Lead Solution Architect

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced and highly motivated Senior Solution Architect to join Manulife’s Global Wealth and Asset Management Enterprise Architecture team. The role will push forward GWAMs Cross-Enterprise Solution architecture vision by creating guidance and mechanisms that enable the company to think firm-wide when considering capabilities development. You'll work closely with business, product, and technology partners to translate long-term objectives into designs that fuel firm-wide reuse and convergence.  Specifically, you will work within the middle and back-office applications in Retirement to define and enhance end-user solutions. 

Our Manulife / John Hancock family is going through an exciting, yet challenging metamorphosis. We are transforming from a wise 130-year-old company into an agile 130-year-young company. This is a journey, and to quote T.S. Elliot; “The journey, Not the destination matters...”. On this journey, we expect all to bring their knowledge, skills and experience as a team and, when we don’t know, we will learn..

Within the Manulife family, our team is within Global Wealth and Asset Management and as a division we believe the truth is in the numbers. We believe it’s time to change the investment game. To do it differently by focusing on the value we bring our clients, rather than on the usual topics of performance and fees. We have just surpassed $1 trillion in assets under management with a diverse range of both public and private asset classes. Our division is global and have operations in North America, Asia and Europe and we serve a diverse range of clients from our own on-balance general account assets to institutional, retail, retirement and wealth.

The right individual will be a proactive, self-starter that enjoys and thrives when connecting people and technology to solve complex problems at-scale. You will analyze, model, and develop complex and high-level architecture plans that require the integration of multiple technologies and coordination of functional areas across the organization. If you have a passion and skill for long-term end-to-end thinking balanced with crafting architecture increments that enable value for customers now, this opportunity is for you!

The Solution Architecture team within the Enterprise Architecture organization is responsible for defining the building blocks and target-state cross-enterprise vision that helps GWAM avoid duplication and optimize architecture. We are an organization that values diverse and big thinking, rewards both behaviors and delivery, and focuses on growth and continuous improvement – all in support of Manulife’s mission to help clients and one another succeed. This role is a unique opportunity to join a team and company at the beginning of a multi-year platform transformation whose work will have direct impact on company direction, our customers, and our industry.

What you’re good at

• Collaborating with Product and Technology teams to craft architecture that enables business and technology vision.

• Designing for both functional and non-functional qualities, including availability, resiliency, security, privacy, etc.

• Assisting the business in the scoping and planning of upcoming initiatives and roadmap items

• Participating in or leading in producing conceptual, solution, and component-level architectures and associated artifacts.

• Reviewing, advising, and providing feedback on architectures produced within and outside the team

• Business Process modeling and developing data driven solutions

• Pragmatic modernization and leading the end to end solution design and architecture for key company initiatives.

• Developing reference architecture and reference implementation patterns

• Mentoring and growing other technologists within the firm

• Contributing to or leading definition of standards, guidance, and points-of-view that enable engineers to thrive and cross-enterprise thinking to become the norm.

• Helping to develop new and revising governance processes to ensure alignment of a diverse set of technology projects with the enterprise target state vision.

• Presenting architecture and innovative ideas to executive leadership for the purposes of alignment and key decision making

• Connecting your business and technical insights to develop innovative proposals for evolving Manulife’s platforms, introducing new products or capabilities, or improving processes that benefit the firm or its customers.

What motivates you? 

• You obsess about customers, listen, engage and act for their benefit. 

• You think big, with curiosity to discover ways to use your agile approach and enable business outcomes. 

• You thrive in teams and enjoy getting things done together. 

• You take ownership and build solutions, focusing on what matters. 

• You do what is right, work with integrity and speak up. 

• You share your humanity, helping us build a diverse and inclusive work environment for everyone. 

 
What we are looking for 

• Ability to own architecture and influence strategic direction and vision for the future.

• Desire and ability to understand diverse business domains and develop architectures that meet the current and anticipated business needs across a broad set of partners.

• Ability to evaluate new technologies and know the latest industry trends.

• Good judgment and the ability to handle high pressure situations.

• Experience with and knowledge of common Architecture patterns (e.g. microservices, GoF, SOA, Event sourcing, etc.).

• Experience with data and application integration patterns (Domain-Driven, APIs, messaging, streaming, sync/async).

• Experience addressing operational and non-functional concerns (e.g. horizontal & vertical scalability, performance, maintainability, load distribution, resilience, recovery, security and privacy).

• Experience with Cloud Native (12-Factor) Architecture and Infrastructure Patterns.

• Knowledge of the enterprise technology space: languages, frameworks, techniques, and industry trends.

• Ability (and preference) to work in an Agile environment.

• Ability to devise, develop and apply innovative technology to solutions that would benefit our clients.

• Refined presentation and communication skills and expertise interfacing and communicating effectively with both engineers and executives.

• A strong software engineering and/or architecture background is required.

What can we offer you? 

• A competitive salary and benefits packages. 

• A growth trajectory that extends upward and outward, encouraging you to follow your passions and learn new skills. 

• A focus on growing your career path with us. 

• Flexible work policies and strong work-life balance. 

• Professional development and leadership opportunities. 

 
Our commitment to you 

• Values-first culture 
  We lead with our Values every day and bring them to life together. 

• Boundless opportunity 
  We create opportunities to learn and grow at every stage of your career. 

• Continuous innovation 
  We invite you to help redefine the future of financial services. 

• Delivering the promise of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
  We foster an inclusive workplace where everyone thrives. 

• Championing Corporate Citizenship 
  We build a business that benefits all stakeholders and has a positive social and environmental impact. 

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 recruitment@manulife.com.

Primary Location

Working Arrangement

Salary range is expected to be between

If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact recruitment@manulife.com for the salary range for your location. 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. Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

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 recruitment@manulife.com for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.