Lead Designer Global Design System

As Lead Designer of the Common Design System at Manulife you will play a key role in a Global Design System team responsible for scaling and maintaining the enterprise-wide design library that serves multiple business units across Canada Asia and the US. This system will enable consistency efficiency accessibility and innovation across Manulifes public secure and mobile digital experiences. You will partner closely with design engineering and product teams across regions to define the visual language interaction patterns and usability guidelines that ensure a seamless high-quality experience for millions of users.

This role requires a deep expertise in design tokens enterprise design systems designing patterns and templates for CMS like AEM accessibility and design operations. You will align with others in regional design teams the visual and interaction standards and enabling teams to work more efficiently and creatively. The ideal candidate has successfully worked on enterprise-wide design systems and understands the organizational technical and cultural complexities of embedding a design system into the fabric of a global enterprise.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead Design System library maintenance

• Leverage the use of design tokens to build components patterns templates in a scalable enterprise-grade design system that supports Manulifes digital transformation across all regions advocating for design excellence accessibility and usability.

• Align to the visual language interaction patterns and documentation/usage guidelines that ensure a high-quality experience.

• Partner with other design leads product designers and engineering teams to align the requirements for components and patterns for the system.

• Manage community feedback and contribution requests as you partner with regional teams to understand their unique constraints and integrate their needs into the system.

• Secure buy-in from executives and practitioners alike navigating organizational complexity and influencing decision-making at all levels.

Execution and Documentation

• Train onboard and enable teams to fully leverage the design system ensuring broad and sustained adoption.

• Design and maintaincomponents tokens and patternsin Figma

• Createsvariants edge cases responsive specs and accessibility integration(labels focus states)

• Partners with developers to ensurepixel-to-code fidelity

• Facilitate design reviews audits and contribution models ensuring high-quality system evolution and usage.

• Support community engagement initiatives to drive system adoption across Manulifes digital teams.

Framework Development & Governance:

• Contribute to the definition of design system governance frameworks with support from Marketing and IT partners to ensure the long-term sustainability adoption and alignment to the guidelines of the design system.

• Build and nurture a global design system community educating teams on best practices and fostering a culture of design system ownership

Required Qualifications:

• 5-7 years of experience in design design systems or enterprise product design preferably within a global enterprise or multi-jurisdictional organization.

• Experience or training in design at a post-secondary college or technical institution.

• Proven track record of working on an enterprise-wide design system within large global organization.

• Deep expertise in UI/UX best practices accessibility (WCAG) design systems and design-to-development collaboration.

• Experience with design system operations.

• Experience working in complex matrixed organizations with multiple business units and partners.

• Expert level proficiency in English and Enterprise design tools and frameworks (Figma Zeroheight etc.).

• Experience navigating multi-lingual multi-cultural and regulatory complexities in global design and content.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background in IT lifecycle management is a plus

• Familiarity with Agile Lean UX and enterprise digital delivery models.

• Expertise in stakeholder management influence and communication skills

When you join our team:

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

• 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.

#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.