Director, Service Design

Are you ready to elevate digital experiences and lead a service design and research squad in shaping exceptional user experiences Reporting to the VP CX Transformation and Service Design this role combines strong CX/design leadership with hands-on enablement ensuring quality research and service design work moves beyond artifacts and workshops and into roadmaps and delivery priorities.

At Manulife we are committed to becoming a digital-first organization and to lead in our industry in those digital customer experiences. Alongside the Director Experience Strategy and Research the Director Research and Insights you will co-create the vision and strategy for the service design craft maturity and partner to drive positive and customer focused change in our Canada businesses. And as design and research evolve at pace with emerging technologies you will support and champion the teams evolution and adoption of AI.

You willco-lead the Service Design craftacross Canada businesses co-creating with your Director level colleagues aJourney Management practiceand aservice design to solutions and research methodology that converts insights into tangible customer and business outcomes. Youll guide a squad of service designers and researchers; partner closely with Product Design toconcept and validate meaningful solutions; and collaborate with peer directors inDesign StrategyandQuant/Qual Researchto link vision evidence and executionbringing insights to actionswiftly.

This is a highly collaborative role which requires excellence in both what and how you deliver work. The successful candidate will be confident in their strong craft and a fair and flexible parter in a complex business environment. The role demands not only resilience when tackling hard challenges with others but also enthusiasm and joy in getting things done together.

Position Responsibilities:

• Build The Practice

  • Establish and scale aJourney Managementpractice that continuouslyresearches measures optimizes and orchestrates end-toend customer journeysacross channels and front/back operations.

  • Define and operationalize aservice design-to-solutionsmethodologyfrom discovery and framing to blueprinting concepting piloting and scaled adoptiongrounded in measurable outcomes.

  • Co-create a playbook for working effectively with Product Design and the Canada businesses.

  • Champion support and drive adoption of AI to streamline processes and elevate what the team can accomplish.

• Lead Craft Leadership & Standards

  • Lead theService Design craft: codify standards for journey mapping service blueprinting systems mapping experience principles and measurement frameworks; steward craft excellence alongside peer Directors inDesign StrategyandQuant/Qual Research.

  • Coach and grow designers and researchers; institute critique rituals mentoring and learning pathways.

• Drive insights to action

  • Translate research (quant and qual) intoactionable strategies opportunity backlogs andsolution concepts; ensure hypotheses are validated via experiments and pilots; anchor decisions in customer desirability and business viability.

  • Championdata-informedservice design andbusiness case storytellingto help secure alignment and funding.

• Partner & Deliver

  • Partner with Product Design to collaboratively develop low-fidelity and high-fidelity testable prototypes that make desirable future state journeys/ blueprints tangible and inspiring for business stakeholders.

  • Work with cross-functional leaders in operations marketing the group benefits business and AI to remove friction and enablejourney orchestrationat scale.

• Governance & Ways of Working

  • Co-create with your director colleagues a framework for governance for journey ownership backlog intake prioritization and outcome tracking.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelors Degree in Service Design Human-Centred Design Business or a related field.

• 10 years experience in Service Design roles within financial services complex organizations or regulated businesses.

• 5 years leading teams and practices in complex environments (financial services preferred).

• Demonstrated expertise in service design service blueprinting systems mapping andevidence-based decision making (quant qual).

• Proven track record translating insights intoimplemented solutionsfrom pilots to scaled adoptionacross digital and operational channels.

• Strong stakeholder leadership and the ability to influence senior leaders and align diverse teams around outcomes and metrics.

• Proven experience in or exposure to primary quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building business cases and DVF (desirability viability feasibility) analyses for and with business colleagues.

• Knowledge of and/or experience working in an insurance and/or group benefits business.

• UX or Product Design Experience or proven experience working alongside product designers is an asset.

• Experience in Futures and Foresight practice is an asset.

• Comfort using research platforms and survey/analytics tools for mixed methods insight generation.

• Experience using AI in your own practice and curiosity/ enthusiasm for learning and growing in this area of your own practice.

Leadership Attributes:

• An enthusiastic collaborator who loves building partnerships and helping organizations care and act in the customers best interest.

• Builders mindset; bias to action with disciplined measurement and a commitment to document and share.

• Systems thinker who can zoom out and in between macro strategy and micro-operations.

• Empathetic coach who elevates craft and creates psychological safety and engagement on the team.

• Clear communicator who cantell the story of changewith data and human insight.

When you join our team:

• Well empower you to learn and grow the career you want.

• Well recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.

• As part of our global team well support you in shaping the future you want to see.

#LI-Hybrid

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 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 .

Referenced Salary Location

Salary range is expected to be between

If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location please contact 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 for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.