Director, Global Operations Risk & Control Governance

Manulife • Waterloo, ON

12d • Hybrid

About The Position

Join the Global Operations Risk & Controls team as Director, Global Operations Risk, Controls & Governance, providing enterprise-wide leadership across the first line of defense (L1b) for Global Operations. In this role, you will identify systemic pain points across segments, design scalable global solutions, coordinate executive-level risk reporting, and serve as the L1b Operational Risk lead for Group Functions (GF). You will partner closely with Operations leaders, Segment Risk Leads, and Global Risk to translate complex risk information into practical tools, clear executive insights, and consistent execution of the Operational Risk Management Framework (ORMF) worldwide. Success in this role requires strong judgment, the ability to influence without authority, and a pragmatic mindset that balances global standards with local execution realities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Engineering, or a related field
• 10+ years of progressive experience in financial services (banking, insurance, wealth/asset management), with depth in operational risk, controls, audit, and/or operations leadership.
• Expert knowledge of operational risk management and control frameworks, including RCSA, control design/testing, incident management/root-cause analysis, and issue remediation.
• Strong understanding of financial services regulatory expectations and proven ability to partner with Compliance, ORM/IRM, and Internal Audit.
• Experience with risk and control systems and data (e.g., Archer or equivalent), including building dashboards/reporting and translating insights for executive audiences.
• Proven success operating at enterprise scale—coordinating across regions, segments, and functions—and influencing without authority to drive consistent execution.

Nice To Haves

• MBA and/or relevant risk designation (e.g., CFA, FRM, PRM, CRCM) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Global Operations risk and control assessment methodology, setting enterprise standards for risk identification, assessment, and testing.
• Define, document, and govern key controls for Global Operations processes to drive consistent execution and scalability.
• Lead design and enhancement of end-to-end risk activities (e.g., incident root cause analysis, RCSA, control testing, monitoring, and reporting).
• Drive a continuous improvement culture by identifying recurring pain points, inefficiencies, and inconsistencies across segments and functions.
• Serve as the primary Operations risk liaison to ORM/IRM, Compliance, Audit, and other forums on evolving practices, emerging risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Lead requirements and solution design for risk and control tools, leveraging low-code/no-code and AI capabilities.
• Pilot, deploy, and sustain risk and control tools—driving adoption, maintenance, and ongoing user support.
• Oversee the Global Functions control environment end-to-end: identify and remediate deficiencies, ensure assessment/documentation quality, manage audit/regulatory interactions, deliver executive risk reporting and trend insights, and enable cross-segment collaboration and mentorship.

Benefits

• 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.
• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director