Lead Platform Owner , New Business & Underwriting

Manulife • Waterloo, ON

12d • $127,330 - $236,470 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Platform Owner, New Business & Underwriting is responsible for the leadership, stability, and continued evolution of John Hancock’s New Business & Underwriting platform. This Director-level role owns the platform roadmap, delivery outcomes, and operational health, ensuring the platform supports efficient, compliant, and scalable onboarding and underwriting of individual life insurance business.

The role partners with business leaders, architecture teams, data teams, risk partners, and vendors to deliver measurable business outcomes and advance modernization and simplification objectives. It leads platform strategy, delivery, operations, stakeholder relationships, responsible AI adoption, team development, vendor management, and governance.

Requirements

• 10 to 15+ years of technology experience, including leadership responsibility for enterprise platforms or core business systems.
• 3 to 5+ years of people leadership experience managing cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated platform leadership, including balancing operational stability with delivery of business and technology change.
• Experience supporting complex, business-critical platforms within insurance New Business, Underwriting, Policy Administration, or related policy-lifecycle domains.
• Strong stakeholder-management and communication skills, with the ability to build alignment and influence across business and technology teams.
• Experience applying Agile or iterative delivery practices within regulated environments.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, sound judgment, and practical decision-making.
• Ability to communicate platform value, health, risks, and priorities in clear business terms.

Nice To Haves

• Experience within life insurance New Business, Underwriting, or Policy Administration.
• Knowledge of or experience with digital application intake and case-management capabilities.
• Knowledge of or experience with underwriting workflows, rules, and decision-support solutions.
• Knowledge of or experience with third-party data, evidence, and underwriting integrations.
• Knowledge of or experience with document management and customer or producer correspondence.
• Knowledge of or experience with integrations to Policy Administration, Billing, and Distribution systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the New Business & Underwriting platform roadmap in alignment with Individual Life business priorities, digital initiatives, and target architecture.
• Partner with architecture teams to advance platform capabilities, reduce complexity, introduce responsible AI capabilities, improve straight-through processing, and shorten application-to-issue cycle times.
• Evaluate platform capabilities, vendor offerings, and innovations that may improve underwriting efficiency, risk selection, and customer experience.
• Ensure the platform is stable, secure, scalable, and fit for purpose across new business intake, underwriting, case management, and downstream integrations.
• Develop a modernization roadmap to reduce technical debt, simplify integrations, improve extensibility, and support future AI and advanced analytics capabilities.
• Partner with enterprise data teams to support high-quality, governed data assets for underwriting decisions, automation, reporting, and AI solutions.
• Lead planning, prioritization, and execution of platform initiatives, enhancements, and regulatory changes across New Business and Underwriting workflows.
• Balance delivery commitments, regulatory requirements, and technical debt while maintaining reliable day-to-day operations.
• Apply Agile delivery practices to improve predictability, transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Monitor platform performance, availability, incidents, and service health, partnering with support teams to address risks and resolve issues.
• Establish and track platform KPIs, including application-to-issue cycle time, straight-through processing rates, underwriting productivity, quality, resiliency, and operational efficiency.
• Drive continuous improvement through automation, observability, proactive monitoring, and reduced manual operational activity.
• Serve as a strategic technology partner to New Business and Underwriting stakeholders, aligning platform delivery with measurable business outcomes.
• Collaborate with Product, Distribution, Underwriting, Operations, Compliance, and Risk partners to translate business needs into technology priorities and delivery plans.
• Provide executive-ready updates on platform health, delivery progress, risks, priorities, and value realization.
• Define and execute the platform’s AI strategy, identifying opportunities to improve underwriting efficiency, decision quality, customer experience, and operational effectiveness.
• Partner with business, architecture, data, and risk teams to implement AI-enabled solutions such as underwriting decision support, evidence summarization, document intelligence, case prioritization, agent copilots, workflow automation, and predictive analytics.
• Establish governance, controls, and monitoring for AI capabilities in alignment with regulatory requirements, model-risk management standards, privacy obligations, and responsible AI principles.
• Promote AI-assisted software engineering practices, including code generation, automated testing, documentation, quality assurance, and operational support.
• Measure and communicate AI-driven business outcomes, including cycle-time reduction, increased straight-through processing, underwriting productivity, quality improvements, and cost efficiency.
• Maintain awareness of emerging AI technologies, industry trends, and vendor capabilities, translating relevant opportunities into practical business value.
• Lead, support, and develop a team of full-stack and quality engineers responsible for the platform.
• Support workforce transformation and responsible adoption of AI capabilities.
• Manage team capacity and skills to support consistent, high-quality delivery.
• Foster an inclusive environment that encourages ownership, accountability, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning.
• Manage relationships with platform vendors and delivery partners supporting the New Business & Underwriting ecosystem.
• Set clear expectations and hold vendors accountable for delivery quality, operational stability, and alignment with platform priorities.
• Contribute to financial planning and investment prioritization for platform operations and change initiatives.
• Ensure the platform aligns with internal technology standards, security requirements, data privacy policies, and applicable insurance regulations.
• Define and track KPIs related to platform health, delivery performance, and business impact.
• Partner with Architecture to support adherence to design standards, engineering best practices, and appropriate use of automation.

Benefits

• Customizable benefits for eligible employees, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy, 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.
• U.S. paid time off includes up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year.
• Statutory leaves of absence.
• Incentive programs and incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
• Flexible work environment supporting well-being and inclusion.

What This Job Offers

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