US Insurance Lead Product Owner Underwriting

Manulife • Time, IL

12d • $120,750 - $217,350 • Remote

About The Position

We are seeking a strategic and innovative Lead Product Owner to support our Underwriting team in transforming the life insurance purchase journey—from application through to policy issuance. This role serves as the voice of both the business and the customer, championing the development and delivery of advanced underwriting capabilities. The preferred candidate should excel in risk assessment for underwriting, handling medical and non-medical details with a tech emphasis. Outstanding leadership and collaboration skills are crucial to lead agile, cross-functional teams consisting of underwriters, actuaries, operations specialists, data scientists, and developers. This role requires a strategic and innovative perspective, supported by a strong background in research and development, project delivery, and creative problem-solving. The ideal candidate will be instrumental in driving impactful results aligned with key business priorities, while offering deep subject matter expertise and thought leadership across underwriting initiatives.

Requirements

• Experience with projects and large-scale technology implementations and owning the translation of business requirements to technology capabilities
• Experience with communicating requirements and developing test plans
• Advanced knowledge and experience of underwriting risk assessment - medical, non-medical, financial
• Highly engaged: able to self-manage, create solutions, prioritize deliverables and execute projects under deadline pressure
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written (technical) communication skills
• Exceptional collaboration and presentation skills, demonstrated through experience working with various technical audiences and across multiple functions such as actuaries, medical, data scientists, operations, legal and compliance teams
• Coaching mindset and abilities, enabling team members to define solutions, and delivering to outcomes and maintain a continuous improvement mindset
• Excellent MS Office Skills, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, knowledge of JIRA/project management tools and web tools
• Ability to work across virtual teams and sites and in open and collaborative workspaces
• Occasional travel may be required

Nice To Haves

• Undergraduate and/or postgraduate degree in science, medical or related field or a minimum of 5 years experience in underwriting-related and/or research experience preferred
• FALU/FLMI an asset

Responsibilities

• Drives the planning and delivery of key capabilities for the underwriting journey
• Brings a senior-level strategic view and tactical delivery of products or product components, aligned to segment priorities
• Acts as a thought partner to business team members on multi-million-dollar business priorities & initiatives
• Work with subject matter experts across the business unit to lead the development of new insurance underwriting capabilities that range from instant and non-invasive to high-touch, fully underwritten
• Prioritize work, focusing on initiatives generating the most value for the business and driving key outcomes and capturing work in US segment Jira and other tools with all applicable details
• Estimate financial and business benefits and track progress towards key results and financial values
• Collaborate with teams to develop innovative, data-driven underwriting solutions and capabilities that ensure a seamless experience for a broad customer base.
• Lead in ensuring value creation for the business, customers, and end-users by owning the squad backlog and ensuring that the highest value work is always being executed
• Ensures the roadmap and backlog is visible, clear and understood by stakeholders and team members.
• Shared accountability with the Delivery Lead for alignment on release strategy and release content with pertinent stakeholders
• Keep abreast of competitor actions and industry trends and new vendors that may add value.
• Keep abreast of external factors that may affect underwriting (e.g. medical and technical advancements, industry rules, compliance and regulations)
• Manage relationships with external vendors, partners and technologies that support the delivery and implementation of business capabilities
• Ensure risk and governance requirements are met, including post-implementation monitoring plans
• Responsible for leading discussions to communicate recommendations, results and progress to senior leadership

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/John Hancock 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/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources.
• Our generous paid time off program in the U.S. 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, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees