Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Onsite
The Director, Engineering Operations & Quality Engineering is a senior leadership role within Group Functions Technology (GFT) responsible for driving quality assurance, engineering operations, and service reliability across the organization. This role is critical to streamlining operations and delivery, providing deep expertise in engineering operations, and leading the evolution of these capabilities through automation and AI. The Director owns core operational processes, ensures audit‑ready and secure technology services in a highly regulated environment, and provides thought leadership in modernizing how GFT delivers and operates technology at scale. The role offers strong enterprise visibility, strategic influence, and the opportunity to lead large, multidisciplinary teams.
Position Responsibilities:
Lead enterprise Quality Engineering strategy, standards, tooling, and delivery across functional, integration, end‑to‑end, performance, accessibility, and security testing.
Own engineering operations, including systems administration, database administration, and data protection teams.
Govern change, release, and incident management processes across Group Functions Technology.
Ensure audit readiness, vulnerability remediation, and effective IT risk and control management (e.g., ITGC, SOX/FS).
Drive the evolution of engineering operations and QE through AI, automation, and continuous improvement.
Required Qualifications:
10+ years of experience in technology operations, quality engineering, or large‑scale platform delivery, including senior leadership roles.
Proven experience leading enterprise‑scale QE and test automation, as well as systems and database operations in complex environments.
Strong expertise in change, release, incident management, and operational risk management.
Experience leading large teams (30+ staff), managing budgets, and overseeing vendor and tool ecosystems.
Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills across technology, business, and risk functions.
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience with CI/CD, DevOps or SRE practices, automation frameworks, and observability platforms.
Familiarity with ITSM tools (e.g., ServiceNow).
Experience in financial services or other regulated industries.
Background in data protection, encryption, and vulnerability management.
Demonstrated thought leadership applying AI and automation to engineering operations and quality engineering.
When you join our team:
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.
The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.
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.
Referenced Salary Location
Toronto, OntarioWorking Arrangement
Salary range is expected to be between
$113,260.00 CAD - $210,340.00 CADEmployees 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 hr@manulife.com 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 hr@manulife.com 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.
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