At Manulife, our Strategy & Transformation team is at the forefront of driving key strategic initiatives and acts as strategic thought partners to senior executives, focusing on high‑impact, prioritized strategic decisions to develop and align BU initiatives with Manulife Canada Segment and Enterprise strategy. The team plays a pivotal role in planning and driving critical leadership conversations and strategic agendas across the organization.

The work that the Canada Strategy & Transformation team drives is essential in setting and bringing to life the strategic direction for Manulife Canada, driving the mission to make decisions easier and customers’ lives better. Operating in a high‑performance, fast‑paced, and winning team culture, the team offers opportunities for advanced career development and the chance to tackle the most critical challenges and initiatives in the financial services industry.

The Manager is responsible for researching, analyzing, recommending, and supporting the delivery of strategic projects and priorities across Manulife Canada. They evaluate key business priorities and provide insights to generate actions that create value for the company, aligning with strategic objectives.

The role requires partnering closely with Directors and senior leaders to ensure strategic objectives are clearly defined, analytically grounded, and translated into actionable plans that drive intended outcomes. The Manager plays a critical role in shaping perspectives through rigorous analysis, synthesis of complex information, and clear, decision‑oriented recommendations.

This role supports the team’s AVP or Director for assigned initiatives by developing strategy content, managing discrete workstreams, and helping drive disciplined execution.

Position Responsibilities:

Strategic Planning

• Drive the development and implementation of strategic plans, providing hands‑on support for the Canadian Leadership Team (CDLT) and management forums, including preparation of materials, analysis, and executive narratives.

• Structure complex, ambiguous problems; analyze qualitative and quantitative data; and present key findings in a clear, concise, and decision‑driven manner tailored to senior audiences.

• Support alignment across enterprise‑ and segment‑level priorities by surfacing trade‑offs, interdependencies, and implications.

Strategy Initiatives & Execution

• Support the delivery of strategic projects end‑to‑end, driving the execution of initiatives with material strategic impact across business benefits realization, including:

oDeveloping integrated roadmaps for strategic initiatives, ensuring key milestones, metrics, and success criteria are aligned with leadership expectations.
o Breaking down complex problems by synthesizing insights from multiple, diverse information sources (e.g., market trends, financials, stakeholder input), leveraging data analytics (data wrangling, quantitative analysis, and visualization/dashboarding) to generate decision-ready insights.

• Track progress, risks, and issues across assigned initiatives, escalating insights and challenges as appropriate to Directors or AVPs.

• Support portfolio‑level visibility by helping connect initiatives, identify dependencies, and highlight execution risks.

• Stakeholder Partnership & Team Leadership

• Partner with cross‑functional stakeholders (e.g., business units, finance, technology, and other corporate functions) to support alignment and effective execution of strategic priorities.

• Act as a day‑to‑day thought partner for initiative owners, bringing analytical rigor and structured problem solving to discussions.

• Coach and review work from junior team members, contributing to skill development and maintaining high quality standards across deliverables.

• Contribute to a collaborative, high‑performance team culture aligned with Manulife leadership behaviours.

Required Qualifications:

• 5–8 years of progressive experience in strategy, management consulting, corporate development, or a related field.

• Undergraduate degree required; MBA or advanced degree is an asset.

• Experience in financial services, insurance, or a regulated industry preferred.

• Understanding of at least one of Manulife’s core businesses (i.e., Life insurance, group benefits, individual insurance, retail banking)

• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complexity into clear recommendations.

• Bilingualism (English and French) is a strong asset. If the successful candidate is in Québec, proficiency in both languages will be required to support clients from various provinces outside of Quebec.

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.

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 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

Salary range is expected to be between

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.

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 personal information collection statement.