Product Owner, Individual Insurance

As Product Owner, IIC Illustrations, you will lead the definition, prioritization and delivery of illustration capabilities within the Product ART. Reporting to the Director, Chief Product Owner, you will partner with other product owners, delivery teams and business experts to ensure insurance product and tax calculations are accurately reflected in illustration solutions and downstream systems. 

You will bring a strong customer focus, analytical mindset, and collaborative leadership style to a fast-paced environment where priorities evolve and ideas are encouraged. Your work will help simplify the advisor and customer experience through clear, reliable, and intuitive illustration capabilities. 

Position Responsibilities:

• Own and communicate the product vision, outcomes and prioritized backlog for IIC illustration capabilities. 

• Collaborate with business subject-matter experts to validate product, tax and related illustration calculations across illustration and downstream systems. 

• Define and plan features and epics, then work with the IT BAs to decompose them into clear user stories with acceptance criteria, assumptions, risks and dependencies. 

• Provide delivery squads with clarity on the customer and business needs, including the “what” and “why” behind priorities. 

• Elicit and synthesize requirements, research findings, stakeholder feedback, and operational insights to inform product decisions. 

• Lead business acceptance testing in partnership with business stakeholders and support timely resolution of defects and calculation discrepancies. 

• Coordinate with Technology, Sales, Marketing, Compliance, Operations and other internal or external partners to enable successful implementation. 

• Monitor outcomes and user experience after launch, identify improvement opportunities and adjust the backlog as required. 

• Identify delivery risks, dependencies and trade-offs early, and support evidence-based decisions and transparent escalation. 

Required Qualifications:

• 3-5 yrs of relevant experience in mathematics, statistics, actuarial science, business, technology or a related discipline. 

• Working knowledge of agile product management principles and tools, including backlog management, user story writing, release planning, Jira and Confluence. 

• CPO certified (must have) 

• Experience in the life and living benefits insurance industry, with knowledge of insurance products, illustrations or calculation-driven capabilities considered a strong asset. 

• Strong analytical, organizational and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage changing priorities in a fast-paced environment. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex business and calculation needs for technical audiences. 

• Demonstrated ability to influence, facilitate decisions and resolve conflict without direct authority. 

• Ability to build trusted relationships and lead cross-functional groups toward collaborative and practical solutions. 

• Proactive risk management and sound judgment, with confidence to raise issues and recommend options. 

• Adaptability, curiosity and a continuous improvement mindset. 

• Ability to coach and support colleagues while fostering an inclusive and respectful team environment. 

How you will work 

• Customer obsessed: listen, learn and act in the best interests of customers and advisors. 

• Think big: challenge existing approaches and use an agile mindset to improve business outcomes. 

• Get it done together: build strong relationships and bring diverse perspectives into decisions. 

• Own it: take accountability, focus on what matters and follow through on commitments. 

• Do the right thing: act with integrity, raise concerns and support responsible outcomes. 

• Share your humanity: help create a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment where everyone can contribute. 

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

Waterloo, OntarioHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$70,500.00 CAD - $117,500.00 CAD

Employees 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.