transparency and supports achievement of business objectives.

• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving skills to form actionable plans. Proven experience as a creative and innovative thinker with the ability to challenge the status quo to drive significant change.

• Highly self-directed and comfortable thinking through disparate processes, systems, solutions and areas to leverage enterprise linkages to support successful change.

• Ability to influence without direct authority, and highly effective negotiation and collaboration skills; proven success in building and managing relationships.

• Strong ability to presents complex ideas clearly, with an ability to manage the complexities of executing significant change and influence individuals across business boundaries to achieve objectives.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to provide updates to all levels, including senior management.

• Deep understanding of operational efficiencies, change management, and strategic planning.

• Excellent customer focus and commitment to quality while still meeting deadlines.

• Strong financial acumen, with an ability to understand key metrics and their relation to business drivers.

• Bachelor’s degree.

• PMP and/or CSM preferred.

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 recruitment@manulife.com.

Referenced Salary Location

Salary range is expected to be between

If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact recruitment@manulife.com for the salary range for your location. 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. Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

Manulife/John Hancock 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/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in the U.S. includes up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

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