Product Design Lead

Are you ready to make a significant impact on the digital experiences of millions of users worldwide? Join our team as a Product Design Lead, where you will help shape intuitive, accessible experiences across web and mobile platforms and lead complex design initiatives from early discovery through delivery.
In this role, you will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of Accessibility Specialists, Service Designers, Experience Strategists, Content Designers, Researchers, Product Managers, and Engineers. Together, you will solve complex challenges, connect customer needs with business goals, and create experiences that improve our digital products and services.
We are looking for a transformative designer who combines strong product thinking and craft with practical leadership. You will join a collaborative and inclusive team that values curiosity, thoughtful critique, and continuous learning.
Beyond delivering great design work, you’ll provide leadership across complex initiatives by setting experience direction, mentoring designers, and helping teams solve challenging problems together.
Position Responsibilities:
Digital Product Design:
Lead the end-to-end design of complex web applications and responsive experiences across desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Experience Strategy & Outcomes:
Translate customer needs, business goals, and research insights into clear experience strategies, design priorities, and measurable outcomes that influence product roadmaps and business results.
AI-Enabled Design Practice:
Explore and apply emerging tools, including AI-assisted design workflows, to accelerate discovery, concept development, prototyping, and team effectiveness while maintaining strong design judgment and human-centered decision-making.
Research & Validation:
Partner with Research Leads to ensure customer insights inform design decisions, validate solutions, evaluate opportunities, and shape experience direction throughout the product lifecycle.
Cross-Functional Leadership:
Partner closely with product managers, engineers, researchers, content designers, accessibility specialists, and other collaborators to shape product roadmaps, align priorities, and drive successful outcomes.
Design Excellence:
Deliver high-quality design artifacts, champion accessibility, contribute to design systems, and coach others to elevate the quality and consistency of product experiences.
Design Leadership:
Facilitate critique, provide constructive feedback, mentor designers, and help grow product design practices across the organization.
Delivery Partnership:
Work closely with engineering through implementation to maintain the quality, accessibility, and intent of the experience.
Required Qualifications:
8+ years of product design experience, including experience leading complex digital initiatives.
A strong portfolio that shows how you frame problems, explore and evaluate options, apply product thinking and design craft, collaborate with others, and measure the outcomes of work you have launched.
A degree in design, visual communication, human-computer interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Deep knowledge of human-centered design, interaction design, information architecture, visual design, prototyping, usability, and accessibility principles.
Experience working through the full digital product development lifecycle, from discovery and concept development through delivery and iteration.
Proficiency with Figma and contemporary product design and collaboration tools.
Experience partnering with product management, engineering, research, content, and other disciplines in a complex, cross-functional environment.
Strong critical thinking, communication, storytelling, and facilitation skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions to designers and non-designers.
Strong understanding of user experience (UX) principles. Familiarity with web standards (W3C and Section 508) and front-end development standard methodologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) is an asset.
Preferred Qualifications:
Demonstrated experience in leading and mentoring for design projects and teams, including collaboration with cross-functional teams like engineering and product management.
Knowledge of WCAG and AODA, with experience designing accessible digital products.
Experience working with and contributing to a mature design system.
Experience using customer insights and product data to inform decisions and evaluate outcomes.
Familiarity with agile and iterative approaches that bring digital customer experiences to market quickly and validate them continuously.
Familiarity with technical constraints and considerations across responsive web, iOS, and Android experiences. Proven history of delivering successful digital products and services.
Experience using AI-assisted design tools to explore early concepts, generate preliminary design directions, or accelerate prototyping is an asset.
When you join our team:
As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.
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.
The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.
Referenced Salary LocationToronto, Ontario
Working ArrangementHybrid
Salary range is expected to be between$92,900.00 CAD - $142,900.00 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 View email address on ca.hrm.tc 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 View email address on ca.hrm.tc for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.
To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact View email address on ca.hrm.tc.
About Manulife and John HancockManulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit
Manulife is an Equal Opportunity EmployerAt 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 View email address on ca.hrm.tc.
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.
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