Manager, Advisor Experience & Inforce Service Innovation

The Manager, Advisor Experience & Inforce Service Innovation defines and executes Specialized Lending’s post-funding service model. The role leads portfolio servicing and surveillance, advisor and customer experience, governance, workflow optimization, AI-enabled transformation, and continuous improvement.

Accountable for current performance and future-state design, the role establishes service standards, improves productivity and controls, reduces manual effort, and builds scalable capabilities in automation and artificial intelligence.

Role Purpose

To deliver a scalable, technology-enabled post-funding service model that strengthens controls, increases productivity, enables innovation, and improves advisor and customer experience.

Strategic Mandate

The Manager is accountable for:

Post-Funding Advisor & Customer Experience

Providing leadership and oversight for:

• Annual portfolio surveillance and maintenance
• Fee and post-funding account administration
• Money movement processes
• Advisor and customer servicing

Advisor Experience Excellence

Serving as the functional owner for:

• End-to-end, advisor-centred workflow design
• Service capacity and workforce effectiveness
• Service levels, standards, and governance
• Continuous improvement

AI & Automation Strategy

Owning the Specialized Lending Advisor Experience transformation roadmap through:

• AI adoption and automation
• Workflow digitization and technology enablement
• Advisor, service, and productivity analytics
• Reporting transformation

Service Model Transformation

Leading:

• Process and service-model redesign
• New ways of working and cross-functional workflow integration
• Capacity strategy and change management
• Transformation program execution

Key Accountabilities and Role Expectations

Advisor Experience Strategy & Transformation — 40%

• Set and execute the future-state post-funding strategy, balancing scalability, simplification, service excellence, and consistent advisor and customer experiences.
• Lead workflow redesign and cross-functional change initiatives that reduce manual effort and improve service delivery.
• Prioritize AI, automation, and technology investments that improve productivity, quality, capacity, and resilience.
• Align business, technology, process, and change-management priorities with cross-functional partners.
• Maintain transformation roadmaps, adoption plans, and benefits tracking to deliver measurable outcomes.

Post-Funding Advisor & Customer Service — 30%

• Oversee portfolio surveillance, maintenance, account and fee administration, money movement, and related advisor and customer support.
• Ensure work is completed within established service expectations, quality standards, risk tolerances, and business priorities.
• Manage capacity, workload distribution, prioritization, and issue resolution across the post-funding service function.
• Ensure consistent portfolio stewardship and strong advisor, customer, and business-partner outcomes.
• Provide coaching, direction, and service leadership to build a high-performing, advisor-focused, and future-ready team.

Service Ownership & Governance — 20%

Own and maintain the service standards, process documentation, controls, and governance routines required to support consistent, compliant, risk-aware, and advisor-centred execution across post-funding services.

• Establish and manage ownership for key post-funding service activities, including standards, procedures, decision authorities, escalation paths, and control expectations.
• Ensure services are aligned with applicable risk, compliance, governance, audit, and control requirements.
• Identify control gaps, service inconsistencies, and risk themes, and lead remediation or improvement activities.
• Promote disciplined execution through clear operating routines, quality monitoring, issue tracking, and continuous improvement practices.

Business Reporting & Performance Management — 10%

• Define and maintain Advisor Experience and service reporting, performance indicators, dashboards, and management insights that support business oversight and decision making.
• Monitor Advisor Experience outcomes, service levels, capacity, quality, productivity, volumes, trends, and emerging service or control risks.
• Use data and performance insights to inform prioritization, resource planning, process improvement opportunities, and leadership updates.
• Provide concise, actionable reporting for senior management on Advisor Experience performance, transformation progress, and capacity considerations.

The successful candidate will build a high-performing, advisor-focused organization through succession planning, talent development, clear accountability, and capability building in AI, process improvement, and service leadership.

Leadership Expectations

The Manager will:

• Translate strategic priorities into Advisor Experience and service execution plans.

• Influence leaders across Underwriting, Funding, Inforce, Quality Control, Sales, Risk, Compliance, and Technology.
• Challenge legacy processes and existing assumptions.

• Drive adoption of new technologies and advisor-centred service models.

• Lead large-scale change initiatives.
• Foster a culture of experimentation and innovation.

Job Requirements

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Proven people leadership experience, including coaching, performance management, talent development, and leading teams through change.
• Strong lending and post-funding servicing experience, with knowledge of portfolio administration, risk controls, and advisor and customer service delivery.
• Demonstrated success leading end-to-end process improvement and service transformation initiatives that simplify workflows, strengthen controls, and deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Power BI and Power Apps, including the ability to translate business needs into actionable reporting, workflow solutions, and performance insights.

Bilingualism (English and French) is an asset. If the successful candidate is in Québec, proficiency in both languages will be required to support clients from various provinces outside of Quebec.

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 [email protected].

Referenced Salary Location

Halifax, Nova ScotiaHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$79,700.00 CAD - $129,700.00 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.