Lead Technical Program Manager

We are seeking a passionate and experienced Technical Program Manager to join our team and lead the delivery and ongoing optimization for key strategic growth initiatives in the new business and underwriting domains.

The ideal candidate will have a strong technical background and a deep understanding of customer-centric product development. In this role, you will be responsible for communicating effectively with business stakeholders, gathering business requirements, and translating them into actionable technical stories for the development team. As the Technical Program Manager, you will ensure that the squad adheres to agile practices, including conducting regular ceremonies such as sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives. Your leadership will be crucial in driving innovation and maintaining a seamless communication experience for our customers.

Position Responsibilities:

• Accountable for all technical delivery on the platform enabling technology and business objectives as well as the ownership of vendor relationships including understanding and influencing the vendor roadmaps to support strategic initiatives.

• Supporting business in preparing business cases or BoW exercises

• Managing stakeholder/sponsor expectations and ensuring project delivery

• Preparing and communicating all project-related plans (project, quality, communication)

• Monitoring and reporting status to stakeholders throughout the program lifecycle

• Managing and communicating project milestones (scope, cost, time)

• Lead the technical evaluation and implementation of various New Business and Underwriting Applications.

• Coordinating with vendors to integrate their products with our internal solutions and negotiating scope of work for given initiatives

• Coordinating with teams across locations to develop IT project release roadmap/plan

• Managing multiple workstreams/country teams and overseeing SDLC for end-to-end delivery

• Setting guidelines to ensure deliverables follow Manulife standards

• Ensuring creation of all projects deliverable documents (e.g., data mapping, test cases, test plan, system delivery plan, handover)

• Partner with various internal functions (e.g., Technology, New business, Underwriting, Sales, Operations) to understand their workflows and tailor solutions for optimal use

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with vendor support teams for timely resolution of technical issues

• Ability to simplify/reduce/negotiate work needed with vendors and manage external partner’s tracking and backlog (technical analysis of backlog)

• Builds relationships with external technology vendors, ensuring effective collaboration, delivery of services, and alignment to contractual agreements.

• Brings an innovative approach to improving and elevating technology solutions and enablers

What we are looking for

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

• At least 10+ years IT industry experience

• At least 5 years of in-depth project/program management experience

• 5+ years of experience in a technical lead, technical program manager, technical product owner, platform owner or similar role

• Experience leading complex, large IT system rollouts in financial institutions

• Skilled in managing senior stakeholders and IT steerco

• Solid understanding of life insurance industry workflows and processes, particularly relevant to the products being used

• Excellent communication, collaboration, negotiation and interpersonal skills

• Ability to translate business needs into effective solutions

• Experience with program and agile delivery methodologies

• Proficiency in troubleshooting and problem-solving

• Excellent presentation, communication, and interpersonal skills

• Fast learner, able to acquire new technology quickly

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Azure, AKS on Azure

• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure)

• Experience with DevOps principles and tools

• Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git)

• Experience with project tracking software (e.g Jira and Planview)

• Experience with Agile methodologies

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 inclu