Director, AI

Manulife • Boston, MA

3d • $127,330 - $236,470 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Artificial Intelligence leads an AI team supporting the Long Term Care (LTC) program at John Hancock and Manulife. The role is accountable for building and scaling AI solutions that improve business processes, generate strategic insights, and deliver measurable organizational impact. It combines technical leadership, business judgment, people management, and delivery excellence. The Director manages AI Engineers, Data Scientists, and other technical professionals responsible for designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining production-grade AI and machine-learning solutions.

The Director works with business, technology, risk, compliance, operations, and executive stakeholders to identify opportunities, shape AI strategy, deliver high-quality solutions, and communicate results in business terms. The role covers traditional predictive analytics, machine learning, and MLOps, as well as GenAI and LLM applications, including RAG, prompt orchestration, guardrails, and LLMOps. The position calls for a hands-on technical leader who can guide complex technical decisions while developing people and translating AI capabilities into measurable business outcomes.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in AI, data science, machine learning, analytics, software engineering, or related technical fields.
• At least 3 years of experience leading or managing technical teams, including Data Scientists, AI Engineers, Machine Learning Engineers, or similar roles.
• Strong hands-on individual-contributor background in AI, data science, machine learning, or AI engineering.
• Experience delivering AI or ML solutions from concept to production, including business problem framing, model development, deployment, monitoring, and value measurement.
• Strong experience with traditional data science and predictive analytics, including supervised learning, model validation, performance measurement, and business interpretation of model outputs.
• Strong knowledge of GenAI and LLM solution patterns, including prompt engineering, RAG, embeddings, vector databases, guardrails, model evaluation, and responsible AI practices.
• Advanced programming experience in Python and SQL.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably Azure, and modern AI/ML platforms such as Azure ML, Azure OpenAI, Databricks, MLflow, or similar tools.
• Strong understanding of MLOps, DevOps, CI/CD, testing, model monitoring, model governance, and production support.
• Ability to work with engineering teams on scalable AI architecture, APIs, data pipelines, cloud-native services, and production deployment.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain complex AI concepts in clear business language to senior stakeholders.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and drive adoption of AI solutions across business and technology teams.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field; equivalent experience will also be considered.
• Experience in insurance, financial services, healthcare, long-term care, claims, or operations.
• Experience leading AI products or platforms in a regulated enterprise environment.
• Understanding of responsible AI, model risk management, data privacy, security, and compliance expectations.
• Experience with large-scale data environments, including Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, relational databases, and cloud data platforms.
• Experience with production engineering practices such as Docker, Kubernetes, APIs, infrastructure-as-code, logging, tracing, monitoring, and alerting.
• Strong consulting and stakeholder management skills across business and technology teams.
• Ability to build high-performing, inclusive, and collaborative teams.
• Active learning, a strong external network, and a track record of staying current with AI, GenAI, engineering, and technology trends.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and delivery of AI, ML, and GenAI solutions supporting the Long Term Care business strategy at John Hancock and Manulife.
• Manage and develop AI Engineers, Data Scientists, and technical professionals through coaching, technical guidance, performance management, and career development.
• Own complex AI initiatives from business problem definition through solution design, model development, engineering, deployment, adoption, and value measurement.
• Partner with business leaders and stakeholders to identify high-value AI opportunities, translate business needs into technical solutions, and ensure products deliver measurable outcomes.
• Provide technical leadership across data science, predictive modeling, machine learning, GenAI, LLMs, and production AI engineering.
• Guide development of modular, scalable, reusable AI and GenAI pipelines, including model development, feature engineering, model registries, automated retraining, and production deployment practices.
• Oversee deployment of production-grade AI services using cloud, MLOps, DevOps, and software engineering practices, including containerization, CI/CD, monitoring, observability, and model governance.
• Ensure AI solutions are reliable, secure, scalable, cost-effective, documented, and aligned with enterprise architecture, security, risk, and compliance standards.
• Lead evaluation and adoption of GenAI patterns and tools, including LLMs, RAG, vector search, prompt engineering, guardrails, Azure OpenAI, Databricks, and internal AI platforms.
• Drive engineering and model management practices, including testing, monitoring, performance tracking, drift detection, challenger testing, and continuous improvement.
• Communicate AI strategy, delivery progress, risks, business value, and model impact to senior leaders and cross-functional partners.
• Build partnerships across business, technology, data, security, risk, compliance, and operations to support adoption and long-term success.
• Stay current with advances in AI, GenAI, data science, engineering, cloud platforms, and emerging technology, and bring practical innovation into the team roadmap.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and development of AI, data science, and engineering talent.

Benefits

• Customizable 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.
• Retirement savings plans, including pension/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions.
• Financial education and counseling resources.
• Paid time off in the U.S., including up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law).
• Statutory leaves of absence.
• Incentive programs and incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
• A flexible environment that supports learning, career growth, well-being, and inclusion.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed