The opportunity
GWAM Asia Technology develops and supports technology solutions for the GWAM business in Asia across asset management, wealth, retirement, operations, and shared technology services. The team works closely with Global GWAM, Asia Segment, ETS, Data, Risk, Security, Operations, and market technology teams to support business growth, operational resilience, technology modernization, and effective day-to-day technology support across the region.
This position is a senior technology strategy, architecture, and operations technology leadership role for Asia. The incumbent serves as the Chief Architect for GWAM Asia, ensuring regional technology direction is aligned with global strategy, enterprise architecture standards, and local market priorities. The role leads architecture governance through the Local Architecture Review Board (LARB), promotes responsible and practical AI adoption, shapes shared technology service capabilities that can be leveraged consistently across Asia, and may continue to oversee Asia operations technology capabilities. The position requires strong technical judgement, strategic thinking, operational discipline, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders, architects, delivery teams, operations partners, global partners, and market leaders without relying only on formal authority.
- Lead the definition and execution of the Asia technology strategy, ensuring alignment with Global GWAM, enterprise technology direction, and market business priorities.
- Serve as the Chief Architect for GWAM Asia, providing architectural leadership across applications, platforms, data, integration, cloud, AI, and shared technology capabilities.
- Lead the Local Architecture Review Board (LARB), ensuring technology decisions are well governed, risk-aware, scalable, reusable, and aligned with approved enterprise standards and patterns.
- Promote AI adoption across Asia by identifying practical use cases, encouraging experimentation, supporting responsible AI governance, and helping teams embed AI, AI-enabled applications, and agent-based solutions into business and technology workflows.
- Drive the development of shared technology service capabilities for Asia, including common platforms, reusable components, engineering patterns, and operational capabilities that improve consistency, resilience, and efficiency.
- Provide oversight for Asia operations technology capabilities where applicable, ensuring operational stability, service effectiveness, resilience, and alignment with broader technology strategy and architecture direction.
- Influence senior business and technology stakeholders across markets to simplify architecture, reduce duplication, improve technology reuse, and accelerate delivery of strategic outcomes.
Individual Accountabilities:
- Own and steward the Asia technology architecture roadmap, ensuring it supports business strategy, enterprise standards, and market-specific priorities.
- Lead architecture governance through LARB, including review of major initiatives, approval of solution direction, management of architectural risks, and escalation of key decisions where required.
- Drive adoption of AI and emerging technologies in a practical, responsible, and value-focused way, ensuring appropriate controls, human oversight, and measurable business outcomes.
- Define and promote reusable shared technology capabilities across Asia, reducing duplication and enabling scalable delivery across markets and business lines.
- Provide ongoing oversight of Asia operations technology capabilities, balancing strategic modernization with service stability, operational resilience, production effectiveness, and business continuity.
- Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on technology strategy, architecture trade-offs, platform choices, risk implications, and investment priorities.
Key Shared Accountabilities:
- Collaborate with global technology, data, security, and infrastructure teams to align Asia initiatives with enterprise technology strategy, approved architecture patterns, and responsible AI governance.
- Work with market technology teams and delivery squads to embed architecture discipline early in planning and delivery, improving solution quality and reducing rework.
- Partner with operations stakeholders and market technology teams to ensure Asia operations technology remains reliable, scalable, and aligned with business priorities, regulatory expectations, and regional technology direction.
- Work closely with the data team to align data architecture, data governance, analytics, and AI-ready data capabilities with Asia technology strategy and enterprise standards.
- Partner with business leaders to identify where AI, automation, shared platforms, and architecture simplification can improve productivity, client experience, resilience, and speed to market.
- Contribute to the development of future-ready technology talent across Asia by coaching architects and technology leaders, encouraging innovation, and building confidence in AI-enabled ways of working.
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 are we looking for?
- University degree in a relevant discipline such as Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong architecture experience across enterprise architecture, solution architecture, application architecture, data, integration, cloud, security, and modern engineering practices.
- Strong passion for AI and emerging technology, with the ability to translate AI concepts into practical business and technology outcomes.
- Proven track record of applying AI in real business or technology contexts, including experience with AI application delivery, agent deployment, or AI-enabled workflow transformation.
- Strong knowledge of SDLC in the AI development era, including AI-assisted engineering, model and agent lifecycle considerations, responsible AI controls, testing, monitoring, change management, and production readiness.
- Demonstrated ability to lead architecture governance forums and make balanced decisions across business value, technology fit, risk, cost, scalability, and operational resilience.
- Strong understanding of shared technology services, reusable platforms, engineering standards, and operating models across multiple markets or business lines.
- Excellent stakeholder management, communication, facilitation, and influencing skills, including the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, architects, engineers, risk partners, and business stakeholders.
- Strong soft skills, including collaboration, conflict resolution, negotiation, active listening, storytelling, and the ability to bring people with different priorities toward a common direction.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to connect global direction, regional priorities, and local market realities into a clear and practical technology roadmap.
- Inquisitive, pragmatic, and outcome-focused, with a continuous improvement mindset and the confidence to challenge the status quo constructively.
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 hr@manulife.com.
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