Director, Marketing Strategy and Business Management

Manulife • Montreal, QC

2d • CA$125,100 - CA$175,100 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Marketing Strategy and Business Management leads strategic planning, business reporting, budget management, and team engagement for Retirement and Wealth Marketing. Working with marketing leaders and business partners in Canada and the US, the Director translates business priorities into marketing plans, aligns investment and resources, coordinates competing priorities, and tracks progress against objectives. The role brings together performance insights and reporting to support leadership decisions, identifies opportunities to improve efficiency, and coordinates employee feedback and action planning to strengthen team engagement and effectiveness. The Director is a member of the Retirement and Wealth Marketing leadership team and reports directly to the Head of Retirement and Wealth Marketing.

The role leads annual and in-year marketing planning, establishes governance and reporting forums, monitors KPIs and campaign effectiveness, and prepares leadership-ready materials and financial reporting. It oversees annual budget planning, ongoing tracking and forecasting, monthly expense reviews, strategic funding requests, and partnerships with Finance and Procurement. The Director also leads NPS insights and reporting, coordinates action plans and forum preparation, supports stakeholder alignment and team capability development, tracks employee engagement feedback, and champions AI adoption and transformation across Marketing.

The position is based in Toronto, Ontario, with a hybrid working arrangement. The advertised role is an existing vacancy. The stated salary range is $125,100 to $175,100 CAD, with potential incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 8–10+ years of experience in the asset management or related industry; agency experience is required.
• Knowledge of the investment industry, markets, products, and investment concepts.
• Knowledge of the asset management regulatory environment and guidelines.
• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Creative, innovative, and connected thinking with a solution-oriented approach.
• Ability to build and maintain collaborative relationships across the organization.
• Critical budget and financial management skills, including planning, forecasting, expense and variance analysis, and financial reporting; ability to partner with Finance on funding priorities and trade-offs within approved budgets.
• Ability to apply AI, technology, and data to planning, insights, reporting, and operations to improve efficiency, collaboration, performance measurement, and business outcomes.
• Intellectual curiosity and adaptability, with the ability to lead change and help teams adopt AI, new technologies, and new ways of working.

Nice To Haves

• Management experience is preferred.
• Bilingualism in English and French is an asset. If the successful candidate is in Québec, proficiency in both languages is required to support clients from various provinces outside Québec.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and alignment of annual and in-year marketing plans, translating enterprise and business priorities into marketing objectives and investment choices.
• Coordinate dependencies, trade-offs, and changes across portfolios and initiatives.
• Establish planning, governance, reporting, and decision-making forums; prepare decision-ready materials and ensure timely follow-through on commitments.
• Identify and escalate delivery risks, resource constraints, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Define and monitor marketing KPIs and campaign effectiveness across regions, including monthly business reporting to global marketing and quarterly reporting on key KPIs and accomplishments.
• Use AI, insights, and analytics to support planning and executive reporting, evaluate activities, and identify shared approaches and efficiency opportunities across regions.
• Surface data limitations and opportunities to improve measurement.
• Lead annual Retirement and Wealth Marketing budget planning with marketing leaders and Finance, aligning funding with business priorities and planned initiatives.
• Manage budget tracking and forecasting, consolidating spending, commitments, and anticipated expenses.
• Coordinate monthly budget and expense reviews with Finance and marketing leaders; assess actual versus planned spending and cost pressures; recommend forecast, spending, and resource adjustments within approved budgets.
• Prepare leadership financial reporting that explains budget performance, risks, trade-offs, and decisions required.
• Partner with Finance and Procurement on financial assumptions, vendor and marketing technology selection, commitments, and required approvals.
• Serve as the central contact for strategic funding requests and support business cases defining requirements, costs, expected outcomes, and success KPIs.
• Lead NPS insights, reporting, and operations for Retirement and Wealth with business and analytics partners, connecting customer feedback, performance trends, and key drivers to action plans and leadership decisions.
• Manage regular Retirement and Wealth KPI reporting, including rNPS, tNPS, and CDA; track progress against targets and highlight gaps, risks, and required actions.
• Lead preparation for the Retirement and Wealth tNPS Acceleration Forum, including performance insights, reporting materials, action-plan progress, and required decisions.
• Coordinate action-plan tracking and follow-through with accountable business partners, maintaining visibility of owners, milestones, and progress and escalating delivery barriers.
• Collaborate with marketing leaders, business partners, Finance, Analytics, agencies, and vendors across the department and firm.
• Influence strategy and prioritization and build alignment on ownership, decision rights, and expected outcomes.
• Support team capability development and change adoption.
• Track employee engagement, collect department feedback, and analyze quarterly marketing team meeting surveys to identify common themes and actionable solutions.
• Recommend department sharing opportunities based on feedback and survey results.
• Coordinate engagement action planning with department heads and establish regular follow-up checkpoints.
• Champion AI adoption across Marketing, identifying and implementing capabilities that improve productivity, decision quality, customer outcomes, and organizational effectiveness.
• Advise leaders on emerging technologies, foster experimentation and continuous learning, and measure value from AI investments.

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 a pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions.
• Financial education and counseling resources.
• Paid holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and statutory leaves of absence.
• Potential incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

What This Job Offers

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