Data Scientist - Hybrid

This is a great opportunity to attract AI and GenAI talent in a highly competitive market. The key is to focus on the business impact, cutting-edge technology, and career growth opportunities rather than simply listing responsibilities.

Data Scientist, AI & Generative AI

John Hancock | Boston, MA / Toronto, ON

Shape the Future of AI in Insurance

At John Hancock, we're transforming the way people buy, manage, and benefit from life insurance. Our AI team is at the forefront of this journey, leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI to simplify customer experiences, optimize sales and marketing, strengthen fraud detection, and modernize operations.

As a Data Scientist, AI & Generative AI, you'll work on high-impact initiatives that directly influence business outcomes across our U.S. Insurance business. You'll collaborate with business leaders, technology teams, and a global network of over 160 data scientists across John Hancock and Manulife, giving you exposure to world-class expertise and innovative AI applications.

If you're passionate about building production-grade AI solutions, experimenting with emerging GenAI technologies, and solving complex business problems, we'd love to hear from you.

What You'll Do

As a member of our growing AI team, you will:

• Design, develop, and deploy AI and Generative AI solutions that address real business challenges.
• Build and operationalize machine learning and large language model (LLM) solutions from concept through production.
• Partner with business stakeholders to identify opportunities, gather requirements, formulate hypotheses, and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Develop proof-of-concepts, pilot programs, and enterprise-scale AI applications.
• Implement prompt engineering strategies, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns, and modern AI architectures.
• Generate business insights through data exploration, experimentation, and advanced analytics.
• Build scalable data pipelines and AI workflows that support production environments.
• Monitor, evaluate, and continuously improve model performance and solution effectiveness.
• Communicate analytical findings and technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Stay current with emerging trends in AI, GenAI, machine learning, and cloud technologies.

What You'll Bring

Required Qualifications

• Master's or PhD degree in Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or a related quantitative field.
• 2+ years of industry experience developing and deploying AI and Generative AI solutions.
• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.
• Experience designing and executing data science experiments and machine learning projects.
• Ability to translate business problems into scalable AI solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Python libraries such as Pandas, Scikit-learn, Keras, NLTK, and similar tools.
• Hands-on experience with LLM development frameworks such as LangChain and Semantic Kernel.
• Knowledge of relational and non-relational databases (SQL and NoSQL).
• Experience developing NLP solutions such as:
  • Document Classification
  • Entity Extraction
  • Relationship Extraction
  • Sentiment Analysis
• Understanding of:
  • Vector databases and embeddings
  • Prompt engineering
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • Agentic AI and multi-agent systems
• Strong machine learning and deep learning expertise, including supervised and unsupervised techniques.
• Experience with cloud-based AI development, preferably in Microsoft Azure and Databricks environments.
• Familiarity with MLOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, Git version control, and production deployment.
• Experience in fraud prevention, deepfake detection, healthcare analytics, EHR data, or medical terminology is an asset.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Why Join John Hancock?

Work on Meaningful Problems

Develop AI solutions that help millions of customers make better financial decisions and improve their overall experience.

Build with Modern Technologies

Work with LLMs, GenAI frameworks, cloud-native machine learning platforms, MLOps, and advanced AI architectures.

Learn from a Global AI Community

Collaborate with a network of more than 160 data scientists across John Hancock and Manulife.

Grow Your Career

Access continuous learning opportunities, mentorship, and exposure to innovative AI initiatives across multiple business domains.

Thrive in an Inclusive Environment

We're committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels supported, valued, and empowered to do their best work.

About John Hancock & Manulife

John Hancock is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services group providing insurance and wealth management solutions across North America, Asia, and Europe. Together, we're on a mission to remove complexity from financial services and make decisions easier for our customers.

Ready to help shape the future of AI in financial services? Apply today and join us on our transformation journey.

The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

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 [email protected].

Referenced Salary Location

Working Arrangement

Salary range is expected to be between

Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. 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. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [email protected] for the salary range for your location.

Manulife/John Hancock 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/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in the U.S. includes up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.

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