We are a leading financial services provider committed to making decisions easier and lives better for our customers and colleagues around the world. From our environmental initiatives to our community investments, we lead with values throughout our business. To help us stand out, we help you step up, because when colleagues are healthy, respected and meaningfully challenged, we all thrive. Discover how you can grow your career, make impact and drive real change with our Winning Team today.

　　Working Arrangement

　　Hybrid

　　Job Description

　　AVP, Experience Design

　　Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management (GWAM) segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide, including the US, Canada, Europe and 11 markets in Asia.

　　We are working hard to not only change ourselves, but to reshape our industry. Our Mission is to make decisions easier and our customers' lives better. We are hard at work transforming our organization into a Digital Customer Leader – evolving our customer interactions into innovative, immersive, and highly functional digital experiences delivering high value. We’re also changing the way we work: foundational to our success is fostering a culture that is inclusive, high-performing, and makes our company a compelling place for talented people to join and build their careers.

　　You will play a key role in helping drive this exciting transformation. You will be actively building and maturing the Human-Centered Design practice while leading a global team delivering best-in-class solutions. You believe that the discipline of design can be used not only to improve the experiences of our customers, clients, advisors and sales partners, but also to drive tangible business results in adoption, growth, revenue and retention.

　　You’re a tireless advocate for Human-Centered Design and UX. You’re viewed as a thought leader who can drive change and mature the capability of design in large matrixed organizations. You’ll know that success means meeting the full spectrum of challenges for both external customers and internal collaborators; you’re capable of managing multiple tracks of work on a large portfolio; and you can ensure all projects meet high standards of excellence while dealing with the practical realities of an ever-changing digital landscape and business complexities.

　　You’ll lead a global team of designers and client experience strategists who are responsible for carrying projects through from early-stage discovery and research to execution. As the AVP, you’ll be seen as the leader in ensuring that the customer is at the heart of all business decisions we make.

　　With your strong team leadership qualities, you’ll provide vision and mentorship, you’ll recruit & develop exceptional talent, and you’ll have a plan for evolving the team and processes as we scale and take on new challenges.

　　Reporting to the Global Head of Digital Experience, this is a critical role that balances strategy and execution.

　　Key Accountabilities

　　Champion the value of HCD with senior executives, key stakeholders and business partners, help the team drive actionable recommendations, and collaborate with product and engineering to develop best-in-class digital experiences

　　Closely partner with the Global Research & Digital Strategy team to ensure research and data-driven insights inform HCD strategy

　　Ensure we are consistent in the use of our Design System to promote one brand, one voice and one entity.

　　Promote a culture of Test & Learn where new concepts are vetted through Discovery and brand new digital experiences are stress-tested so they meet the highest digital standards from day one

　　Provide full complement of services and deliverables, including, but not limited to: 

　　Experience strategy and research

　　Design thinking facilitation

　　Content strategy

　　Personas & journey mapping

　　Prototypes

　　Visual designs

　　Service blueprints 

　　Keep abreast of emerging HCD trends and disseminate this information across our teams and partners as effective thought leadership.

　　Foster and maintain strong industry relationships.

　　As we seek to build a customer obsessed culture, it is critical that the AVP become a trusted advisor to the business and supporting functions, called upon to apply a human-centered lens to inform strategic decisions and investments.

　　Core Competencies

　　Practice Builder : An illustrated history of success building and developing an HCD and research function in a space that aligns regional and global priorities.

　　Strategic Thinker : Balanced approach to industry trends, market factors, and how the organization can capitalize on the information provided.

　　Innovative : Regularly challenging how work product is delivered to offer the best possible service to the business.

　　Strengths-Based Leadership : An advocate for the team that recognizes and highlights key differentiators and strengths.

　　New Methods : Regularly challenges how work product is delivered to offer the best possible service to the business.

　　Qualifications

　　Minimally, candidates’ experience should reflect the following:

　　Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Design, Human Factors or equivalent professional experience.

　　10+  years design-related experience as well as experience in-house

　　5+  years of direct leadership experience 

　　Experience in the Wealth space and designing advisor experiences highly desired

　　Exceptional influencing skills and experience navigating complex matrixed organizations

　　Relentless curiosity and passion for creating exceptional experiences. 

　　Executive charisma and ability to influence at all levels of the organization. 

　　Experience leading Agile, multi-disciplinary, matrixed teams, across functions and geographies.

　　Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and ability to present concepts clearly and persuasively.

　　Demonstrated track record of solving difficult business challenges. 

　　Ability to create effective design solutions across multiple channels, platforms, and form factors.

　　About Manulife and John Hancock

　　Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Asia, Canada, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2022, we had more than 40,000 employees, over 116,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 34 million customers. At the end of 2022, we had $1.3 trillion (US$1.0 trillion) in assets under management and administration, including total invested assets of $0.4 trillion (US $0.3 trillion), and segregated funds net assets of $0.3 trillion (US$0.3 trillion). We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under ‘945’ in Hong Kong.

　　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 .

　　Salary & Benefits

　　The annual base salary for this role is listed below.

　　Primary Location

　　Toronto, Ontario

　　Salary range is expected to be between

　　$123,400.00 CAD - $229,300.00 CAD

　　If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact 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 for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.