Director, Product Owner – Digital Experience Platforms (Canada)

Join our Digital Transformation team!

As the Director, Product Owner - Digital Experience Platforms (Canada), you will lead the strategy, vision, and execution of enterprise level digital products. This role is pivotal in driving customer-centric design, and technical excellence across our digital ecosystem, with a strong emphasis on Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Cloud and headless CMS architectures.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams including engineering, UX, marketing, and business collaborators to deliver seamless, scalable, digital experiences that align with our strategic goals. Your interactions will span across various Manulife Canadian Business Units, including Wealth, Group Benefits, Insurance, Retirement, and Bank among others.

Position Responsibilities:

Product Strategy & Vision

• Define and own the product vision and strategy including managing resourcing and funding roadmap.

• Align product strategy with business goals, customer needs, and market trends, prioritizing overall delivery of value across Canada.

• Own the Information Architecture of the Canadian site, ensuring that the architecture aligns overall to Manulife’s approach. This includes but is not limited to: owning the structure of the navigation, managing shared space, and accomplishing the Domain Strategy for predictable URL structure.

• Leverage design and technology to build cross-sell strategies, driving higher adoption of Manulife products from our customers.

• Advocate for use of common capabilities and processes (including Enterprise Digital Asset Management, Workfront, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Adobe Journey Optimizer) to reduce duplication of effort.

• Champion the adoption and optimization of AEM as a Cloud Service, through consolidation and use of Cloud capabilities to enable flexible, scalable content delivery.

Execution & Delivery

• Serve as Product Owner for Agile teams, managing product backlogs, sprint planning, and release cycles.

• Translate business requirements into actionable user stories with clear acceptance criteria.

• Lead platform migrations, integrations, and improvements which focus on performance, security, and accessibility.

Partner Engagement

• Act as the primary liaison between business units, technology teams, and external partners.

• Facilitate partner alignment through regular demos, reviews, and roadmap updates.

• Advocate for customer-centric design and data-driven decision-making.

Technical Leadership

• Collaborate with engineering and DevOps teams to optimize CI/CD pipelines and ensure design-to-code consistency.

• Integrate Adobe Experience Cloud tools (Target, Launch, Analytics) into unified digital experiences.

• Ensure compliance with WCAG accessibility standards and regulatory requirements.

Required Qualifications:

• Experience in digital product ownership in a complex organization with a focus on public platforms (secured platforms considered a plus), with at least 5 years in a leadership role.

• Proven success in leading enterprise-level digital initiatives using AEM Cloud and headless CMS. Solid understanding of Generative AI technologies and their applications in product development.

• Demonstrated solid understanding of Agile/Scrum methodologies and scaled agile frameworks (e.g., SAFe).

• Exceptional communication, leadership, and partner management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Business, Computer Science, or equivalent; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

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.

Referenced Salary Location

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.