Derivatives Engineer

The Opportunity

The Derivatives product team at Manulife has the mandate to ensure we deliver business and IT initiatives that enable Manulife’s regional strategic vision. We are involved in projects across multi-channel business and technology-based initiatives, and the work will accordingly involve extensive stakeholder management and collaboration across multiple functional teams.

As part of this team, we are seeking a highly skilled Derivatives Engineer with deep expertise in derivatives pricing, risk management, and trading system development. The ideal candidate will have a strong quantitative finance background combined with software engineering skills to build and optimize models, trading platforms, and risk analytics tools.

This role requires expert-level knowledge of derivatives across multiple asset classes, including pricing methodologies, market conventions, risk sensitivities (Greeks), and regulatory requirements. You will work closely with quantitative analysts, traders, risk managers, and technology teams to develop high-performance, scalable solutions for derivatives valuation, trading, and risk management.

Office location: Toronto - ON

Work arrangement: Hybrid (3 days in office, 2 days from Home); Working remote option is not available.

Position Responsibilities:

• Develop, test, and maintain software applications and systems related to financial derivatives trading, ensuring high performance and scalability.

• Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to gather requirements and translate them into technical specifications and designs.

• Utilize programming languages such as Java, Python, or C# to build robust and efficient trading systems.

• Implement algorithms and data structures to support real-time trading strategies, risk management and hedge accounting functionalities.

• Integrate new features and enhancements into existing systems, ensuring seamless operation and compatibility.

• Work with APIs and external data feeds to incorporate market data and analytics into trading platforms.

• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in trading systems, ensuring low-latency and high-throughput operations.

• Participate in User Acceptance Testing and collaborate with QA teams to ensure end-to-end system integrity

• Support project planning, timelines and deliverables for IT initiatives ensuring smooth system rollouts, including training and post-implementation support.

• Collaborate with other IT teams to design technology solutions for derivatives life cycle management and ensure alignment between business objectives and technology capabilities.

• Work with large datasets, analyzing derivatives trade data for insights and reporting

• Practical experience in Agile delivery methods

• Foster a culture of continuous leaning, attending fintech and derivatives innovation forums

• Good facilitation and influencing skills, including the ability to work effectively across a large organization and develop strong cross-functional relationships

• Good organization and high attention to detail, with the ability to adapt to a fast-paced environment and changing priorities

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of 5-6 years of experience in business and system analysis, highly prefered in financial derivatives or capital markets

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Information Technology, or a related field.

• Extensive experience and strong understanding in financial derivatives, including options, futures, forwards and swaps

• Experience and in depth understanding of all derivatives including trade life cycle

• Expertise in derivatives pricing models, including stochastic processes and volatility modeling.

• Strong familiarity with financial software and systems (e.g., Bloomberg, Findur, Aladdin, Murex, etc).

• Experience with financial derivatives, trading systems, or financial software development is highly desirable.

• Proficiency in writing detailed, clear and testable user stories with acceptance criteria

• Collaborate with developers and QA teams to refine and size user stories in backlog grooming and sprint planning sessions

• Experience with business analysis tools and software (e.g., SQL, Excel, project management software).

• Strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills, good communications at all business levels, with the ability to exercise flexibility and judgment in a dynamic environment

• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Information Technology, or a related field.

• Professional certifications such as CFA, FRM, or PMP.

• Familiarity with P&L calculations, market risk (VaR, Greeks) and regulatory compliance (Dodd-Frank, EMIR, etc)

• Exposure to Agile project management and content management tools such as JIRA and Confluence

• Knowledge of cloud computing, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and distributed systems is a plus.

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.

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.

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 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 recruitment@manulife.com for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.