AVP, Global People Services (Pathways)

The AVP, Global People Services (GPS) – Pathways sets the global strategy, operating model, and service vision for colleague lifecycle moments, including onboarding, job changes, transfers, leaves, exits, organizational change, M&A, and other complex events.

This global leader ensures accurate, consistent, compliant, and experience-led delivery while balancing enterprise standards with local requirements. The role improves colleague experience, efficiency, controls, and service resilience, with high-touch oversight for executive, confidential, and business-critical transactions.

Key Accountabilities

Set the global strategy for colleague pathways

• Define the global Pathways strategy, roadmap, operating model, service standards, and decision rights.
• Establish a scalable enterprise approach for colleague lifecycle events while accommodating local legal, regulatory, and cultural requirements.
• Anticipate workforce needs and identify opportunities to improve service through digital capabilities and leading practices.

Own global pathway service delivery

• Lead global delivery of high-volume, complex, and high-risk colleague transitions with accuracy, timeliness, care, and compliance.
• Set process standards and escalation models that enable consistent regional execution.
• Coordinate delivery across People & Comms, Payroll, Benefits, Mobility, Legal, Employee Relations, People Technology, People Partners, and business leaders.
• Manage service risks, capacity constraints, process gaps, and downstream impacts while building accountability and continuous improvement.

Lead exceptional and VIP service delivery

• Establish differentiated service and governance for executive, VIP, confidential, urgent, and business-critical cases.
• Oversee sensitive transitions and escalations requiring discretion, speed, accuracy, and senior judgment.
• Define clear criteria for high-touch handling, stakeholder visibility, and executive escalation.

Exercise executive-level decision-making and influence

• Make sound decisions in complex situations, balancing policy, colleague experience, risk, and business needs.
• Advise and influence senior stakeholders on pathway strategy, priorities, dependencies, risks, and actions.
• Resolve cross-functional ownership and accountability issues and represent GPS in senior enterprise forums.
• Build trusted relationships through transparency, judgment, and dependable delivery.

Simplify, standardize, and scale transition processes through digital, automation, and AI

• Build a digital-first mindset that challenges the team to solve service needs with technology, automation, and AI before adding manual work or capacity.
• Simplify and standardize processes to reduce variation, handoffs, rework, escalations, and inconsistent colleague experiences.
• Accelerate adoption of digital tools, workflow automation, self-service, analytics, and AI capabilities to improve quality, speed, scale, and operational efficiency.
• Create scalable global playbooks, intake and routing models, controls, and quality standards designed for automated and digitally enabled delivery.
• Embed continuous improvement by using data, root-cause analysis, colleague feedback, and performance insights to identify, prioritize, and measure technology-enabled improvements.

Lead transformation of lifecycle operations

• Build an integrated, digitally enabled global model that improves colleague experience, resilience, efficiency, and automation.
• Lead teams through transformation while maintaining delivery stability, stakeholder readiness, and adoption.
• Establish dashboards and performance routines that give senior leaders visibility into priorities, capacity, risks, and outcomes.
• Develop global talent and a culture of ownership, learning, and service excellence.

Leadership Expectations

• Operate as an enterprise leader, balancing colleague experience, efficiency, compliance, and business outcomes.
• Exercise sound judgment, build trusted senior relationships, and create clarity and accountability across a global matrix.
• Champion simplification, automation, continuous improvement, and a high-performing service culture.

Key Outcomes / Measures of Success

• Clear global strategy, operating model, and performance visibility for Pathways.
• Improved colleague experience, transaction accuracy, cycle time, data quality, and compliance.
• Reduced defects, rework, escalations, manual processing, and downstream payroll or access issues.
• Consistent global delivery with appropriate local flexibility and strong execution of executive, confidential, and complex cases.
• Increased automation, stakeholder confidence, service resilience, and positive audit and risk outcomes.

Key Partnerships

• GPS, People & Comms COEs, People Partner Teams, Corporate Functions.

Experience and Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience in global HR operations, colleague lifecycle administration, shared services, service delivery, or HR transformation in a complex organization.
• Proven ability to set strategy, design operating models, standardize global processes, lead transformation, and deliver scalable outcomes.
• Strong knowledge of lifecycle events and their colleague data, payroll, benefits, technology, compliance, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Demonstrated discretion and judgment in executive, confidential, sensitive, and high-risk matters.
• Strong executive presence, stakeholder influence, communication, and decision-making in a global matrix.
• Experience using technology, automation, metrics, colleague insights, and controls to improve service while maintaining delivery stability and data integrity.

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.

#LI-Hybrid 

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 [email protected].

Referenced Salary Location

Waterloo, OntarioHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$129,800.00 CAD - $241,200.00 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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.