Lead Architect, Cloud & AI – Asia

Manulife • Boston, MA

1d • $127,330 - $236,470 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Architect, Cloud & AI provides senior architecture leadership and governance for cloud, AI, and emerging technologies supporting Manulife's Asia markets. Working across global and regional technology teams, the role shapes target-state architectures, standards, guardrails, and reusable patterns that enable secure, resilient, scalable, and responsible technology adoption while addressing regional business and regulatory requirements.

Based in Canada or the United States, the role serves as a trusted architecture advisor to senior business and technology leaders, connecting enterprise technology strategy with the needs of Asia's diverse markets. It influences architecture across Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Alibaba Cloud and guides responsible adoption of Generative AI, Agentic AI, and other emerging technologies.

The role influences architecture at enterprise scale, helping teams make sound technology decisions and creating standards and patterns that enable innovation, consistency, and reuse across markets. It partners extensively with colleagues and stakeholders across Asia; some flexibility to collaborate across time zones is required, with working arrangements designed to support effective global partnership.

Requirements

• Significant experience in enterprise, solution, platform, cloud, or AI architecture, typically gained through 10+ years in progressively complex technology and architecture roles.
• Demonstrated experience designing and governing enterprise-scale cloud architectures, particularly within Microsoft Azure and modern multi-cloud environments.
• Experience defining target-state architectures, reference architectures, technology standards, architecture guardrails, and reusable enterprise patterns.
• Strong understanding of cloud architecture, cybersecurity, identity and access management (IAM), APIs, data and integration architecture, resiliency, observability, and governance.
• Experience with Generative AI, AI platforms, or modern AI architecture patterns, with the ability to evaluate emerging technologies and translate them into practical enterprise architecture approaches.
• Experience evaluating architecture decisions based on business value, security, scalability, resiliency, interoperability, operational considerations, and cost.
• Demonstrated ability to influence architecture and technology decisions across complex, global, and cross-functional environments.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, including the ability to explain architecture options, recommendations, risks, and trade-offs to technical teams and senior business and technology leaders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting technology architecture across Asia or other geographically diverse markets.
• Experience with AWS and/or Alibaba Cloud in addition to Microsoft Azure.
• Experience within financial services, insurance, or another highly regulated environment.
• Knowledge of Generative AI, Agentic AI, RAG, AI agents, model orchestration, MLOps/LLMOps, and emerging AI architecture patterns.
• Familiarity with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face, or other commercial and open-source AI ecosystems.
• Familiarity with AI interoperability and orchestration approaches such as Model Context Protocol (MCP), multimodal AI, open models, and evolving agent architectures.
• Relevant architecture, Microsoft Azure, AI, or cloud certifications.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and professional experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic architecture direction and governance for cloud, AI, and emerging technology initiatives supporting Manulife's Asia markets.
• Define and evolve target-state architectures, reference architectures, technology standards, guardrails, and reusable enterprise patterns.
• Guide architecture across Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Alibaba Cloud, balancing enterprise standards with regional business, technology, data, resiliency, and regulatory requirements.
• Lead architecture reviews and provide recommendations on significant technology decisions, exceptions, risks, and trade-offs.
• Connect Asia market requirements and architecture priorities with global technology strategy, standards, and roadmaps.
• Identify opportunities to simplify technology landscapes, increase reuse, reduce unnecessary complexity, and avoid inappropriate vendor or platform dependency.
• Promote architecture approaches supporting scalability, resiliency, interoperability, security, operational readiness, observability, and cost effectiveness.
• Shape enterprise architecture for Generative AI, Agentic AI, and other emerging technology capabilities in alignment with business priorities and enterprise architecture principles.
• Establish reusable architecture patterns for language models, RAG, enterprise grounding, model selection and routing, context management, AI orchestration, and integration with enterprise data, applications, platforms, and tools.
• Provide architecture leadership across the Microsoft AI ecosystem and evaluate relevant technologies and models across commercial and open-source ecosystems.
• Shape architecture approaches for AI agents and multi-agent solutions, including orchestration, identity and authorization, MCP, APIs, memory and context, human-in-the-loop controls, observability, and auditability.
• Evaluate emerging technologies based on business value, architectural fit, security, resiliency, scalability, interoperability, operational readiness, and cost.
• Lead or sponsor targeted architecture assessments, feasibility studies, and proofs of concept to inform significant technology and architecture decisions.
• Ensure cloud and AI architectures align with cybersecurity, privacy, regulatory compliance, data governance, model risk, and Responsible AI requirements.
• Partner with Cybersecurity, Risk, Data, Platform, and Engineering teams to incorporate appropriate controls for identity, authorization, data access, content safety, observability, and auditability.
• Establish practical architecture guardrails that enable teams to innovate while maintaining appropriate enterprise controls.
• Guide integration of cloud and AI capabilities with enterprise platform, data, API, identity, and security services.
• Promote resilient, observable, and cost-conscious architectures, incorporating appropriate reliability, performance, and FinOps considerations.
• Serve as a trusted architecture advisor to senior business, technology, and architecture leaders across global and Asia market teams.
• Provide technical direction for strategic cloud, AI, and emerging technology initiatives, helping stakeholders evaluate options, risks, dependencies, and trade-offs.
• Partner with global and regional Architecture, Engineering, Data, Cybersecurity, Risk, and Platform teams to drive alignment and effective architecture decisions.
• Engage strategic technology providers to understand product roadmaps and assess emerging capabilities relevant to Manulife and its Asia markets.
• Communicate complex architecture concepts and decisions clearly to technical practitioners, business stakeholders, and senior leadership.
• Mentor architects and engineers and contribute to the evolution of architecture standards, practices, and communities across the organization.

Benefits

• Eligible employees may receive 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 and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions.
• Financial education and counseling resources.
• Paid time off in Canada, including holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and statutory leaves of absence.
• Incentive programs and incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
• A flexible environment supporting well-being and inclusion.
• Learning and career growth support.

What This Job Offers

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