Director, Strategy & Business Architecture (Toronto)

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Director, Strategy & Business Architecture to join the Canada Segments Technology Strategy team.

Overview

This role plays a key part in advancing business and technology transformation aligned to our One Manulife 2030 strategy and Digital Customer Leader ambitions. You will partner with business and technology leaders to shape strategy, define operating models, and enable seamless, end-to-end customer experiences through innovation, automation, and data-driven decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with business and technology leaders to inform and influence strategic planning, assess operating model impacts, and identify transformation opportunities that drive business outcomes.
• Develop business-driven, customer-centric roadmaps that support strategic priorities and measurable results.
• Facilitate outcome-based planning and roadmap development, including evaluating and prioritizing investment opportunities.
• Lead complex business transformation initiatives, including capability and value stream assessments, ensuring alignment between strategy and execution.
• Build and maintain a holistic view of the organization’s business architecture to support capability, customer journey, and value stream analysis.
• Conduct market and industry research to identify emerging technologies and innovation opportunities that enhance business models and operational efficiency.
• Guide product and vendor decisions from an architectural perspective, ensuring effective integration of new technologies while optimizing costs and managing risks.
• Contribute to the successful delivery of strategic initiatives by meeting project timelines, budgets, and established standards.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience as Director/Manager in Strategy and Business Architecture, coming from Consulting or Financial Services environments.
• Demonstrated ability to apply an enterprise-wide perspective across strategy, processes, capabilities, enabling technologies, and governance.
• Proven capability to identify organizational challenges, including cross-functional dependencies and inefficiencies, and influence stakeholders at all levels to achieve alignment.
• Experience acting as a liaison between business and technology teams, effectively communicating business needs, technical constraints, and strategic priorities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify trends, assess impacts of change, and support informed decision-making.
• Experience in strategic planning, roadmap development, emerging technology adoption, and technology portfolio optimization.
• Experience conducting capability, value stream, and customer experience assessments (e.g., SWOT analysis) and defining transformation roadmaps.
• Experience using model-based representations and business architecture frameworks to analyze and communicate complex information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences across multiple levels of the organization.
• Experience in management consulting with a focus on business strategy and transformation.
• Knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., Zachman, TOGAF) and Business Architecture Guild best practices.

Benefits

• 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.
• Retirement savings plans, including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions, and financial education and counseling resources.
• Generous paid time off program – holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Manulife is an Equal Prospect Employer. At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity and strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve. 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. We prioritize removing barriers to provide equal access to employment. Human Resources representatives will assist applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used consistently with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies.