VP, US Strategy and Transformation
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our global wealth and asset management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Our principal operations are in Asia and Canada, and the United States, where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.
The Vice President, US Strategy & Transformation is a senior leadership role responsible for driving the US segment’s most critical strategic initiatives, enterprise integration, and transformation initiatives. Reporting to the US CEO, this role acts as a trusted advisor, strategic integrator, and execution leader—ensuring clarity, alignment, and momentum across complex, cross-functional priorities.
This role is designed to lead initiatives that are CEO- or enterprise-driven, cut across traditional functional boundaries, and require strong problem-solving, orchestration, and execution discipline. The VP will play a central role in shaping strategy, aligning priorities to financial outcomes, and ensuring effective delivery across the US business.
Position Responsibilities:
Strategic Initiatives
Lead high-priority, internal growth and transformation initiatives that are CEO- or enterprise-sponsored.
Drive initiatives that require cross-segment and cross-functional coordination, alignment, and execution.
Provide structured problem-solving leadership in ambiguous, complex environments.
Ensure momentum, clear ownership, decision-making, and escalation where required.
Translate strategic intent into executable plans with measurable outcomes.
Strategic Planning & Vision
Maintain a continuous view of competitive dynamics, industry trends, and emerging business models across the US life & annuities landscape.
Partner with the US CEO to shape strategic direction based on market signals to inform pivots, areas to explore, and strategic trade-offs.
Identify implications of competitive moves, regulatory shifts, and consumer behavior changes to inform planning, prioritization, and investment decisions.
Own and lead the US segment strategic planning process, including overseeing the 5-year strategy, annual strategic priorities, outcomes, and success metrics,
Develop and maintain USLT-, ELT-, and Board-level materials and meeting content.
Translate enterprise strategy into a coherent, actionable US plans and initiatives.
Ensure alignment between financial goals, strategic priorities, and execution plans.
Support leadership alignment and readiness ahead of key decision points.
Enterprise Integrator / Chief-of-Staff Leadership
Act as a trusted advisor and thought partner to the US CEO. Serve as connective tissue across the US Leadership Team, enterprise partners, and functional leaders.
Surface emerging risks, issues, and opportunities early—beyond formal reporting mechanisms.
Maintain strong informal network through trusted internal relationships.
Prepare leadership teams for effective decision-making and execution by ensuring clarity of context, trade-offs, and implications.
Portfolio Management & Book of Work Governance
Own the US portfolio governance model and enterprise “book of work” .
Lead ongoing portfolio review processes to:
- Reassess priorities over time
- Determine what to start, stop, scale, or deprioritize.
- Manage sequencing, dependencies, and capacity constraints.
Monitor delivery health, execution risk, and interdependencies across initiatives.
Drive focus, trade-off decisions, and resource alignment across the portfolio.
Interface with enterprise and global partners to ensure alignment (e.g., enterprise transformation teams, technology and delivery functions).
Examples include annual planning processes, monthly portfolio reviews, investment committee inputs, and cross-functional governance forums.
Required Qualifications:
Senior leadership experience in strategy, transformation, management consulting, or complex operating environments.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives without direct authority.
Strong strategic thinking paired with execution discipline.
Experience working closely with C-suite leaders and Boards.
Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex topics into clear, executive-ready narratives.
High degree of judgment, discretion, and comfort operating in ambiguity.
This posting supports an ongoing hiring initiative for existing and/or future vacancies.
About Manulife and John Hancock
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.
Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer
At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.
It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [email protected].
Working Arrangement
Salary & Benefits
Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [email protected] for the salary range for your location.
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. If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact [email protected] for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.
We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.
