AVP, Global Operations AI

Join Manulife's Global Operations AI team and help shape how we deliver AI-enabled outcomes at enterprise scale. As AVP, AI Products & Delivery, you will own the team's full mandate — AI strategy, transformation, target setting, product portfolio, and people strategy — serving as the central coordination point for Global Operations AI across 14 countries. You will set direction, ensure strategic AI investments are assessed for viability before scaling, and drive the delivery of reusable AI capabilities with predictable throughput and measurable impact.

Position Responsibilities:  

• Global AI Strategy & Transformation: Set and execute the Global Operations AI strategy across 14 countries, translating enterprise vision into operational priorities. Validate opportunities through structured pilots before scaling investments.
• Target Setting & Benefit Realization: Own AI portfolio benefit targets, KPIs, and value realization, ensuring measurable operational impact and reporting progress to senior leadership and ELT.
• Product & Portfolio Leadership: Lead the Global Operations AI roadmap, prioritizing initiatives and sequencing delivery across products and reusable capabilities.
• People Strategy: Drive global AI reskilling and workforce transformation programs in partnership with HR, L&D, and business leaders, ensuring accountability and adoption.
• Outcome Measurement: Define and track success metrics, including adoption, operational impact, efficiency gains, and reliability.
• Delivery Execution: Lead end-to-end execution of AI initiatives, ensuring predictable delivery, timely issue resolution, and achievement of business outcomes.
• Competitive Intelligence: Monitor AI trends, competitor activity, and regulatory developments, translating insights into strategic priorities for Operations.
• Production Readiness: Ensure solutions meet technology, risk, governance, and deployment requirements before release.
• Cross-Functional Escalation: Serve as the escalation point for delivery challenges, driving resolution and trade-off decisions across stakeholders.
• Platform Reuse & Scaling: Advance reusable AI capabilities through shared components, templates, evaluation frameworks, and connectors.
• Governance Alignment: Ensure adherence to Responsible AI, model risk, governance, and monitoring requirements.
• Opportunity Identification & Prioritization: Identify, assess, and prioritize AI opportunities, building data-driven business cases with Finance and Operations leaders.
• AI-First Operating Model: Champion AI-first ways of working by leveraging agentic AI and automation to enhance reporting, strategy development, and executive communications.
• People Leadership: Build and lead a high-performing team focused on execution excellence, operational discipline, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications: 

• 10+ years of experience in product leadership, technology delivery, platform programs, and/or AI-enabled transformation, preferably in regulated industries.
• Proven track record delivering complex products or platforms into production with measurable outcomes, including release planning and dependency management.
• Experience operating at enterprise scale across multiple geographies or business units, including setting targets and holding accountability for benefit realization.
• Strong ability to lead cross-functionally in matrixed environments and communicate clearly with senior stakeholders.
• Strong experience in quantitative modeling, scenario analysis, and business case development.
• Working knowledge of modern AI solution patterns (e.g., LLM-enabled assistants, intelligent document processing, agent-based workflows) and production readiness considerations.
• Hands-on orientation with AI productivity tools and agentic workflows; personally comfortable using LLM-connected enterprise tools to accelerate strategy, reporting, and synthesis work.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience evolving operating models from project-based to product/platform delivery.
• Familiarity with MLOps/LLMOps concepts, evaluation approaches, monitoring, and model governance practices.
• Experience influencing people strategy, workforce transformation, or AI reskilling programs in a tech/operations context.
• Demonstrated ability to validate strategic hypotheses through pilots and translate early wins into enterprise momentum.
• Advanced degree or equivalent experience in engineering, computer science, data science, or business.

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.  

 
#LI-Hybrid

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

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.