Director of Engineering – Retirement Digital Platforms

Director, Software Engineering - US Retirement Platform & Payments Technology

Toronto, ON / Waterloo, ON / Boston, MA - Hybrid

At Manulife, we're helping millions of customers make decisions easier and lives better. As we continue to modernize our retirement and payments technology platforms, we're seeking an experienced Director of Software Engineering to lead the evolution of our US Retirement (USR) platform and SWIFT-enabled payment capabilities.

This is a highly visible leadership role that combines strategic thinking with technical depth. You'll be responsible for driving platform modernization, leading AI-enabled innovation, overseeing mission-critical payment technologies, and mentoring engineering teams across multiple squads. We are looking for a leader who is not afraid to roll up their sleeves, solve complex technical challenges, and partner closely with engineers to deliver scalable solutions.

What You'll Do

Engineering Leadership & Platform Strategy

• Own the technology strategy, roadmap, and delivery for the US Retirement platform and associated SWIFT payment capabilities.
• Lead the modernization of critical applications, services, and integrations to improve scalability, resilience, and customer experience.
• Drive the adoption of cloud-native, API-first, and AI-powered engineering solutions.
• Partner with Product, Architecture, Operations, and Business leaders to align technology investments with business priorities.

Delivery & Technical Excellence

• Lead multiple engineering squads responsible for platform development, enhancements, integrations, and production support.
• Ensure the delivery of secure, high-quality, and scalable software solutions.
• Drive engineering best practices including Agile delivery, DevOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and operational excellence.
• Champion platform stability, reliability, and performance while supporting ongoing enhancement initiatives.

SWIFT & Enterprise Payments Leadership

• Provide technical leadership for SWIFT-related applications, messaging workflows, and payment integrations.
• Drive the modernization and resiliency of payment processing platforms.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to support evolving payment and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure appropriate governance, controls, and operational readiness for business-critical financial transactions.

AI & Innovation

• Identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation to improve platform capabilities, engineering productivity, and operational efficiency.
• Lead the adoption of AI-enabled development tools and practices across engineering teams.
• Champion innovation and continuous improvement initiatives that create measurable business value.

People Leadership & Mentorship

• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams across multiple squads.
• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Coach engineers and technical leads in architecture, engineering practices, problem-solving approaches, and career development.
• Promote collaboration and psychological safety while driving high performance.

Hands-On Technical Leadership

• Remain actively engaged in architectural decisions, technical design reviews, and complex problem resolution.
• Work alongside engineering teams when required to troubleshoot critical issues, review solutions, and accelerate delivery.
• Demonstrate strong coding and technical troubleshooting abilities, with the capability to dive into code, analyze system behavior, and help teams solve challenging engineering problems.
• Lead by example through technical expertise and practical problem-solving.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including leadership of large-scale engineering teams.
• Experience leading enterprise platforms supporting mission-critical business functions.
• Deep understanding of software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, cloud technologies, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience with SWIFT messaging, payment platforms, or financial transaction processing environments.
• Proven success managing multiple engineering teams and delivering complex technology initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on technical involvement.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with experience partnering across business and technology organizations.
• Exceptional communication, coaching, and leadership capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Wealth Management, Retirement Services, Financial Services, Banking, or Payments Technology.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure and cloud-native architectures.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, and platform automation.
• Experience with AI-enabled software development, automation, and engineering productivity tools.
• Familiarity with React, microservices, API-driven architectures, and modern web technologies.
• Experience leading modernization and digital transformation initiatives.
• Knowledge of security, compliance, resiliency, and operational risk management in regulated environments.

Why Join Manulife?

• Lead the transformation of platforms serving millions of customers.
• Influence enterprise-wide technology strategy and innovation.
• Work with talented engineering leaders and teams across North America.
• Drive the adoption of cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies.
• Build and develop the next generation of engineering talent.
• Help shape the future of retirement and financial services technology.

If you're a technical leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, solving complex engineering challenges, and driving innovation through cloud and AI technologies while remaining close to the technology, we'd love to hear from you.

Key Recruiting Selling Points

• Ownership of a mission-critical US Retirement and SWIFT platform.
• Leadership across multiple engineering squads.
• AI-focused modernization mandate.
• Strategic leadership combined with hands-on technical involvement.
• Opportunity to influence enterprise-scale transformation.
• Strong people leadership and mentorship focus.
• Cloud, AI, payments, and digital modernization all in one role.

If you are applying to this role in US, please note the salary range is $127,330 to $236,470 USD. Additionally, employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

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 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 [email protected] for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.

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.