VP, Employee Experience, Technology

The Vice President of Employee Experience Technology will provide comprehensive technical leadership across a range of infrastructure, applications, and business solutions. This role supports Human Capital Management (HCM), Payroll Processing, Communications, and Employee Services for Manulife’s Global Human Resources & Communications Management teams. Positioned within the Technology team, the VP will collaborate closely with HR & Communications as primary stakeholders, as well as with Technology and infrastructure teams, to provide employees with the best capabilities, including the adoption of self-serve GenAI tools.

Position Responsibilities:

Employee Experience Technology:

• Strategic Leadership: Identify and evaluate emerging HR & Communication technology trends, both internally and externally, to formulate value propositions and actionable strategies for aligning application portfolios.
• Productivity Enhancement: Develop and implement an operations productivity roadmap focusing on Citizen Development and maximizing the adoption of GenAI tools to ensure employees have the right tools to excel.
• Systems Strategy: Collaborate with HR and Communications leadership to plan and develop the HR and Communications systems and capabilities roadmap. This includes aligning the Workday platform with Manulife’s strategy and ensuring seamless integration across multiple systems, vendors, and platforms.
• Optimization Initiatives: Lead efforts to optimize Manulife’s HR technologies, systems, and platforms (e.g., Workday) to eliminate manual work, drive efficiency, ensure compliance, and enhance the employee experience.
• Data Management: Establish a strong data management foundation governing data architecture, quality, and integration, while building long-term capabilities such as a sustainable HR data repository to facilitate quick analysis of talent data.
• Unified HR Services: Provide architectural and technology leadership to unify Manulife’s HR services platform, integrating HR portal, communications, mobile delivery, case management, knowledge, and chat capabilities.
• Global Processes: Design, implement, and communicate global processes to drive value and adoption across the business.
• Team Development: Develop the HR & Communications Technology team to ensure deep bench strength and expertise in key areas.

People Management:

• Team Leadership: Lead a team of full-time and contract staff, overseeing goal planning, achievement assessments, and employee development plans.
• Resource Planning: Collaborate with the broader Group Functions Technology & Global Data management teams to determine resource requirements and planning.
• Skill Development: Encourage cross-training and job sharing, creating an annual plan for skill development and advanced technical capabilities.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Lead workshops, architecture & engineering meetups, user groups, and meet with key stakeholders globally to build capabilities for Group Functions and across Manulife.

Governance and Controls:

• Process Alignment: Ensure all technology management processes align with standard operating procedures and Group Functions architecture and enterprise technology standards and policies.
• Technology Guidance: Provide guidance on technology principles, capabilities, practices, security, and access controls.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement:

• Thought Leadership: Offer thought leadership and guidance on advancing new technologies and capabilities that are value driven.
• Industry Advancements: Stay current with industry advancements in Human Resources & Communications and collaborate with Manulife’s innovation teams and other technology teams.
• Stakeholder Communication: Maintain regular communication with HRLT stakeholders, providing metrics, KPIs, and service levels to address challenges, new business, issues, prioritization, and budget updates.

Required Qualifications:

• Experience: 10-15 years of professional experience in Human Resources Technology, with a degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Project Management: Advanced skills in project management methodologies (DevOps, Extreme Programming, Agile, Waterfall).
• Strategic Execution: Proven ability to formulate and execute a holistic data and technology strategy for Human Resources.
• HR Systems Expertise: Solid understanding of HR systems (e.g., Workday, ADP, Salesforce), business, data, and technical architecture disciplines.
• Technical Translation: Ability to translate non-technical user requests into complex technical specifications.
• Enterprise Architecture: Experience leading complex architecture initiatives and delivering enterprise-scale solution architectures.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Visionary Leadership: Strategic thinker with a proactive approach to leading the HR tools and technology roadmap.
• Stakeholder Management: Outstanding skills in partnering with HR stakeholders to deliver a joint vision.
• Organizational Skills: Excellent organizational and time management skills, with the ability to multitask and work with minimal supervision.
• Communication: Exceptional oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills, adept at simplifying complex technical concepts.
• Relationship Building: Strong ability to establish working relationships across business, operations, and technology partners.
• Adaptability: Quick to ramp up in new business and technology areas.
• Proactive Attitude: Highly motivated, self-directed, and proactive.
• Travel: Willingness to travel up to 40% of the time (primarily between Toronto, Waterloo, Boston, Hong Kong/Manila).

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.